| Discover Babylon | Escape Hatch Entertainment | 2007 | |
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This is a learning game disguised as an entertainment title, and was very successful in teaching students the history of Mesopotamia through a time travel adventure. The developers worked closely with historians, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and archaeologists to create a game that was fun while sneaking in education. It was funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) intended to promote collaboration between museums and libraries. It features about fifty minutes of game play. This full prototype is powered by Vicious Cycle's commercial game engine. It uses sophisticated video gaming strategies and realistic digital environments to engage the learner in challenges and activities that can be solved only by developing an understanding of Mesopotamian culture and history. It opens with a cataclysmic event — a series of earthquakes in the city of Baltimore. The setting for these opening scenes is the WAM, faithfully reconstructed via hundreds of digital photographs. The player quickly learns that the earthquakes are being caused by a time-traveling archaeologist named Dexter, who is accidentally and unknowingly wreaking havoc with the fabric of time. The storyline then unfolds, compelling the player to go on a series of missions to ancient Iraq, "leaping" into the body of several historically attested characters in the ancient cities of Uruk and Ur. | ||
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