Blog – DiG-iT! Games

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Roterra 4 – Magical Revolution

BETHESDA, Md. – January 30, 2023 – DiG-iT! Games® is excited to announce the release of Roterra® 4 – Magical Revolution, on App Store January 31, 2023. This is a blockbuster of puzzle content with over 70 newly hand-crafted puzzles across 35 levels for hours of challenging fun. Chapter 4 in the chart-topping series delivers a perspective challenging journey through the fairytale world of gravity twists, scrambled paths and rotating blocks. Players will travel through mysterious lava-filled caves, explore icy extremes and devastating deserts, and interact with the world of Roterra in new ways. Ride polar bears, fend off attacking scorpions and spin your world upside down with new mechanics in new environments.

Roterra 4 continues the Roterra gameplay, graphics and fairytale storyline that have earned numerous accolades from Apple editors, but with even more twists and perspective shifts. “We pulled out all the stops for Magical Revolution,” says Suzi Keehn, owner and lead game designer. “Just when you think you know how the world of Roterra works, we have shifted perspective on everything, from new ways to flip, toggle and shift your path to new game-world interactions and more intricate team play. Our exciting Penrose staircase maze literally changes your perspective and even our character relationships have been turned upside down: with the wizard surprisingly taking center stage in the battle for the crown of Roterra and controlling the world in new ways, former enemies Angelica and Orlando are forced to work together to save their realm. ”

The previous chart-topping and highly rated games in this series, Roterra—Flip the Fairytale, Roterra Extreme—Great Escape, and Roterra 3—A Sovereign Twist, have all been recognized by App Store Editors in Collections such as New Games We Love, Games with Amazing Art, Incredible Indies, and Pretty Cool Puzzles and Game of the Day selections. The series continues to earn high ratings from players for its pick-up and play design, innovative gameplay, clever puzzles and stunning graphics. The Roterra games are easy to start, hard to put down, and uniquely fun. Sometimes changing your point of view can make all the difference.

Coming soon: Roterra 3 and 4 will be available on Steam this Spring!

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/roterra-4-magical-revolution/id1636684183
Game Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDNB6lGhlWo
Game Website: https://playroterra.com
Studio Website: https://dig-itgames.com

Roterra 3 – A Sovereign Twist Pre-Orders

Return to the magical world of Roterra® where up is relative and the path ahead may actually be behind. Rotate, flip, and shift to change your perspective, find your way out of complex mazes, and claim the crown of Roterra!

In this continuation of the chart-topping Roterra series, Angelica and Orlando face off to rule the floating cube world where gravity is no obstacle. New challenges await as they turn and flip cubes to move the ground, open pathways, and overcome barriers. With all new puzzles, pick-up and play design, innovative gameplay and imaginative level design, Roterra 3—A Sovereign Twist will excite loyal fans and new players alike. Remember, all puzzles are solvable but getting from start to finish takes many steps as you flip paths and toggle switches to shift the world and clear your route. Advanced planning is highly recommended with these perspective-changing maps that include hidden paths, hard to reach switches and path-changing gems. You may get lost trying to figure out the impossible-looking puzzles, but you will never get stuck!

Roterra Series

What Players Are Saying

The Roterra Puzzle Game Series

Roterra – Flip The Fairytale

Roterra Extreme – The Great Escape

Roterra 3 – A Sovereign Twist (Coming Soon)

DiG-iT! Games® is a small woman-run game studio in Bethesda, MD dedicated to creating innovative game experiences.

International Archaeology Day 2021

Start digging up artifacts virtually in our free archaeology game Excavate! Egpyt

AIA Events

Play Excavate! Egypt

It is that time of the year again for International Archaeology Day on Saturday October 16, 2021. There are plenty of events available on the Archaeological Institute of America events calendar for in-person and virtual events.

DiG-iT Games is promoting archaeology day with a virtual event to promote archaeology and cultural awareness. The culture for 2021 is ancient Egypt. Introduce your family and friends to the fundamentals of archaeology in our online game Excavate! Egypt. Dig through multiple layers of strata across four culturally important sites to unearth over 50 artifacts. The game is free to play.

Ask The Game Developer

From 9:00AM to 5:00PM (US EST) the team at DiG-iT! Games®, including archaeologist Suzi Keehn (Wilczynski), will be available to answer questions through our help desk channel or social medial channels (@digitgames) about the game.

Play After October 16

Can’t find time to play on archaeology day? Excavate! Egypt is always free to play online. Play it with the family or integrate it into lesson plans in schools, museums and other cultural activities.

International Archaeology Day

from AIA

International Archaeology Day (IAD) is a celebration of archaeology and its contributions to society. Every October the AIA and archaeological organizations around the world present archaeological programs and activities for people of all ages and interests. Whether it is a family-friendly archaeology fair, a guided tour of a local archaeological site, a simulated dig, or a presentation from a visiting archaeologist, the interactive, hands-on IAD programs provide a chance to uncover the past and experience the thrill of discovery

Assyria Mesopotamia Lesson Plan

Ancient Assyria Mesopotamia

A World History Lesson Worksheet

An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Assyria in Mesopotamia. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Mesopotamia or use it in your ancient Mesopotamia world history classroom studies.Read More

Time to Play Outdoors!

Summer 2021 Newsletter

Hello Summer!

Summer is a great time to refresh and enjoy the outdoors with family and friends. This year fireworks will return to the sky on July 4th here in the United States and for other holidays around the world.
A special thanks from all of us at DiG-iT! Games to the educators and parents for making another school year happen under extraordinary circumstances. We were so happy that many of you brought game-based learning into your classrooms and homes over the past year and we hope to see you again next year.

Wishing you sunny days on your summer journeys.
The DiG-iT! Team

Excavate! Rome

We are reaching the end of the school year with our monthly free game campaign featuring Excavate! Rome. Join thousands of students and teachers who have experienced game-based learning with our games this school year. DiG-iT! Games has been very proud to support our teachers and parents in bringing free resources to the classroom during these challenging times.

During the 2020-2021 school year, students playing our educational games has never been higher. There are so many new archaeologists uncovering the civilizations of Rome, Greece, Egypt, Byzantine, Mesoamerica and Mesopotamia in Excavate!. Of course we can’t forget the many space explorers trying to save our planet with our Exotrex series focused on chemistry and planetary science.

The 2021-2022 school year will include some updates to the Excavate! series, while another math game is being developed. Don’t forget to integrate our free supplemental lesson plans into your plans next year. These are available for social studies and science educators.

Roterra Extreme Available on Google Play

Roterra Extreme – Great Escape

Arriving on Google Play

If you are one of our casual game players waiting for our Roterra sequel to arrive on the Google Play store, your wait will soon be over. Thanks to the many testers that played the early release version of Roterra Extreme – Great Escape, we will be releasing the Android version in July 2021. Enjoy our new desert environment and some amazingly challenging puzzles. You can pre- register now with the link below and share the news with your Android friends.

Vacation Time

Summer is here and for many a long overdue vacation is planned. It looks like our chipmunk character has found a nice place by the beach to chill. Wherever you vacation this year, we hope you have a wonderful time. We will be busy working on some new projects in between our vacation escapes. Our next puzzle game, featuring our chipmunk, is getting closer to being available for testing.

Enjoy Your Summer!!!

Roman History Lesson Plan – The Baths

Ancient Roman Baths

A Roman History Lesson Worksheet

An archaeology based analysis lesson plan on the importance of ancient Baths of Rome. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Rome or use it in your ancient Rome world history classroom studies.Read More

Maya Mesoamerican Lesson

Ancient Maya of Mesoamerica

A World History Lesson Worksheet

An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Maya Mesoamerica. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Mesoamerica or use it in your ancient Maya world history classroom studies. Invite students to describe artifacts and hypothesize their use in ancient Mesoamerica. Use describe, interpret, and evaluate (D-I-E) lessons to record archaeology artifact observations during game-play or as a per-lesson activity to check their hypotheses for accuracy. It is a fun way to prepare and engage with content while playing Excavate! Mesoamerica. The worksheet if free for teachers to download as a classroom resource.

Award Winning Excavate! Mesoamerica

Worth Every Penny

Loved by Thousands of Students and Educators

Play Here

Ancient Maya Lesson Overview

Objective:

Students will describe and infer the significance of Mayan artifacts found in an archaeological site in preparation for playing the Maya site in Excavate! Mesoamerica.

Duration:

Approximately 30 minutes with a potential follow-up lesson of 20 minutes (after playing the Maya site of Excavate! Mesoamerica or your standalone unit activity.

Materials:

This history lesson worksheet PDF document includes:

Student D-I-E organizer
Artifact Resource Sheet for the Maya site
Teacher answer sheet for the D-I-E organizer

Download PDF

Includes Ancient Mesoamerica lessons for Maya, Aztec, and Inca

The Mayan Artifacts

Four Artifacts for Students to Analyze in the Lesson Plan

Jade Necklace

Glyph Inscription

Maize God

Stingray Spines

Introduction: Describe

Estimated Time: 15 minutes

In this part of the worksheet activity you explain to students that they will be exploring artifacts related to the ancient Maya culture. Their first job is to carefully preview the artifacts by describing them in detail.

Step 1: Students look carefully at artifacts on the Artifact Resource Sheet.

Step 2: Students write descriptions of each artifact in the describe column of the Student D-I-E Organizer. Pay close attention that students are only writing descriptions and not explaining what the artifact is and how it is used.

Step 3: Share as a class the descriptions and notice if anyone has found a new detail or something that they initially did not see. Emphasize that spending time on the description step of this process is necessary for seeing all the details that can generate new insight.

Preparing to play Excavate! Mesoamerica: Interpret

Estimated Time: 15 Minutes

Playing the game is of course optional.

Step 4: Students hypothesize what each artifact would have been used for by answering the questions in the Interpret column of the Student D-I-E Organizer. Push students to back up their thoughts based on what they have included in their description.

Step 5: Share as a class and keep a record of what students think of each one of the artifacts. Do not correct students. Explain that as they play the game they will encounter these artifacts and will find out if their hypotheses were correct.

“I LOVED the analysis questions because it assisted the kids in seeing the “big” picture and making connections.”

5th Grade Social Studies, OH

Post-Game Recap: Evaluate

Estimated Time: 20 minutes

Step 6: Play the Maya Site of Excavate! Mesoamerica. Have students correct their interpretations on the Student D-I-E Organizer.

Step 7: Share new observations learned about each artifact while playing Excavate! Mesoamerica.

Step 8: Have students complete the Evaluate column in the Student D-I-E Organizer. See examples on the Teacher Answer Sheet.

This activity could be extended as follows:

Facilitate discussion on the importance of Maya society and how these artifacts have facilitated new insight.

Have students write a reflection on which artifact was the most surprising and why.

Sample Artifact Answer Key

Note: the PDF download contains all keys

Item:

Describe: What is the material of the artifact? What is its shape? Does it have any symbols?

The figure resembles a person.
There is a headdress and the figure has jewelry around its neck.
Made of either pottery or Stone

Teacher Reveal: This is a limestone carving of a person.

____________

Interpret:

What is it used for? What is this object?

There is a headdress, which must be symbolic
The hands are in a position which probably have meaning.

Teacher Reveal: This is a carving of a god.

____________

Evaluate:

What does the artifact tell us about the people that used this artifact? What does the artifact possibly tell them about their society?

Teacher Reveal: This sculpture made of limestone is a carving of the Maya Maize God. The figure is wearing an ear of corn headdress and represents the agricultural cycle, abundance, and prosperity.

Did you know?

Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula was once a bustling city for the Mayan civilization. With it’s amazing structures like El Castillo, the Great Ball Court, the observatory, and the Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza has been named one of the Seven Wonders of the New World.

Maya – MesoAmerica Teacher Resources

Artifact Based Question Prompts

These are additional lesson plan worksheets provided by DiG-iT! Games. Use this scene combined with artifacts from the game to have your students answer a DBQ assignment that will demonstrate their learning. (rubric included)

Teacher and Content Guide

This is a content guide for Excavate! Mesoamerica. It includes all the readings and descriptions that will be experienced while playing the game. Teachers and parents can review this guide to understand the text and learning goals and that students and players will encounter.

Ancient Maya: Knowledge through art – Lesson Plan

A lesson plan featured by PBS on Ancient Maya. Targets grades 9-12 but could be modified. In this lesson the student will explore the Maya culture, and our knowledge of it through art, architecture, and the heritage of modern Maya people.

World History Games

Explore all the Excavate! game titles including the empires of Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, MesoAmerica and Byzantine.

Learn More

Augustaion Byzantine Lesson Plan

Ancient Augustaion Byzantium

A World History Lesson Worksheet

An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Augustaion Byzantium. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Byzantine or use it in your ancient Byzantine world history classroom studies.Read More

Giza Egypt Inquiry Lesson

Ancient Giza Egypt

A World History Lesson Worksheet

An archaeology analysis lesson on the importance of ancient Giza Egypt. Activate student interest before playing Excavate! Egypt or use it in your ancient Egypt world history classroom studies.Read More

Ancient Egypt Game now in Dutch

Expanding our usability, Dig-iT! Games is thrilled to announce Excavate! Egypt is now available in Dutch! We’re beyond excited to be able to spread our love of archaeology, Ancient Egypt and gaming with more players and students. Read More

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