Calasetta Heritage Games
As part of the activities carried out at the Festival Versus + Calasetta, a Heritage-app design activity was conceived and experienced in April 2022. Four mobile games related to the heritage of the island were designed by 15 students of the schools of architecture of Cagliari and Florence (Italy), led by 2 teachers and 5 tutors in architectural design, architectural drawing, restoration, and game specialists. The creation of a heritage game responded to the general objective of heritage dissemination but with two different target groups: the students who were to design the game and the public for whom the game was intended.
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For the students, the aim of the activity was to provide them with the skills necessary to analyze, understand, decode, and communicate the values of the territorial, urban, and architectural heritage, for the creation of a serious online game. For that purpose, the island of Sant’Antioco and, in particular, the Municipality of Calasetta were used as a case study. The game was designed during a 5-day immersion workshop at the site during which local artisans and producers were interviewed, music and sounds recorded, and architectural surveys were carried out to map vernacular architecture. This allowed identifying the characteristics of the local cultural heritage; evaluating its environmental, socio-cultural, and socio-economic sustainability; feeding the information base; and creating the virtual environment necessary for the completion of the game app.
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For the general audience, the objective was to disseminate and promote the values of the cultural landscape, the traditional trades related to the sea, the local crafts, and the vernacular environment in a playful manner. The use of new technologies in the promotion of heritage sought to effectively approach the general public and, specifically, young people.
The game starts with a postcard featuring a QR code that allows access to the online app, as shown below. Postcards are already available in strategic places in the village of Calasetta (the municipality, the tourist info point, and the two museums) and anyone can play. A story with riddles allows the discovery of the territory and the associated stories.
This kind of Heritage Grame app can support university courses and investigations that develop the transmission, enhancement, and use of vernacular knowledge in the design of new sustainable architecture. It may also work as an instrument to disseminate knowledge of local culture for tourists.
