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Greece is the word – according to learning game Dionysian Dream
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With kids as game happy and media-savvy as they are these days, looks like educators are finally getting it—if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Increasingly, games are being used to present information to students in new, more compelling ways. Developer Phantom Compass out of Toronto is busily working on a game that will bring classical Greek drama to life for today's kids, allowing them to interact with some of ancient Greece's most important playwrights and fictional characters. Whether at home or in the classroom, players must uncover the identity of a mysterious protagonist through critical thinking, exploration and strategy while having the weirdly contemporary responsibility of “bringing closure to the protagonist’s unresolved addiction and family issues.”
“Dionysian Dream looks at historic Greek drama through a contemporary lens,” said Phantom Compass founding director Tony Walsh. “We use the Euripides play ‘The Bacchae’ as a springboard to explore timeless social issues such as alcohol abuse, familial estrangement and sexual identity. We’re going places most games-and gamers-fear to tread.” Phantom took on this ambitious task in cooperation with experts such as York University professor Dr. Nanci White, award-winning veteran of the motion picture and interactive industries James Allan and game designer Steve Tassie, who has performed Greek tragedy as a classically-trained actor.
While the team sounds capable and the concept is interesting, I can't help but worry the developers are destined to dilute Greek drama the way filmmakers did the original—and brilliantly weird—Willy Wonka movie when they did the mediocre, psycho-babble-heavy 2005 film remake. Kids are smart folks; they get it. There's no need for spoon-feeding.
Dionysian Dream is currently in development and the progress of the project can be followed at Phantom's official website for the game. Dionysian Dream comes out later this year 2009 for Mac and PC and will be sold both to academic institutions and individual consumers.
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