Pimachiowin Aki: Season 1

Traditional living structure of the Anishinaabe people, typically made with branches and bark. Fire pit in the centre, with moose furs providing flooring and a hole in the roof allows smoke to escape. I deliberately set out using slightly different angles for each branch and bark panel that was placed to mimic more accurately how a Wigwam would appear in real life. 

Traditional method of transport during winter or in cold climates for many indigenous peoples. This ridable dogsled will convey you through the activities, but remember to tie them up... huskies like to wander! This is actually the very first rideable "vehicle" I ever created for a Minecraft experience, and initially it was quite challenging getting the animation and behaviour files to work... but I cracked it in the end! 

The Anishinaabe hunt moose, and use every part of the animal. They will offer thanks to the animal for it's sacrifice with offerings of tobacco. Careful though... moose are tough and can be quite fierce... it will throw you into the river if you get too close! I'm actually quite please with how this one turned out. 

Snowshoe hare are trapped by the Anishinaabe. They can find the best place to set traps by looking for signs of rabbit activity: tracks, droppings and chewed tree bark. While we could have used existing Minecraft rabbits, I felt they were too inaccurate to adequately represent the Snowshoe Hare in an indigenous experience such as this. As prey animals, their eyes are on the side of their heads. 

Manitoba has quite a large variety of fish species (of which the sturgeon is one), and is known for it's fishing opportunities. In the ice-fishing activity, you must catch and take pictures of several species of fish... but don't fall in... it's cold!

I knew very little about fish prior to taking on this project, other than I typically find them quite tasty! Strangely, I enjoy fishing in Minecraft (I tried to create an engaging fishing activity for this experience, along with accurate models of the fish), while in real life I find it boring, and generally an uncomfortable experience.  

Called Pickeral by the local Anishinaabe, this species is actually a kind of Walleye. Many cultures identify animals differently... North Americans widely use "Bison" or "Buffalo" when referring to North American Bison, however Bison are unique to North America, and Buffalo are only natively found in Africa and Asia. 

The drying rack is for drying fish and moose meet over a fire, to preserve it for consumption over the winter. 

The NPCs found in this experience are modelled on the real-life elders of the Bloodvein community! They appear here in a mixture of traditional and modern winter attire. 

As you can see, we went with slightly more detailed NPC models than you typically find in Minecraft, which we felt provided more authenticity to the experience and an opportunity to connect more with the individuals.