Robben Island game in the works

North West University’s Serious Games Institute in South Africa is currently developing a game, which will serve as an educational tool,  that takes place on the apartheid prison on Robben Island

iAfricaCooltech are citing the developer Werner Ravyse, of North West University’s Serious Games Institute in South Africa, who revealed the details of the interesting project.

Players will be able to navigate around the prison, seeing scenes that would be common there, in the prison that incarcerated famous anti-apartheid activists including Nelson Mandela.

Discussions are reportedly still ongoing as to whether Madiba will feature in the game, as the use of his image requires permission.

The game is one of several projects for ‘Mandela 27’ that highlight social and cultural events that influenced societal change in South Africa and Europe during our former president’s incarceration.

“The project is really all about the cultural events that happened during the 27 years that Nelson Mandela was locked up,” said Jacqueline Cawston of Coventry University’s Serious Games Institute in Britain.

The game is expected to be ready by 2014.