Balancing Education and Engagement. A Suggested Co-design Process for Historical Game Development

Historical game development is a still-emerging area of Digital Humanities
theory and praxis that crosses and challenges many disciplinary borders.
Requiring strong humanities expertise in historical research and educa-
tional theory, as well as many artistic and technical skills from the fields of
computer science, digital art, and game design, such projects foster strong
multi-disciplinary teams. This paper discusses the co-authors’ ongoing
collaboration to develop an educational historical game called The Migrants’
Chronicles, which seeks to balance pedagogical goals with engaging game-
play in order to create a game that is equally fun and educational. After
providing an overview of the project origins, a detailed discussion of the
pedagogical concepts driving the game, and the practical methodologies
used to translate historical knowledge into game play, the paper concludes
by suggesting a series of best practices for a collaborative co-design process
for historical game development.