The subject area of the present thesis concerns the use of serious games in the domain of cultural heritage. In particular, the basic scope of the thesis was the creation and evaluation of a collaborative narrative-based educational game, which can serve as a means to communicate cultural content, in formal and non-formal educational settings.

First, the notions of play and games, which constitute overarching concepts in this thesis, are defined. Afterwards, current approaches which integrate games with learning purposes are presented. Since a first research objective of the thesis was to investigate the function of games designed to engage players actively with content relative to cultural sites, a systematic literature review was conducted. This review investigated how different game genres and game plots handle tangible cultural content with a spatial dimension. The relationship between gameplay, exploration of a site and narrative was also examined. Moreover, the review focused on the games context of use, the social relationships they enable and their reported outcomes. Taking into account the conclusions of the above-mentioned literature review, the next aim of the thesis was the design of the story-driven game Tracers of the Past. This is based on the incorporation of scientific information into fictional narratives, additionally taking advantage of endogenous cooperation and competition. The design was initially implemented in the form of a paper-based board game and was evaluated with teenage and adult participants.

Consequently, the development of a digital version of the suggested design, with the use of the authoring tool Twine, is presented. A structure able to be re-used was constructed, which can support the function of the game with multiple narratives with different historical and geographical background. The dominant collaborative-competitive character of the game was expressed through features of the model of Classroom Multiplayer Presential Games. After the description of the implementation of the digital version, its evaluation with teenage and adult participants is presented.

Apart from the individual results of the interventions with the paper-based and the digital version of the game, which are analytically discussed in the corresponding chapters of the thesis, an overall discussion of all the conducted interventions is attempted. Their outcomes can be considered positive in regard to (a) the playability of the analogue and the digital implementation of the design, (b) the potential of the game to offer learning gains to the participants and mostly to motivate them towards its cultural content, (c) the potential of the game to offer enjoyment, (d) the potential of the game to enhance behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement, (e) the facilitation of collaboration and argumentation mostly between the members of the same working team.

The conclusions originated from the evaluation of the game design with teenage and adult participants, although limited, can offer empirical data regarding the effectiveness of narrative based serious games on learning, motivation and engagement, issues still needing research.