Picture Levels

As you successfully play a picture or puzzle its scene level will progress.

Beginning with the Harvest Festival Update (September-October 2016), there are 9 levels available for each picture and puzzle in the game. The levels, in order, are: Novice, Trainee, Detective, Pro, High Explorer, Academician, Magister, Professor, Grand Magister.

Each new level is represented on your Home Desktop by a different colour picture frame.

For a complete list of the increasing energy and special item demands along with the potential rewards at each Picture Scene Level, see the Picture/Puzzle Rewards and Demands article.

Picture Level Progress
Each time you successfully investigate a picture or win a puzzle mini-game you will increase its current scene level progress. Once you reach 100% on a level the scene will be upgraded to the next level and the picture or puzzle will show a new picture frame on your Home Desktop.

The rate of progress for each successful play differs for each level, with the higher levels requiring more plays for each percentage increase.

By tapping on the photo of a picture or puzzle you bring up that picture/puzzles Research Window. The current scene level is displayed below the photo of the picture/puzzle in the research window. Beneath this is a green progress bar, showing the percentage completion of the current level. This bar will fill the more you play that picture or puzzle until it reaches 100%.

You will be given a notification of scene level advancement at the end of the investigation/puzzle game that brings the scene level to 100%. This notification appears before the rewards window that tells you what you have won for the successful picture/puzzle play and contains a graphic that changes colour to the new levels frame colour.

Rewards for Playing and Picture Level
Some collection items and elements that combine collections are only unlocked when the picture/puzzle reaches a certain level. Successful investigations of the picture or puzzle on lower levels will not reward those collection items or elements.

For example, in Tree of Dates: the picture must be at Trainee level or higher to reward the needle, pin and thread combining elements; the picture must be at Detective level or higher to reward the heart and postcard combining elements and the picture must be at Pro level or higher to reward the rose and candle combining elements.

If you are looking for an item and are told that it can be found in a particular picture or puzzle, check the 'Can be found' list in the research window before playing. The 'Can be found' list appears below the scene level progress bar, directly above the green 'Research' button, and can be scrolled through using the arrows on either side. If the item does not appear in the 'Can be found' section of the Research Window for that picture/puzzle it may be at too low a level to reward that item.

(note: in the case of pictures, some items also require the picture to be in a certain picture mode, so the item may not be on the 'Can be found' list because the picture is not in the right game mode even though it is at the right level).

Special Items and Picture Level
Some pictures in the game require special items in addition to energy points for each play. Fireflies are required to play Night Garden; Ladybugs are required to play the Mill; Carrots are required to play Illusionist's Room; Cupid's Arrows are required to play Tree of Dates; and Tokens are required to play Observation Deck. Holiday pictures may have their own special item requirements during Holiday Challenges, such as Christmas Balls being required for a new Christmas-themed picture until a future update makes the picture available to play without special items. Non-holiday challenge pictures usually require special items also. Again, this requirement will usually be eliminated by a future update.

The number special items needed for each play of a picture increases as the picture's level increases. At higher levels a large number of special items may be required for each play of that picture.

It may sometimes be beneficial to leave a picture that requires special items on a lower level if you expect to have a number of quests that require investigating that picture later. But this approach may backfire if the items needed for the quest can only be won when the picture has reached a certain level.

Picture Levels Rate of % Progress Pre-Halloween2014 update
Below is the list of levels for each picture from lowest level to highest level prior to the 2014 Halloween Update. Originally, all Pictures followed the same rate of progress at each picture level. The frame colour, rate of scene progress for play of a picture/puzzle at that level and special item requirement for a picture at that level is noted. Please note the frame decoration noted here is as seen on an iPad 1st generation, and the picture frame appearance may vary with the device the game is played on.

Note: the Grand Magister level did not exist in the game at this time but is included in the above table, as it would presumably have behaved the same way as it does today since only the Picture Levels below High Explorer were impacted by the Halloween 2014 Update's changes.

Picture Levels Rate of % Progress Halloween2014 update onwards
The Halloween2014 update made slight changes to how the picture levels progress. The rate of progress per play of a picture on any picture level now varies depending on the picture. This means that progress on some pictures is slower than on other pictures. As a rule of thumb, the lower the experience level you require to unlock a certain Picture, the quicker the progress per play of that picture will be on the first 4 Picture levels (Novice - Pro). Pictures that require players to be on a much higher game level to unlock will have slower progress per play for the first 4 Picture levels. The rate of progress of the final 4 Picture levels (High Explorer - Professor) remains the same for all Pictures. Pictures that don't obey this rule of thumb are highlighted in red.

Picture Levels table notes
Note1: The Event Picture Column contains either a value of Yes or No to indicate whether the picture was introduced as part of a timed challenge. Any Event Picture above a normal opening level of 7 is given a temporary unlocking level of 7 to allow all players to take part in these timed challenges. They have also been given level 7 equivalent fast rates of progress for Novice-Pro levels, to allow players to reach Academician level for the Update's timed challenges with fewer overall plays of the picture. Once a picture is opened at this lower level, the picture will remain open regardless of the player's actual game level, however, if not opened before the next major update, the player will no longer be able to take advantage of the lower opening level and will be required to wait until the  'pay to play' or normal picture opening level has been attained. The picture levels Novice-Pro then return to the normal slower progress per play as indicated to reflect this higher unlocking level.

Note2: N/A (Not Applicable) TBD (To Be Determined)

Note3: The Tavern Update (May-June 2014) introduced a new 'pay-to-play' method for unlocking pictures. This is typically, but not always, two levels before the normal ‘free’ level. (See the table for both levels for all pictures.) At the lower level, the player may unlock the picture by using crystals. By waiting two more levels, the player may instead find four pieces of the picture by playing other pictures. If the picture on the desktop is gray with a closed padlock, the player’s level is not yet to the lower of these two levels. Clicking on the locked picture will open a window stating the lower level (‘pay-to-play’ level) that is required. If the picture on the desktop is gray with an open padlock, the player has reached the ‘pay-to-play’ level, but has not yet reached the ‘free’ level. Clicking on this picture will open a window stating the normal ‘free’ level. The player can choose to unlock the picture sooner by using crystals. When the player reaches the normal ‘free’ level, a new game task will automatically start, asking the player to find four pieces of the new picture by researching other pictures. Clicking on the picture before all four pieces are found will open a window offering to open the picture with crystals instead of the missing piece(s). Finally, after finding the four pieces, clicking on the picture will open a window allowing unlocking the picture ‘for free’. Regardless of how the picture is ‘unlocked’, the player will also be required to use coins and energy, and assemble a ‘jigsaw’, to fully complete the process of opening the picture.

Prior to the Tavern Update, each picture had one level at which it could be unlocked.

The picture at right, from a Level 111 player, shows three stages of locks. Wonder Shop is free to open at Level 107. The player has found all four pieces of the picture, but has not completed the process to open Wonder Shop. Mountain Resort is free to open at Level 112, and can be opened with crystals at Level 110. This player is between those levels, and the picture appears gray with an open padlock. Spring Festival and Camping Site both require higher than level 111 to open, even with crystals, so they appear gray with a closed padlock. The picture below shows the message upon clicking on the locked Polar Station picture. The image on the left is what appears below Level 16. The image on the right is from Level 16.



The number of special items needed to play each level remains the same as before the Halloween2014 update, as does the frame colours used to indicate what level a picture is currently on.

The progress rate at each picture level a player experiences will depend on the update version of the game they are playing. Any game that has the Halloween2014 or later update (have the Forest House and Theater pictures), will use the new game level based progress rate. Any game that has the Treasure Island Update or lower update version (does not have the Forest House and Theater pictures), will use the old standard progress rate. Players using the Mac computer platform have not been provided with all of the updates, however, they have received updates for all pictures up through and including Vikings Village delivered in the Raven's Test Update (October 2017), which means they are now also using the new standard progress rate. The Halloween2014 or newer updates were always available on all other platforms, so whether a player saw the new or old progress rate in their pictures depended entirely on whether they have chosen to update to the latest version of the game available to them. However, a change to the package release process occurred with the release of The Guardian of the Desert/Raven's Test Update (July/August 2017) which forced all players to apply this update in order to continue to play the game with the exception of Windows 8/8.1 players. Windows 8/8.1 is now excluded from receiving any new updates but may continue to play the game. The last picture available to Windows 8/8.1 players was Ship's Deck.

Note: players using iPad 1, which cannot update to iOS 6 or above, are no longer able to receive updates since the Christmas 2014 update. However, if these players have updated to the Halloween2014 update, which is still available to them, they will still see the new picture level progress rates.

Puzzle Levels
The order and requirements of levels for puzzles are identical to those for early level pictures listed above.

Special Goals 'Reach Academician Level'
As a guide, if a challenge or special task requires getting to 'Academician level' (purple-pink frame) on a picture, this will now require 150 plays and 3,285 special items if they are needed for that picture (e.g. Pumpkin Lanterns for Halloween-themed pictures, or Christmas Balls for Christmas-themed pictures.) Before the Halloween2014 update changed the Picture level progress rates, the same challenge would have required approximately 155 plays and approximately 3,350 special items.

Maximum Progress?
Although Grand Magister Level is currently the maximum level obtainable in the game, it is still possible to play a Picture or Puzzle after reaching 100% on Grand Magister level. The player receives a reward of a lunch box and the progress tracker resets to 0% Grand Magister. There is no upper limit to this. Pictures and Puzzles can be played as many times as a player wishes.

Originally, the highest level in the game was High Seeker (now called High Explorer) Level. The Academician and Magister levels were added later by an update to the game; and Professor level being introduced by a separate update later (Treasure Island Update). The most recently introduced level (added by the Harvest Festival Update) is currently Grand Magister.

When Academician (and Magister) level were added to the game, any progress a player had over 100% High Seeker was lost. If a player was at 100% High Seeker when the new levels were added, then the picture would automatically upgrade to Academician level on their next play of the picture/puzzle. The Picture/Puzzle would start at 0% Academician. Higher progress, above 100%, was lost. If the player was at 450% on a Picture, for example, they would still start at 0% Academician Level on their next play of the picture.

This problem was solved when Professor level was added to the game by a later update. This time, all progress above 100% Magister was converted into progress at Professor level at the rate of progress of Professor level. For example, if a player was at 160% Magister on a picture when Professor level was introduced, then they would have played 240 games after reaching 100% Magister (60 multiplied by 4, the number of plays needed to increase by 1% at Magister level). That picture would automatically start at 40% Professor when the level was introduced (240 plays divided by 6, the number of plays needed to increase by 1% at Professor level).

When Grand Magister level were added to the game, once again previous progress was lost instead of converted. Any progress a player had over 100% Professor was lost. If a player was at 100% Professor when the new level was added, then the picture would automatically upgrade to Grand Magister level on their next play of the picture/puzzle. The Picture/Puzzle would start at 0% Grand Magister. Higher progress, above 100%, was lost. If the player was at 450% on a Picture, for example, they would still start at 0% Grand Magister Level on their next play of the picture. This may have been related to a new mechanism added to the Picture Levels alongside Grand Magister Level - upon reaching Grand Magister Level players are informed that they will receive a reward of a lunch box for reaching 100% on that level.

High Seeker renamed High Explorer
The Harvest and Halloween Update (October 2016) brought a number of name changes to the game, centered around removing the word "Seeker" from the game and replacing it with the word "Explorer". This may have been related to the game developer's (MyTona) second Hidden Object game, which was named Seeker's Notes: Hidden Mystery (previously titled Seeker's Notes: Mysteries of Darkwood), although the change in the Secret Society game was only implemented a year after Seeker's Notes was released.

During this change, the 5th Picture Level "High Seeker" was renamed "High Explorer", the tool "Seeker's Eye" was renamed "Explorer's Eye" and the "Seekers" category (number of Quests completed) of the Top 1000 list was renamed "Explorers".

Note that older images on the wiki will still show the old name "High Seeker" but other than the name, everything else about the Level remains unchanged (e.g. same frame colour, progress rate and special item requirements), so the information in the image is still accurate, just with an older name for the Level displayed.

Related

 * SS Home
 * Picture/Puzzle Levels Rewards and Demands
 * Home Desktop
 * List of Pictures
 * Picture Modes
 * List of Puzzles
 * Experience Levels
 * Energy
 * Updates
 * Halloween2014 Update