The Anatolian Journey
A serious game that carries information about Seljuk caravanserais on Turkey's Silk Roads, and a study of whether playing it teaches more than reading the same content.
- ROLE
- Game developer, story and game designer, serious game researcher
- ADVISORS
- Prof. Güzden Varinlioğlu and Prof. Balaban
- VENUE
- eCAADe 2021 conference
- BUILT WITH
- Twine
The aim
The study proposes a serious game, developed on the Twine platform, to transmit information on the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Seljuk caravanserais located on the Silk Roads in Turkey.
The research question
The research compares the knowledge gains of undergraduate and graduate students who play the game with those of students who meet the same content in text form and then answer an online survey. That makes the game an instrument for measuring learning rate, not only a piece of heritage communication.
The game
The player starts a journey in the city of Attalia and continues to the Kızılören Han Caravanserai in Konya. A map of Turkey, colored by climate zone, shows the road, the passed road, the current location and the caravanserais, and puzzles about architectural details (for example, the name of a decoration) test what the player has noticed along the way.
Outcome
- Ivan Petrovic Prize, awarded annually by eCAADe for the best presentation by a young researcher, 2021.
- Covered by the eCAADe conference page and by Istanbul Technical University and İzmir University of Economics news pages.
- One of three games in the Digital Caravanserai series.
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