Cultural Education in Ace

[chungsie]

Hi everyone.


So I slept like 7 hours ago, and can't fall back to sleep


There was an announcement by an indie dev with Unity about a project that was a cultural immersion for the Atna. You play as a young Atna girl with her pet wolf, and change povs with the wolf and her, and explore Atna culture such as lore and legends and myths. The game is meant to educate people as well as preserve the culture on the Atna.


So I was wondering... Would people be interested in a series of games similar to that? There are so many mainstream games these days for Rome and Greece and Persia, as well as select barbarians, and many japanese based games. But there are few other cultures represented in gaming.


I was thinking of making an Aztec game similar in scope as to the aforementioned Atna game. Only you play as an outsider to the Aztec, perhaps a Mayan, and you have to learn the language and explore the Aztec empire; there would be mythological creatures, legends, lore. And the questlines would be central to those themes. Would people want to play such a game?


I have considered making other culture specific games later, such as a Ojibwe game, and/or an Ethiopian game (Swahili). But I wanted to make sure it would be something that interested people first.


Probably though, I would not be able to afford the resources I need, or even be capable of making them myself, but it seems it's worth a try. 

 

[Canini]

I would definitely be interested in playing it. I am working on something similar, but with norse myth/society. 

 

[Wavelength]

YES! - this is a win/win in almost every way for the designer, the gamer, and the culture being depicted, as long as it's done well.  It can be beautifully immersive and serve as a great hook for learning even more about a culture than the game directly depicts.


One thing that often needs to be reconciled is a clash in values between our modern core beliefs and those of a culture whose glory days were in the past.  A lot of the things that Aztecs, some Mayans, or certain African cultures took for granted during their height would be things we (and possibly their modern descendants) find completely confounding or repulsive today - sacrifice, ceremonial warfare, self-mutilation, etc.  For that matter, the same is true of Japan (samurai beheading anyone who looked at them the wrong way), Rome (extremely cruel version of slavery), Greece (philosophies that literally no modern human shares), and honestly any culture that has been around long enough to stand the test of time.  An authentic experience would need to show these things as normal and accepted in their culture, but the move in most cases is probably to mostly gloss over them - if you want someone to appreciate the culture and learn about it more on their own (as well as enjoy your game), it's usually better not to put them off with the uncomfortable, repulsive, or hard-to-comprehend.

 

[chungsie]

I will need to find a good source for one. An article on the internet (not wiki) said that the Aztec had mandatory universal education.


But I'm glad you two find it useful and a fun idea


@Wavelength ya I was wondering about content filters.

 

[TheOriginalFive]

Be sure you know the culture well enough not to fall back on outdated stereotypes.


I've slipped in a few references to Chinese religious mythology in my project, especially the "no-big-deal" attitude towards canonized heroes' depictions in pop culture. Other possibly lesser known facts are the symbolism behind names and why you don't see successive generations of Meiling I, Meiling II*, etc.


*You're not supposed to name kids after famous people or those already in the family.