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Playing the Past, Seeing the Future: Game Design in the Humanities

This session will explore the role of the humanities — history, literature, philosophy, civics, jurisprudence — in the practice of designing serious games. While serious games have long and storied history (no pun intended) with engaging the humanities, recent humanities-based games such as Assassin’s Creed Origins, 1979 Revolution, Walden, a game, and others have opened up new possibilities for not only reasserting game-based learning in humanities contexts, but also re-evaluating the design paradigms through which these games are made. This session will explore the process of designing games in the humanities, the challenges and affordances of doing so, and the possibilities for developing and producing humanities games through grant funding, including the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Playing the Past, Seeing the Future: Game Design in the Humanities

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  1. Game Design and Funding in the Game Design and Funding in the Humanities Humanities

  2. Who I Am • Dr. Marc Ruppel—NEH Division of Public Programs

  3. Who We Are • Public • Challenge Grants • Preservation and Access • Digital Humanities • Education • Research

  4. What We Do • Fund projects with[in] Humanities disciplines/subjects – History, culture, philosophy, politics, jurisprudence, literature (to name a few)

  5. Where We Work in Games • Public Programs • Challenge Grants • Preservation and Access • Office of Digital Humanities • Education • Research

  6. Where We Work in Games • Office of Digital Humanities • Digital Humanities Advancement Grants (Level I, II, III) – Two annual deadlines: January and June • Innovative and Experimental Projects • High-risk, high-reward • Benefits the field (white paper) • Tools, Methods, and Design Questions with Multiple Applications

  7. What We Do in Public Programs • Film • Television • Radio • Museums • Historical Sites

  8. What We Do in Public Programs • Projects must be grounded in scholarship • Target Audiences: family and youth, general public • Single or multiple format

  9. What We DON’T do in Public Programs • Fund projects that advocate for a specific action, policy, or law • Instead…our projects encourage reflection, invite questions, and provide a larger framework for engaging and understanding a subject/topic

  10. Digital Projects for the Public • Games + Virtual Environments • VR/AR • Mobile Apps • Interpretive Websites (not archives) • Transmedia Projects: • ‘Born’ transmedia or… • Extensions to existing content

  11. Digital Projects for the Public • Launched June 2014 • Next deadline: June 2019 • Three levels of funding: – Discovery ($30k) – Prototyping ($100k) – Production ($400k)

  12. Digital Projects for the Public • Discovery  design document (up to $30k) • Prototyping  functional prototype (up to $100k) • Production  production + outreach (up to $400k) • Refereed review process

  13. Digital Projects for the Public • Projects do not need to reinvent the wheel, but instead find creative uses for established platforms/approaches

  14. GAMES + NEH

  15. • Michael F. Young et al. (2012): Strong evidence that humanities-based subjects like history and the study of language benefit immensely from games vs.

  16. THE HUMANITIES ARE MESSY.

  17. Because of this, integrating content expertise into the process of design is crucial.

  18. The Big Picture • START with a subject, a collection, a region, a place. • BUILD a team of experts around that focus. And not just the obvious folks: address the contexts and larger issues implicated by your topic. • CREATE a process that allows for these expert voices to become an integral part of the design. • REACH OUT to audiences, organizations, and networks who will maximize impact.

  19. “The history of medicine isn’t just about great discoveries: it’s really the interplay between the disease entity, the patient, and the health care professional.”

  20. Funded Projects

  21. Past/Present Louis Alvarez + Muzzy Lane Software

  22. Drama in the Delta Emily Roxworthy, UCSD

  23. Travelling While Black Independent Feature Projects, Inc. + G4C

  24. Murder at Beacon Hill Michael Epstein, Untravel Media

  25. Mission US WNET

  26. Walden, a game Tracy Fullerton, USC

  27. The Pox Hunter Lisa Rosner, Stockton College

  28. Lost and Found Owen Gottlieb, RIT Magic Center

  29. Portrait of a Tyrant Danielle Allen, Harvard

  30. ChronoScouts USC Game Innovation Lab

  31. Digital Giza Peter Der Manuelian, Harvard

  32. Age of Alchemy Chemical Heritage Foundation (now the Science History Institute)

  33. Interested? Here’s how to apply.

  34. Peer Review Process • Applications submitted for single grant program • Reviewers recruited to evaluate applications • Reviewers offer preliminary grades and comments online • Sitting or virtual panels for discussion + final grades

  35. How do I apply? Step One: Visit the NEH website (www.neh.gov) and READ THE GUIDELINES.

  36. How do I apply? Really— Read the Guidelines.

  37. Other Funded Projects

  38. Other Funded Projects

  39. Step 2: Visit Grants.gov

  40. • Step Three: Read samples! • Step Four: Talk to us.

  41. • Step Five: TALK TO US!!! • Step Six: Submit your application by the deadline and…wait. These things take time. • For DPP, June submissions = November notification.

  42. Dr. Marc Ruppel www.neh.gov/divisions/public

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