poperamone Posted May 17, 2013 Hi Thumbers, I was wondering if I could pick your collective brains... I am currently studying for a MA in games design in the UK and am trying to do some research for my dissertation. I am looking into how games can be used to tell a true story or as a documentary. For instance the cat and the coup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_and_the_Coup has any one stumbled across any other examples of documentary games I could use as research? Thanks guys Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
melmer Posted May 17, 2013 OK serious answer Dantes Inferno Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
youmeyou Posted May 17, 2013 My guess is this is going to be a rare occurrence (aside from online flash games made in a few hours spoofing this or that political event) if only due to sensitivity over the treatment of subject matter. Seeing as games are an interactive medium, it's difficult to claim authenticity of documentation when the player can jump on top of a table or walk into a wall while Important Events are happening. Though the example you cite is a sound one and there are surely others. The early Call of Duty's recreated historical battles such as Normandy. Though admittedly a super Hollywood-ized version. I guess the simulation genre of games (flight in particular) cover a lot of historical wars and battles. I do think an alternate area of study could also be in games that simulate real life systems - rather than events - that still have historical relevance. Papers, Please! in terms of national borders and anti-terrorism and Prison Architect in terms of prison management and ethics spring immediately to mind. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
melmer Posted May 17, 2013 Dot Gobbler? Assassins creed has always used real historical characters :/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
youmeyou Posted May 17, 2013 But that's a good example of the problem I'm talking about. Lots of games, especially world building and top-down strategy use historical figures as pawns but necessarily fictionalize the events that play out to account for player agency. (or just make up a crazy sci fi narrative for the hell of it like in asscreed) Nothing wrong with that at all but not exactly what OP is asking for I think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted May 17, 2013 Though it was never released, maybe you could bring up Six Days in Fallujah as an example, perhaps of how not to tell a story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dibs Posted May 17, 2013 Battle of the bulge has some really nice history lessons built in. Each Day in game time you can read about the actual events if the day, why your tanks can't move and what was incoming as reinforcements. I have little interest I history but i really enjoyed looking at these. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ben X Posted May 17, 2013 There was that Twin Towers game/mod/thing that was controversial but serious, right? You basically had the choice to die in the fire or jump out of the window iirc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poperamone Posted May 17, 2013 There was that Twin Towers game/mod/thing that was controversial but serious, right? You basically had the choice to die in the fire or jump out of the window iirc. what is that? sounds horrible ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
melmer Posted May 17, 2013 i've been seriously racking my brain and the best i can come up with is Pete Sampras Tennis actually yeah, joking aside Sports games. There was this F1 game on the N64 which had historical challenges which would recreate and stick you in the middle of a race as (for example) Damon Hill with a damaged gear box and you had to finish the race in the same position as Damon Did. perfectly recreating history. BOOM suck it i win edit Noyb wins Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Noyb Posted May 17, 2013 Autobiographical games: Anna Anthropy's dys4ia and Aegis Wing Mainichi Conversations With My Mother All the Pleading Emoticons Depression Quest There Ought to be a Word scarfmemory My First Kiss EXP Nineteen Kim's Story December 2012 History/politics games: Games about the Italian Election Richard Hofmeier's Secret Agent 47% and the other Play the Year 2012 games Avant-Garde Most of Molleindustria's work Double Tap Gametrekking Fate of the World Real time newsgames: Game-O-Matic - academic attempt to procedurally generate newsgames based on simple relationships provided by the user Games By Angelina - a few attempts to create newsgames by parsing articles for key words and images to shoehorn into a generic platformer engine UI: 18 Cadence - fictional to my knowledge, but a fascinating interface for exploring/collating history Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poperamone Posted May 17, 2013 Dot Gobbler? Assassins creed has always used real historical characters :/ does Dot Gobbler? tell the story of Obama inauguration? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poperamone Posted May 17, 2013 Autobiographical games: Anna Anthropy's dys4ia and Aegis Wing Mainichi Conversations With My Mother All the Pleading Emoticons Depression Quest There Ought to be a Word scarfmemory My First Kiss EXP Nineteen Kim's Story December 2012 History/politics games: Games about the Italian Election Richard Hofmeier's Secret Agent 47% and the other Play the Year 2012 games Avant-Garde Most of Molleindustria's work Double Tap Gametrekking Fate of the World Real time newsgames: Game-O-Matic - academic attempt to procedurally generate newsgames based on simple relationships provided by the user Games By Angelina - a few attempts to create newsgames by parsing articles for key words and images to shoehorn into a generic platformer engine UI: 18 Cadence - fictional to my knowledge, but a fascinating interface for exploring/collating history Thanks Dude. don't suppose you fancy knocking up 10,000 words on the topic by novemeber for me too?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Leego Posted May 17, 2013 The latest Thumbs episode mentioned Christian Donlan's experience of playing L.A. Noire with his dad who grew up in 1940s Los Angles and whose own pa was a policeman for the city. So that might be of interest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
melmer Posted May 17, 2013 fuck me that game was amazing you should write your dissertation on fucking robocop vs fucking terminator fuck, this is video games Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
youmeyou Posted May 17, 2013 Also for the autobiographical category there's I Get This Call Everyday http://www.davidsgallant.com/igtced.html about a telemarketers personal experience. Great list btw, noyb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poperamone Posted May 17, 2013 fuck me that game was amazing shhh Its actually made by me. I traveled back from the year 2534 to make it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
melmer Posted May 17, 2013 you wish pooper oh and welcome to the forums! x Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poperamone Posted May 17, 2013 Prove I didn't.... and thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dewar Posted May 17, 2013 From one point of view, Papa y Yo was about a true story. Also, the History Channel has made a series of games. Not sure exactly how historical they really are, but they might be worth looking into. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
I Saw Dasein Posted May 17, 2013 There are a lot of historical board games. 1960: Race for the President is about the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon presidential race. There is a deck of cards; each card is an event that took place during that campaign with an accompanying line of text and picture. Here's an example: Twilight Struggle is basically the same game, but set in the Cold War. It too has event cards. There are actually a ton of these card-driven historical board games that are really fun and are interesting ways of exploring history. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Berzee Posted May 17, 2013 The upcoming game Meriwether (about the Lewis and Clark expedition) comes to mind...more history than documentary, though. I can't think of anything that has the same sort of incorporation of true-to-life characters in a modern setting, at this moment. MORE'S THE PITY. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shammack Posted May 17, 2013 At the IF Demo Fair at PAX East 2011, Sarah Morayati was demoing some sort of text-adventure-as-journalism thing that was kind of interesting (it basically tried to recreate a real place and let you explore it and learn about its history). I don't remember many details or know what it was called or if it's online anywhere, but you could probably ask her about it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Leego Posted May 17, 2013 Game Journo Story is a(n allegedly) thinly veiled account of true facts dressed up as an RPG Maker adventure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites