Cimarron: Palenquera language

Learn the Palenquera language while playing games

Colombian territory, specifically in the department of Bolivar, municipality of Mahates, is located San Basilio de Palenque, intangible heritage of humanity, recognized as the first free town in America, founded by Maroons.

What is a Cimarrón? You may ask... Well, in the times of slavery, when an enslaved person took the attitude of rebellion and escaped, he was called cimarrón, in a derogatory way, as this is how animals are called in the same context.

San Basilio de Palenque, founded by maroons, took shelter in the mountains, developing its own culture, society, gastronomy, economy, ideology and of course, linguistics, with the language of the palenquero criollo, a language that was enriched by the union of different maroons from different parts of the world.

That said, I present the Cimarrón project, a mobile video game that is part of a digital, educational and transmedia strategy, which seeks to promote and preserve the Palenquero Creole language, which today is in a worrying situation of vitality.

In this game, you help a ribbon doll to collect words of the language in a magic dictionary, while practicing and playing many mini-games, collecting trophies and periodically unlocking multiple words.

This game is important because I am using the most interactive medium available to give these fruits of human history the importance they deserve.

Thinking in the long term to continue developing, in a social and collaborative way, platforms that enrich various languages of Colombia and the world.