MANN – Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

About the practice

The realization of the videogame has been implemented thanks to the collaboration with TuoMuseo, an international collective of artists and professional that work specifically in the field of art and videogames.

The museum has organized a collaboration with its own experts to create the content: first there has been an exchange meeting, and then together they have build a narration, since the videogame is a story where the user can make choices and influence the ending of it.

Considering the topic of the videogame, the experts have decided to choose a 2D technology.

The game represents not only the museum, but also the city, and it underlines the connection between them and the role that the museum plays in the city as one of its symbols. Therefore, the realization has needed a study of the city and its places, that has been realized through watercolour images, and a soundtrack developed specifically for the videogame.

About the institution

Father and Son is a videogame available for free online, where the main character is a child who passes through different historical ages in Naples; the choices he makes determine also the development of the story in the game. The videogame reproduces 3 km of the real streets of Naples, and the player meets in his time-travel constant figures that are related to the contemporary Naples.

Context

The goal is to promote the museum to the public and to present its content not in a didactic way, but to show that archaeology can be fun and interesting also for young people. In 2017 there is a new strategy of improvement of the museum image and broadening of its audience development. This has been realized through different methods and channels, and, among this, there has been the idea of creating a videogame.

Location

Naples, Campania region, Italy

Success factors

Interactive, international, local-focuse

The videogame, available as app both for android and ioS, have been downloaded more than 4 mln times, in around 97 countries. It is interesting to notice that 43% of the downloads have been in China, and that it has reached the target group: 45% of the downloads are from people under 15 years old, and the rest is on average downloaded by users under 30 years old.

The videogame has added the possibility of unlocking particular content by geolocalization in the museum, as a way to invite people to come and visit the museum in person. In 2020, 37.700 people have used this function.

Target audience

Since its start the target group has been composed of a public of young people but not very young, and it has always aspired to reach the international public

Sustainability

The museum keeps updating the videogame to avoid obsolescence, and to make it downloadable also on recent devices. The museum also keeps working on its promotion, and it is about to launch a second version of the game, based on different scenarios but always in Naples. 

The updates are also related to the reality and contemporary issues: the second version is going to have also a female main character. 

To replicate it, it is necessary to work with a developer, as the content is very specific and needs an expertise. TuoMuseo has actually already implemented another videogame, starting from this experience, in collaboration with the museum MArTA of Taranto

Digital tools

The museum has worked with TuoMuseo, a collective of technology experts that work in the field of art, and therefore the work with technological tools has been done outside of the museum.

Funding

The project has been financed internally only

Plans

From the start in 2017 it has been downloadable in Italian and English. In November 2017 have been added: Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish and Portuguese. In 2018 the app has been developed also in German and Arabic. 

In 2020 it has been added the app in Neapolitan dialect, to underline the connection between the museum and the city. Further functionalities are planned.