Patronage of Art I

I had wanted to keep working on the Conspiracy Line this week, but I had to put that on hold briefly. I had forgotten that I was supposed to present part of my thesis in my Humanities Thesis class this Wednesday, and I had hoped to use that as an opportunity to get play tester feedback. I decided to put the Conspiracy Line on hold to start on a draft of the Patronage of Art Level instead. That way, I could have my class play it and hold a discussion to get really strong feedback. This level is available to play on the homepage of this itch.io blog right now.

Unfortunately, the class presentation was not very helpful. Although several students did take the time to play the level before class, they were on the whole very reluctant to unmute themselves on zoom to answer my playtest questions or engage in discussion about the level. I think we're all just at that point in the semester where we'd rather be anywhere but on zoom. I'm disappointed in how the class went, but I totally get where everyone is coming from. 

On the bright side, this deadline was a great motivator to work on the first draft of the Patronage of Art Level. I haven't produced as many words as I had hoped, and I am not happy with the structure of the level so far. BUT I started. Editing is way easier for me than writing, so I call this a win. 

I put in many hours this week making the Conspiracy Line dialogue in Unity and the Patronage of Art level in Twine, but I put in even more time researching. I have already read several books and articles on the Pazzi Conspiracy and the 15th century Medici family, and I have a growing reading list. I went back over useful sections of some of those books. Alexander Lee's "The Ugly Renaissance" has a really great analysis of Gozzoli's painting in the Medici Chapel. Lauro Martines' "April Blood" on the Pazzi Conspiracy was particularly helpful for refreshing my knowledge of the conspirators and their motivations. Reading the first several chapters of Miles Unger's "Magnifico" biography on Lorenzo de' Medici for the first time this week was also helpful. I'm highlighting and bookmarking key passages that relate to my three main game levels. 

I plan to continue reading while I draft my levels. I find that it helps to do the two at the same time.