Virtual Reality Serious Game to Bring the History of Key Figures of Computer Science Closer to Young People

This paper presents a virtual reality serious game for mobile devices, called Innovatica, whose educational goal is to introduce some central figures in the history of Computer Science. Innovatica has been designed and developed from the consideration of a set of heuristics created for the development of serious games that served as guides from the moment of defining the concept of this game. The design considerations and guidelines addressed in the game creation process are presented here, as well as the application of Innovatica with different users (N = 22), mainly teachers and students. With respect to the results, the participants have shown great interest in the virtual reality game, highlighting their preference for the history of some figures with stories they did not know, and with a high appreciation of the scenarios of each character. The game fulfilled its objective in this sense, since it managed to bring the contributions of innovators in Computer Science closer and make them known.