Meet the Academic Team
Meet our Academic Team!
The plan for the interactive diorama of Gradara is to combine playability and historical accuracy/plausibility. In that respect, Oshiro Model terrain and the other game designers and companies who will populate the model will work alongside two academic leads, whom you can see in this picture. Both of them have plenty of gaming experience.
To the left is Gianluca Raccagni, a medievalist from the University of Edinburgh, where he also directs the History and Games Lab. Gianluca claims that his visits to Gradara with his parents when he was a child played a key role in his desire to become a medievalist! It was Gianluca who suggested to create the model. He was inspired by games conventions and was frustrated by all those beautiful dioramas in museums and heritage sites that are kept out of reach to the public. He also loved the splendid Idro-Ecomuseo of Ridracoli, where there is a 1980s-playable diorama of the local dam that can be touched and operated (including real water!). Gianluca and his children much preferred that to the recent digital displays!
To the right is Daniele Sacco, a medieval archaeologist from the University of Urbino who lives locally and has a deep knowledge of the history of Gradara and its area.
Talking of historical accuracy, as charming as that gate in the background is, it will not be included in the model because it was not there in the fifteenth centutry!
