On 24 and 25 April William and Jackson participated in the ‘Digital games through muddled pasts and modded history’ workshop at Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz.

They spoke on ‘Historical primary sources in video games’, exploring ideas about how games can expose historical practice and drawing on their game making experience in Strange Sickness. They were there in true hybrid fashion – William in person while Jackson joined online. The workshop was expertly organised and hosted by Dr Eduardo Luersen and Dr James Wilson : they’re in the photo playing Strange Sickness at the evening session in the GameLab.

The workshop included fascinating papers and discussions including on the topics of historical knowledge, expertise and practice in game-making, on how code and mechanics can make historical arguments, and on the reception of and access to historical ideas through games. The first evening also included a roundtable with the historian and narrative director at Ubisoft, on the process of making of Assassin’s Creed Mirage (2023). Thanks to Eduardo and James for hosting a very stimulating event!