Bringing history to life

Unlikely UCI trio designs educational computer game that immerses players in 18th-century Ghana

Despite almost a decade in the gaming industry, UCI computer science professor Magda El Zarki has never worked on anything quite like “Sankofa.” The recently completed computer game – created by El Zarki and a colleague, UCI history professor Patricia Seed – follows a young protagonist navigating an unconventional environment for the gaming world: 18th-century Ghana.

The immersive visual software is an attempt to “bring the cultural history of Ghana to life through gameplay,” Seed says, while “providing a learning experience that you couldn’t get in any other way.”

Read the full story at UCI News.