The Sericum Via
A non-linear serious game about the Silk Roads of Iran: the player travels between Safavid caravanserais and has to make strategic decisions to survive the journey.
- ROLE
- Game developer, story and game designer, serious game researcher
- ADVISOR
- Prof. Güzden Varinlioğlu
- VENUE
- ASCAAD 2021 conference
- BUILT WITH
- Twine
The aim
The project preserves and disseminates the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Iran's Silk Roads and their caravanserais by developing and testing a serious game.
The game
The Sericum Via has a non-linear narrative. The player makes a long journey visiting Safavid caravanserais, using detailed information about each one. The strategic environment demands decision-making throughout, and the game is challenging enough that players want to come back to it.
Early on, the player chooses which season to start in, and that choice changes the difficulty of later stages. Status such as coins, food packages, health and days left stays visible, so travel is a resource problem and not only a lesson.
Process
The branching structure was designed and iterated in Twine, where the whole story graph is visible at once. The alpha version was playtested and presented at the conference, and the game later grew into the two released titles, The Sericum Via I and II.
Outcome
- Best Presentation Award, ASCAAD 2021.
- Featured in ASCAAD 2021 highlights and on the İzmir University of Economics news page (best article award for the Silk Road article).
- Part of the Digital Caravanserai series with Anatolian Journey and Khan Game.
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