Incredible dar magazine issue 005

Kawaida’s Journey Mobile Game – Taking Swahili Culture to the World With: The Incredible Dar team recently came across a very interesting initiative started by a bunch of game developers from Germany and Tanzania who teamed together to produce an exciting mobile game, called Kawaida’s Journey that aimed to captured the unique essence of Swahili culture.

Being mobile game enthusiasts ourselves, and failing to hold back our excitement, we decided to get in touch with Kolja Bopp, Project Manager and Lead Game Designer for Kawaida’s Journey to know more about the game itself, their future projects and what made Kawaida’s Journey so different from thousands of other mobile games.

Q1) Your team is a unique blend of cultures and people coming from absolutely contrasting backgrounds.

How did you decide you wanted to create a mobile game that is based in Tanzania and depicts the Swahili culture?

Kolja Bopp: I lived and work in Tanzania for over a year and I fell in love with the wonderful Swahili culture and the East African way of living. When I came back to Germany I noticed that many people here in Europe only thought of poverty and problems when speaking about African countries like Tanzania. So, I thought it was time the great spirit of the Tanzanian environment and Swahili culture was shown to the world.

Q2) Tell us a little about the game Kawaida’s Journey.

KB: Kawaida’s Journey is an ambitious mobile game through which you can experience the spirit of East African nature and culture. The game is about the meaning of being at home (“nyumbani”) and so you help the young vervet monkey, Kawaida to 18 | Incredible Dar | 2015