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Walking an ancient town before you get there
A virtual tour of the ancient town of Zhenze, built in Unity and published to iOS, Android and the browser from one codebase — with sights, interface and map all loaded as data rather than compiled in.
- Client
- Client
- Industry
- Tourism and cultural heritage
- Location
- Zhenze, Suzhou, China
- Services
- VR & 3D · Mobile applications
The approach
What we built, and why that shape
The tour was built so that its content could change without its code changing. Sights, interface layout and map data are all loaded at runtime from XML, which meant the client could add or revise a location without a rebuild and a re-submission to each store — the decisive constraint for a cultural site whose exhibits keep growing.
- One Unity 4 codebase published to iOS, Android and Unity Web Player embedded in the client's own web pages, so the same tour served the app and the website.
- Sight data loaded dynamically rather than compiled in: new locations are content edits, not releases.
- Interface driven by XML, so layout and labels could be revised without touching the build.
- A 360° panorama module written in-house — in the Unity 4 era the available options did not meet the quality and control the client's imagery required.
- Online map navigation, giving the virtual walk a real-world frame of reference.
Built with
Unity 4C#XMLIn-house 360° panorama module