ISABELLA - Edutaiment Game \ 2010 - on going

Project: Isabella – The Secret Recipes is a concept design for an edutainment game, which aims to illustrate the work of alchemist women in ordinary people’s lives during the 16th century in Venice. The edutaiment game unifies several fields of research such as history and art history, social history and scientific study. The concept is based on the Italian woman alchemist Isabella Cortese‘s book “I segreti della Isabella Cortese, neQvali si contengono cofe minerali, medicinali, arteficiose & alchemiche” which was published in 1584 (reedited Via Felice, 1995). The book was a success in its time. It had twelve editions printed, and was a best-selling alchemist’s handbook until 1665.

The edutainment game concept illustrates and narrates the lives and situations of 16th century people through simple card game. It is based on modern media tools such as multi touch support, interactive storytelling, 3D environment and animation. The participants act as 16th century alchemists: he/she must understand the problem of the Isabella's customer and find a possible solution to it using Isabella’s recipe book without being discovered by inquisition. All the objects and colour range in the interface design are taken from 16th century Venetian paintings, wall paintings and manuscripts in order to familiarize modern players with history. The illustration is done using a modern comic style in order to narrow down the threshold within the historical objects and habits.

Design challenge: Create experience that illustrates 16th history to modern people trough an edutainment game.
Concpet, story and visual design.

WINNER OF ART & DESIGN CONTEST AT NEM (IMPLEMENTING FUTURE INTERNET)
Price given by European Commision Information and Media Society

Rating criterion
We will evaluate entries based on the following 7 criteria, on a scale of 0 to 5. 1.

1. Conceptual Design: how much does the piece reflect insightful engagement with its chosen topic? What makes it a useful/elegant solution?
2. Artistic Merit : How far does the piece make a statement or make the user reflect on an issue?
3. Distinctiveness : How much does it express a unique sensibility? What’s different about it?
4. Impact : How much does it lead to new ideas and possibilities? If you could wave a magic wnad, what would be the future of this experience?
5. Technical Elegance : How far does the work address currently relevant technical issues?
6. Innovation : How does the piece explicitly encourage the use of new/innovative technology, or the application of existing technology in an innovative way? In what way are you pushing the boundaries? What is it that you are pursuing?
7. Interactivity : How is the piece intuitive? Satisfying? A fun user experience?

Jury The list of jury members includes:
Jean-Dominique Meunier (Technicolor),
Roger Torrenti (Sigma Orionis)
Pierre-Yves Danet (Orange)
Bartolome Arroyo Fernandez (European Commission)
Jovanka Adzic (Telecom Italia)
Maria Grazie Girotto (Museo del Cinema)
Bob Sumner (Disney)
Rowena Goldman (BBC)

Jyry statement: "During the closing session, an award was delivered to the piece of art that makes the most innovative use of networks and media to Virva Emilia Auvinen (www.virva.biz) for her work on “Isabella – The Secret Recipes” that blended real historic references into a beautifully illustrated game concept that makes history and learning come alive for children."