Design and Evaluation of a Narrative Augmented Reality Game for Historic Architectural Districts

With the rapid development of digital technologies, augmented reality (AR) has created new possibilities for the presentation and dissemination of cultural heritage. However, conventional digital guide systems in historic districts are typically dominated by static information delivery, lacking interactivity and user engagement, which limits their effectiveness in enhancing public understanding of historic architectural environments and related cultural knowledge. To address this limitation, this study focuses on historic architectural districts and proposes a narrative-based AR cultural exploration approach embedded in real architectural space. The Hubu Mountain historic architectural district in Xuzhou, China, was selected as the case study. First, grounded theory was employed to systematically analyze the cultural resources of the district and extract key cultural narrative elements. Based on these elements, a design framework for a narrative AR cultural exploration system was constructed. Subsequently, a mobile AR interactive system was developed using the Unity 2022.3 LTS and Vuforia Engine 10. A total of 80 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. Cultural knowledge tests, an immersive experience scale, and a dissemination intention scale were used to evaluate the outcomes, and the collected data were analyzed statistically. The results indicate that, compared with a conventional text–image guide condition, the narrative AR exploration condition significantly improved participants’ cultural cognition and dissemination intention. Specifically, the experimental group achieved significantly higher post-test scores in cultural knowledge than the control group, and a significant between-group difference was also observed in dissemination intention. In terms of immersive experience, although the experimental group reported higher mean scores than the control group, the difference did not reach statistical significance, showing only a possible improving trend. These findings suggest that an integrated narrative AR cultural exploration condition can enhance public understanding of historic architectural districts and strengthen the communication potential of heritage experiences in real built environments. This study provides a digital interpretation approach for historic architectural districts and offers empirical support for the use of AR-based interactive systems in architectural heritage communication and public engagement.