Technology trees are everywhere.[1] They’re a really useful game design tool. But they come with a lot of baggage and often don’t align with scholarly or popular views of the past. In particular, this often leads to unusual representations of the ‘Dark Ages’. The medieval world is typically presented as backwards and superstitious[2] (not to mention violent […]
Here’s a provocation for you: AI has been used in the creation of this blog post… When I say I use AI in my work I meet a variety of reactions. Some people shrug – of course I do. Some people are worried, or horrified even, visualising the forthcoming robot army of the AI apocalypse. […]
From the classic ‘super shotgun’ of DOOM 2 (1994) to the non-lethal ‘Portal gun’ from the game series (2007-2022) of the same name, the gun is an important piece of technology represented in countless games and one of the primary means by which the video game player interacts with their world. Famously, it has spawned […]
“The potential of videogames for museums is limitless.” Museum Lab, 2022. In 2014 I was playing Galactic Café’s The Stanley Parable (2013) – a story-based game with a branching narrative providing commentary on player choice, decision making and game design – when I encountered the game’s ‘Museum Ending’. In this ending, the player is invited to explore […]
La Desbandá 1937,[1] a historical role-playing game, transports players to one of the most harrowing episodes of the Spanish Civil War: the mass exodus of civilians from Málaga to Almería in February 1937, known as la desbandá. In 1936, a failed coup d’état had ignited a civil war in Spain. By early 1937, Málaga was […]
Our next theme is focused in and around ‘technology’ and historical games. We define historical games broadly, and we encourage contributions that consider technology in all its guises. We’re interested in a wide-range of technology-inspired contributions, whether these are reflections on technology represented in games, narrative techniques, game progression, aesthetic choices, user-generated content tools or […]
The landscape and implications of sandboxes, modding and user-generated content in historical games The evolution of game modding As video games grew in popularity, their developing player communities quickly took advantage of their mutable nature, particularly on PC platforms. Especially early on, games were often installed with non-obfuscated code and assets which could be easily […]
Single player games present a difficult barrier in carrying out recognisable anti/decolonial gameplays, considering that those games are meant to be played alone. The reason for this solitude is also at the core of the debates around perceptions and representations of who the player is and who the games are aimed at. If I am […]
A few weeks back I was invited by a friend to attend a regency and renaissance dance class. Whilst I enjoy dance I admit I was mostly lured by the opportunity to cast myself for an afternoon as a romanticised heroine attending a ball in some BBC period drama adaptation – the BBC’s 1995 Pride […]
On 21st March 2024, the HGN hosted our 9th panel discussion on the theme of Player Practices, featuring guest panelists Holly Nielsen, Marie Foulston and Michael Pennington (chaired by Nick Webber). You can watch the recording here (or via YouTube), and read more about the theme here. Catch up with our guest panelists contributions to […]