Cultural Geography Blog

Roblox is a very popular game. For several years, Helen Young has been working with the BBC and several companies to produce some immersive geographical experiences based on the game engine to add to BBC Bitesize's offerings for students. Details were published here of the results of all that work. Planet Planners on Roblox is a new geography game from BBC Bitesize delivering learning mapped to the KS3 geography curriculum (and equivalent) in an immersive and engaging way. Planet Planners on Roblox offers a new way for students aged 11-14 to learn about some of the world’s most pressing challenges – from preparing for natural disasters to managing large cities. A decision-making game with geographical thinking at its core, Planet Planners on Roblox develops essential skills like teamwork, time management, resilience, critical thinking and strategic planning as well as an understanding of human and physical geography. It is accessed via Roblox – an immersive platform for 3D experie...

I've been working on a little project with some very fine people and it's now almost ready to launch on the BBC's Planet Planners area of Bitesize. It involves Roblox. A sneak preview of something I’ve made a small contribution to, working with some very fine people who’ve done most of the hard work and which is coming soon to BBC Bitesize…. if you were at the Festival of Education last week, you may have seen one of the flyers for this new addition to the Planet Planners section of the website.   Planet Planners will be accessible via Roblox for added interactivity. I’ve had an input in the teacher materials that accompany the varied geography scenarios.

I missed this exciting additional option for creating visually beautiful towns as a mindfulness or creative exercise... Townscaper is a game created by Oskar Stålberg. I have the original STEAM game which was launched in October 2021. The game can also be played in a browser. The only restriction is a smaller grid and no save function – other than that you can let your imagination go wild. As the browser option has a smaller grid, your cities will not be as impressive as the ones you can make with the full version on Steam, which is still available for just a few pounds. Have a go, and thank me later :)

I've been following Keir Clarke since the early days of Google Earth and he has always shared fascinating map links, many of which I have shared here and on my other blogs. His latest (ish) is a game he has been developing called Scrambled Maps. Go here to give it a go.

A new version of the classic board game 'Catan' is coming out soon. Various websites give different dates. It can be pre-ordered from a number of places. I'm definitely interested in this... It’s the 21st Century and Catan is at a crossroads. Long gone is the agrarian society of the island’s Viking ancestors. Today’s Catanians need energy to keep society moving and growing, but pollution is wreaking havoc on the island. You must decide: Invest in clean energy resources or opt for cheaper fossil fuels, potentially causing disastrous effects for the island? CATAN – New Energies is a brand new standalone game that is rooted in classic CATAN mechanics of harvesting, trading, and building. New gameplay elements including power plants, energy tokens, and environmental events add new strategies and stories to a familiar foundation. Beautiful art by Ian O'Toole brings players from the age of the Vikings into the present day with a striking new rendering of the island of Catan....

An oldish article from Canadian Geography Education on the geographical nature of video games: particularly the cartography. It dates from 2019. It starts with a well-known quote from J. R. R. Tolkien. I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit.” —J.R.R. Tolkien Map from Diablo IV - I spent a LOT of time playing the original Diablo I and II games back in the day. Source:  https://mapgenie.io/diablo-4/maps/sanctuary

I've just sorted a PRO subscription to the GeoGuessr site for the department. Several students requested it a while back. I used to play this when it first came out in 2013. It was developed by Anton Wallén , and was originally free, but has moved to a subscription based model and now has a thriving community and a whole range of boards and challenges, including trying to identify countries in a streak as well as a daily challenge. There is also the option to create your own map using the Map Maker tool. There are lots of sites giving tips on how to identify countries from a range of clues. It also makes use of Google Street View, which doesn't cover the whole world of course. A map of the coverage is here. Interestingly, the game gained a lot of additional popularity during lockdown when people started playing it as a way of 'travelling the world'. This article looks at the value of playing the game, particularly during lockdown. There are some very sophisticated grou...

I first came across this game in July 2020 when it was on early access on Steam, and sadly not available for iOS. I coveted it. It's created by Oscar Stålberg. I downloaded it a couple of months ago, and have finally had a few hours to get to play with it, and it's excellent and very calming. I shall probably be posting numerous screenshots in different locations over the next few days. There's a GUIDE here , although you can start playing immediately by choosing a colour, scrolling around the existing town and then clicking in different directions. I love watching the seagulls circling and settling on the rooves as well. Here's the description on Steam. It currently costs £4.79 Build quaint island towns with curvy streets. Build small hamlets, soaring cathedrals, canal networks, or sky cities on stilts. Block by block. No goal. No real gameplay. Just plenty of building and plenty of beauty. That's it. Townscaper is an experimental passion project. More of a toy tha...

Carbon City Zero is a new Kickstarter project which is developed by the people behind 10:10 Climate Action. It's a card game which explores the idea of carbon reduction. Here's the description. As a newly appointed city mayor you have been tasked with creating a carbon neutral city. It sounds easy, but you'll soon discover that your carbon budgets are hard to balance. Can you hit the zero carbon target before your rivals? The race to become the first zero carbon city is on... Carbon City Zero is a deck-building game for 2-4 players, in which players develop a sustainable city by building factories, managing people, lobbying government ministers, and raising public awareness. Each player starts with an identical Draw Deck (and a Carbon Level of 40), buying additional cards from a shared Marketplace to create a more sustainable city. Balancing the need to generate income with reducing carbon, players can follow numerous paths to victory, creating synergies between Gov...