Level 2: Fixed!

When I released Beta 1.0, Level 2 wasn't fully playable. The mini game "Find the Medici" was completely omitted because it was just too technical to get done in time. But now it's ready! 

The main point of the level is to explore the connection between patronage and art through the case study of Benozzo Gozzoli's Procession of the Magi. The player is supposed to click on various parts of the painting to find hidden members of the Medici family alongside important politicians. This forces students to engage with the art at least long enough to find four of the Medici, and hopefully long enough to get familiar with Gozzoli's fresco.

I layered smaller square "cut outs" of the fresco over the big version so that players can click on individual sections. For example, they can click on a square of Melchior in the procession. The same is true for Caspar and Balthazar, and there are smaller rectangles for Cosimo and Piero, Lorenzo and Giuliano, and two tiny ones for each hidden portrait of Gozzoli. 

Each time the player mouses over one of these squares, it highlights yellow just like the NPCs do to indicate you can talk to them. When you click on a square, it starts a conversation where the Apprentice tells you who you have found and why they are important. The clickable squares have the same scripts attached to them as the NPCs and work in exactly the same way. Treating them like NPCs ended up being much easier than treating them like buttons on a canvas, which was my original plan and came with a whole host of problems.

Of course, as with all parts of this project, there is still more to be done. I would like to make the clickable squares enlarge when you click on them as well. There is so much detail in the painting that it is hard to see any of the figures at its current size. Blowing up the squares while you "speak to" them will let players actually identify the figures they are finding and connect those images with their descriptions.

But on the whole, I'm happy with the progress I've made in this level.