“UCI trio designs educational computer game that immerses players in 18th-century Ghana”
““Sankofa” gets its name from a word in Twi meaning “go back and seek it,” which, according to Seed, is how players of the interactive, three-dimensional game learn the history of the Asante Kingdom, a West African society located in modern-day Ghana.
Gamers follow a young girl as she wanders through the local marketplace; creates a storytelling cloth; and explores Asante folk tales, spirits and legends. The ethnographically authentic landscape allows players to discover aspects of 18th-century Ghanian life that they might not encounter in a classroom.
“It’s a unique game,” says El Zarki, director of UCI’s Institute for Virtual Environments & Computer Games. “The learning goals are different from other games, because this is really about teaching an underrepresented culture.””
