Cupboard Games have developed a prototype PC game that seeks to address a common tendency in contemporary games that use historic tragedies and traumatic events as spectacle. Working with Dr Declan Keeney of Ulster University the Research & Development project sought to test a different methodology than standard historical games to see if a game could act as a tool to engage with historical events with integrity. Titled Checkpoints the game is described as a Playable Documentary. The designers focused on recounting the events that took place at the purpose-built permanent checkpoint at Coshquin, Derry/Londonderry on and around the October 1990 proxy bombing. To assist in the research, the team approached one of the first police officers to arrive at the Coshquin after the explosion, Robin Young as key advisor.
Addressing a key concern regarding trauma and spectacle, the project team set out a list of principles and guidelines for ethical game design and production. These guidelines sought to address issues of trivialising events and to ensure that the project did not raise any existential questions regarding the border on the island of Ireland. Furthermore, the team stated that the project was not to be politically motivated nor being created with the intent of pushing any specific political agenda.
The teams’ intention was to establish a framework for Playable Documentaries that address real events with games as a method of storytelling. Through first person roleplay, a player could experience and evoke the past. The framework established by the project could then be used for a variety of subjects from historical settings to recent events.
Cupboard Games is a boutique game studio developing carefully crafted, intimate experiences across genres and platforms. Established in 2015, Cupboard Games believe in combining rich narrative experiences with unique gameplay. Along with developing their own IP, they work with a diverse range of clients across the world to help with design consultancy and development solutions.
Participant
Robin Young is a retired sergeant in the Royal Ulster Constabulary-George Cross and Police Service of Northern Ireland and now, peace activist. Robin was the first police officer to arrive at the Coshquin checkpoint shortly after a huge bomb exploded near Derry/Londonderry killing 6 people. Robin appeared previously in a documentary We Carried Your Secrets, a film written and directed by Dr Declan Keeney in 2010, describing the event from his perspective.
TEAM
Production Team
David Baxter, Audio lead
James Hugh Dalton, 3D environment artist
Paul Dillon, Creative lead
Jonathan Hatton, Technical lead
Zaltina Yordanova, 3D character artist
Research Team
Prof. Brandon Hamber, John Hume and Thomas P. O’Neill Chair in Peace based at the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), Ulster University
Dr Alan McCally, Honorary Research Fellow (History Education), Ulster University
Prof. Alan Smith, UNESCO Chair and Director of the UNESCO Centre, Ulster University.
Co-investigator: Dr Declan Keeney, Director of the Ulster Screen Academy, Ulster University
This project was funded by a Future Screens NI Research & Development award.