Metazoa aims to bring the abstract ideas of evolution into a tangible experience for players. In the game they get to see mirror images of themselves as different species in a progression of environments which respond and change according to their movements and actions. As projected creatures, you will get to follow a series of evolutionary steps, beginning as protozoa through to marine organisms, plant animals, amphibians, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and imaginary light beings at which point they would dissipate and find themselves back at the beginning of the evolutionary cycle.

Digital artist, Angela Main has worked with HIT lab NZ and other artists to create Metazoa to complement the Museum’s Darwin exhibition. Augmented reality (where virtual objects exist in a physical space), has been pioneered by Mark Billinghurst and students of the HIT Lab NZ, which is a Human-Computer Interface research centre based at the University of Canterbury, The lab is a partner of the world-leading Hit Lab US, based at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Metazoa is part of the Auckland Museum’s Summer Season, which this season highlights the evolution of not only animals but the planet we live in also; from Charles Darwin’s theories through to volcanic activity and Gondwana –our prehistoric supercontinent. Metazoa opens December 22nd and runs through March 30, 2008. -- www.aucklandmuseum.com