Coming soon to Roblox: Back to Batoche, Métis history and the Michif language

Thousands of people collect in Saskatchewan every yr for plunk for to Batoche, a four-day fete celebrating Métis identity operator, resilience and history. 

A virtual Roblox replica of the festival is now in the making through a partnership between Maskwa Games and Métis Nation—Saskatchewan (MN-S).

"It allows people that are either visiting Batoche to bring home a piece of Batoche, or if you've never been to it before, like myself, and want to go, you can visit it at any time," said Joshua Nilson, the developer of Maskwa Games. 

The partners decided on Roblox because of its popularity, he said. 

"Roblox is now the biggest game platform in the world, especially for Generation Z and Generation Alpha."

The game is called a virtual twin and will not only feature the virtual Batoche grounds, but also a learning and interactive piece. 

It will feature heritage Michif, also known as southern Michif, a distinct language of the Métis people that blends Plains Cree and French.

Heritage Michif is typically spoken in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Montana. It's also considered an endangered Indigenous language.

Andrea Fiss, director of early learning and sports for MN-S, said the're working with language keepers and elders to help with in-game translations.

"So this game, because it's at Batoche, we focused on heritage Michif. And so that's the language that you'll see within the game also embedded in there," Fiss said. 

Along with learning the language, players are welcomed into an interactive environment. 

"Walking through the Batoche grounds, they can go to the children's area, they can go to the Voyageur games, they can go to the horse races, and they can go to all these different places that we have when we have our Batoche festival. And they can go to all of these same places in the game and interact," Fiss said. 

It will include an Indian Relay minigame, an axe-throwing game, animal decorative cutout props, a food truck with multiple cultural foods, and a log-sawing minigame.

"Those people that can't make it out to Batoche or who have never been there or for one reason or another can't get out there, this is a way to bring Batoche to them, just a little piece of Batoche, so that they can experience it also," Fiss said.

Nilson has been a developer since 2002. Developing the game was a breeze because of how easy Roblox makes it, he said. 

"Before, it would take us two or three years and millions of dollars to make a game. Now we can do it in weeks or months and then push it out, just because a lot of the tools now are open and anyone can do that in three, four months to five months worth of work."

The chariot race was one of his favourite things to build, Nilson said.

"I think the coolest thing is that we're probably also going to be the first and biggest horse race game on Roblox. So we had to build that from scratch because that stuff doesn't exist on Roblox," he said.

The game is currently accepting MN-S citizens aged 18 to 29 to test and play the game. 

"We're going to bring some youth together and they're going to take some training on how to make the game program and do that kind of stuff. So a way to bring youth in so that they can, you know, wet their feet in this kind of programming area, if they're interested," Fiss said.

"And it also helps us because in the future, you know, we can maybe go to our youth and they can also help support the development of possible future games."

During this year's Back to Batoche festival, from July 16 to 19, attendees will be able to play the game.

"We'll be out there with some iPads so people will get a chance to maybe play the game. Maskwa Games is going to be there," Fiss said.

Associate Producer, Indigenous Pathways

Randi LaRocque is a Métis woman working as an associate producer with the Indigenous Pathways program. She can be reached at randi.larocque@cbc.ca

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