A SCOTS university has launched a history based video game taking players to back to Scotland’s plague ridden streets.
University of Aberdeen historians launched the game, Strange Sickness, to help bring people face to face with life in Scotland in the Middle Ages.
The game is inspired by true events historians learned from the study of Aberdeen’s UNESCO-recognised Burgh Records held in the Aberdeenshire archives.
The team spent nine years researching through 5,239 pages of the earliest eight record volumes in Scotland and learned about life from the 14th to the early 16th century.
The records focus on how the town of Aberdeen dealt with the plague which creators also paid notice too in the name of the video game.
Players begin their adventure as Robert Collison, a young Aberdeen town councillor who faces the challenge of a deadly plague threatening his community.
Dr Jack Armstrong, who headed the team of historians that researched and developed the game, said: “Video games are an amazing tool to help people imagine the past and the burgh records are an outstanding resource to help us understand life in the Middle Ages.
“This period of history has a rich tradition in influencing creative writing and media from The Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones.
“The Burgh Records provide us with real people, events and places upon which to build a fictional story.”
The game was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that attracted global backing and was launched in conjunction with a website that provides game world ‘historians commentary’ on choices, characters, and story.
Dr Armstrong added: “We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for the game with our Kickstarter fundraising campaign backed by supporters around the world and we are delighted to have brought the game to fruition just a year later.”
“In much the same way as films are enhanced by a director’s commentary, we wanted to provide additional information without inhibiting the game play experience.”
