Methods and Implementations of Historically Accurate Game Design for First Person Shooter Video Games

• Author / Creator

  Holmes, David M

• Video games have become a common and often consumed medium to portray and to learn about history. Building on the work done by historians to understand historical accuracy on film, I design and built a first person shooter (FPS) video game that could be considered historically accurate by the historical community. The game centres on Operation Deadstick, an opening mission of the Normandy landings on D-Day, 6 June 1944. To portray accurately the historical content I designed the game using a Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) game design framework. This framework guided the implementation of the historical elements in all aspects of the game’s design including its cosmetics, gameplay mechanics, and themes. I evaluated the game by examining its historical content through these same elements. Although the game was incomplete, I believe it represents a positive first step towards the design of historically accurate interactive content.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Evaluation of historical accuracy in video games
  • Evaluation of historical accuracy
  • Historicity
  • First person shooter
  • First person shooters
  • Historical accuracy
  • Video games
  • Game design for historical accuracy
  • Theory for historical accuracy

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3KS6JJ61

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.