02.156DH Games of Histories

History often serves as the dramatic backdrop for many popular computer games we play today. Yet such historical representations are often riddled with misrepresentations and inaccuracies. This course aims at enabling students to acquire the historical knowledge necessary to build a credible and coherent history based story for video‐games through the lenses of some significant periods in European history such as the history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire until Charlemagne and notable historical figures including Julius Caesar, Constantine the Great, Attila and Theoderic. To do so, the course will focus on some already existing and very successful video‐games, namely the three versions of the Total War video‐game: “Rome: Total War” ﴾2004﴿, “Rome: Total War” ﴾2005﴿, “Attila: Total War” ﴾2015﴿. Through a better understanding of history, students will acquire a firmer grasp of the value of historical knowledge and its rich potential for storytelling and the creation of compelling virtual worlds and online experiences.