Our project began as anything but the retelling of the Sea Venture‘s plight.

In the beginning of Fall 2019, the class of “Digital History: Historical Worlds, Virtual Worlds, Virtual Museums” was presented with a choice: what topic would we like to make into a digital history project? As expected, each of us had our own right answer. So, we spent the following days discussing the pros and cons of various different topics: Fort Niagara, the studio of William Blake, the Rush Rhees Library, Kodak, Downtown Rochester, recreating Frederick Douglass’ house– yet each was swiftly turned down for being too niche, too local, too uninteresting.

It was while we were discussing the potential to enter the Rush Rhees Library bomb shelter (which later proved to be apocryphal) that our professor approached us with the topic of Bermuda and the Sea Venture. At first, it seemed just as strange or niche as the previously turned down topics, but as we researched more, we found it hard to ignore. The Sea Venture, we found, was a compelling, truly fantastic story that none of us had heard of, and, moreover, one that revealed just how incorrect some of our misconceptions regarding Anglo-American settlement really were. Very quickly, we became confident would captivate others as quickly as it captivated us.

What seemed to be the hardest part– picking a topic– proved to be anything but. Shortly after our decision, our topic faced three immediate hurtles: a prospectus, a pitch presentation, and the beginning of heavy-duty research.

The prospectus was assigned to be a constitution of sorts for our project. It required a statement of design goals, plans, and a comprehensive description of what we expected our project to be and why it was worth making. This required hours of discussion: meetings to hash and rehash our individual ideas, debates over one method rather than another, and a strong understanding of not just our project, but similar projects, stakeholders, and intended audiences. Basically, the prospectus gave us no choice but to know our project forwards, backwards, and inside-out, but, as a result, the group could move forward with a strong, unified understanding of our project and its goals.

Then, after all the work of writing something comprehensive and detailed, we had to spend an equal, if not greater, amount of work shrinking it into a snappy, concise pitch. As in the real world, we couldn’t just send out a lengthy document and expect people to read it and be interested– we had to sell it. So ten pages became twenty minutes, and the feedback of friends and Dr. Jarvis evolved into the feedback of faculty reviewers. Through this, we got a better sense of how our project appeared to outsiders– what parts weren’t interesting, what things weren’t explained well enough, and what elements of the game could be improved. Once figuring these into our initial plans and redefining our trajectory, development could begin.

And by development we, of course, mean heavy, heavy research. Now that we had laid out the fundamentals of our game– a skeleton, so to speak– we had to add meat: characters, events, history and counterfactual history. Whereas in a seminar paper you could count on your professor to know what you’re talking about, and thus be able to leave some explanation out, a game intended for a public audience meant all the history that we learned had to be conveyed and conveyed well. This is still ongoing. Though we have a good foundation of information, each time something is implemented, written, or added to be the website, it has to pass standards of historical correctness (often an elusive task), effective composition, and, well, interesting-ness. Thus, we all quickly learned that what seemed more easy or fun than a seminar paper– while definitely fun– multiplied the preparation, processes, and workload we were accustomed to.

So, after all of this initial and ongoing work, we arrived at a semblance of our game that we still hold now. Sea Ventures: A Digital History Survival Game is a choice-based game that allows users to test their wits at surviving a sinking ship, a crashlanding on a deserted island, mutinies, and an eventual return to Jamestown– all of which are rooted in historical fact. Each choice made has the potential to adhere to or deviate from canonical history and, as a result, will educate and illuminate how the seemingly smallest factors make a significant difference in determining who lives, dies, and returns to save the dying Jamestown Colony.

Through creating a game that educates users on the fascinating history of the Sea Venture, we feel that Sea Ventures: A Digital History Survival Game has phenomenal potential to show that video games are no longer just vapid toys, but engaging and entertaining vessels for information in the future of education.

Until its expected launch date of December 10th, 2019, this blog serves as a placeholder to do the kind of public-educating, digital work that our game will do upon completion. Here, you can find information about the characters and events, information on what goes into making a project like this (a lot), and research and resources that we think are worth sharing.