Residents ‘escape’ from JORVIK Viking Centre in new interactive app

The world-famous residents of JORVIK Viking Centre – from the huntsman with his canine to the poor gentleman who has been straining on the latrine for the last 35 years – are set to escape the confines of the recreated Viking-age street this half term (20 – 27 February 2019)!  York-based New Moon Studios has created an augmented reality app that brings the characters to life at different venues around the city!

The free JORVIK Unleashed app, which launches for the JORVIK Viking Festival this week, will see six inhabitants of Viking-age York recreated in digital form all over the city, with planned venues including Coppergate, Davygate, Shambles Market and the Visit York Visitor Information Centre.  Users can see, photograph, video and interact with the characters using mobile phones and internet-enabled tablets for a fun city-wide experience – and then share their experiences on social media.

Andy Nye of New Moon Studios is looking forward to see how the public experience these characters.  “It is great to work with JORVIK, as one of the biggest, most interesting tourist brands in the city, and when they challenged us to recreate some of the most popular characters that people see on the ride within the attraction, we jumped at the chance.  We’ve used this app in cities around the world before, but this is the first time we’ve recreated animals and humans together, and it will be great to see it in action on our home turf during one of the biggest festivals in York’s calendar.”

Animated cartoon versions of the hunter and his dog, the man on the toilet, the storyteller, a pregnant lady, a girl with a cat and a market trader will be located around the city, with a map in the app showing where to find them.  “For any fan of games like Pokémon Go, this is a great new way of interacting with the city – especially as the streets are likely to be thronged with real Vikings at the same time,” comments JORVIK Viking Centre’s marketing executive, Nathan Waddell.  “And, of course, they can see the ‘real’ animatronic characters on a visit to JORVIK.”

The free app works on Apple iOS and Android devices, and can be downloaded from: https://seasons.newmoonstudios.co.uk/jorvik

For more information on JORVIK Viking Festival, please visit www.jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk

ENDS

For further media information or photographs, please contact:

Jay Commins

Pyper York Limited

Tel: 01904 500698

Email: [email protected]