Paccha: An Immersive Game about Life in Ancient Peru

FAIN: MT-304037-25

University of Texas, San Antonio (San Antonio, TX 78249-1644)
Rebecca Bria (Project Director: June 2024 to present)

Development of a prototype of a VR game that explores the history of Peru and teaches archaeological methods.  

This project will create the prototype for Paccha, an immersive, community-informed, narrative puzzle game and humanities curriculum that exposes players to the everyday lives of ancient Peruvians as they established civilization and innovated new societies over thousands of years in a place called Hualcayan (3000 BC-AD 1532). The game will have a high entertainment value for the general public with state-of-the-art graphics, the option for interactive virtual reality experiences, and powerful storytelling. Yet the game's core goal is to teach key concepts about the methods and sources of archaeological information, the processes of long-term social change, the diverse cultures and societies of people in Andean South America, and the value of Indigenous knowledge. An interactive online curriculum will allow educators to explore these humanities lessons more explicitly in high school and college classrooms and provide an opportunity for the general public to discover source material.