CREAMARE, Coordinated by 3D Research, Joins the Games for Culture Cluster

CREAMARE has joined the Games for Culture Cluster (GCC), the European network of EU-funded projects exploring how games can generate cultural and social value. It is the first project funded by the Creative Europe Programme to join.

For 3D Research, which coordinated CREAMARE, this is a result about method as much as product. Coordinating meant building a transnational collaboration framework in which cultural institutions, scientific and research bodies, creative professionals and technology experts co-produced digital experiences on underwater cultural heritage: a co-production platform, open calls, a residency for six creative professionals, and training activities. The Cluster, which works with the European Commission and the European Research Executive Agency (REA) on how research can inform policy for games, is where this approach enters the European conversation.

The proving ground was CREAMARE: The Game, developed by 3D Research. In this first-person 3D adventure, players take on the role of divers and explore nine real underwater sites in eight countries, from the Pharos of Alexandria to Algeciras Bay, solving puzzles rooted in the history of each place and tackling ecological challenges. Free to play on Steam and the Epic Games Store, the game has reached approximately 80,000 players and has been endorsed as an Ocean Decade Activity by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, within the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The result rests on expertise built over time. A spin-off of the University of Calabria founded in 2008, 3D Research has worked on underwater cultural heritage technologies since 2012, from 3D reconstruction to virtual reality.

Joining the Cluster now means bringing Creative Europe experience into a network of Horizon Europe projects, comparing notes with those who use games in other ways, and showing that research, creativity and technology can make accessible what almost no one will ever see in person: submerged heritage.

Discover more
CREAMARE on the Games for Culture Cluster website: https://games-for-culture.eu/members/creamare/
Project website: https://creamare.eu/
CREAMARE: The Game: https://creamare.eu/the-game/