Diocletian's Dream, Croatia

Bringing Roman streets, fortresses and squares to life through Virtual Reality

Emperor Diocletian was the only Roman Emperor ever to retire from his position. All the others were killed in battle or assassinated in office. What is Diocletian's legacy? How is he remembered?

Diocletian's palace attracts all nationalities to the Adriatic seaside town of Split. With over 100,000 visitors a month, the challenge is to engage so many tourists. We needed to entice people to take 30 minutes out of their holiday and learn about the Romans.

Emagine's team travelled to Croatia to research everything Diocletian. With so many experts for this epoch, each has their own interpretation. We worked with a local conservator to ensure accuracy. This helped generate the most accepted historical narrative. Authenticity was paramount. We performed surveys of the city, photographing patterns and stone carvings. The textures you see in Virtual Reality replicate the real Roman artefacts.

We enlisted Irish dance performers to wear our motion capture suit. They replicated the limp of an old slave, or the haughty walk of an Emperor. We converted our CGI characters to use motion data as we dressed them in virtual, traditional garb. The characters are life-like and they move the right way.

Our team drew the brand and logotype for the venue. We then helped design the decorative elements of the interior and built the website. We developed a custom Android app to manage the facility on-site, in multiple languages. Everything was created to help the running of the venue and make it look good.