One important aspect of the development process for the Gaming the Industrial Revolution team came at the end of our second workshop. To contextualise our game within the British Industrial Revolution, the game would feature a cast of characters from all walks in the time period, and it was of course up to us to think up who these characters would be.
The variety in origin, personality, appearance, backstory and historical insight produced was impressive, and many were particularly novel and even comical.
Some members of the team went down a more directly historically informative route, and one example was a fictitious diary entry by the one and only Thomas Malthus writing at the time of the 1801 census. The astounded economist informs the player about the state of England, in the middle of a war, battling sky-high food prices, and yet with a population as high as 8 million and rapidly increasing, which he blames on the poor law.
Some characters were certainly of a more extravagant persuasion. Among these was Fenril, dubbed “the feared inventor”. A 30 year old member of the aristocracy known for his isolated way of living, slight lunacy, and unpredictable creative streak married with a mechanical ingenuity. His appearance could be triggered to make comments when a significant technological advancement is made during the game, perhaps giving context as to the place of origin for these innovations.
Others within the team wrote tales of woe and suffering, seeking to depict the plight of working class women during the time period. Among them was Jennifer Spinner, a 30-year old mother of 3 children married to an agricultural labourer in Devon, who in the wake of the invention of the Spinning Jenny, has been left without a way to ring in income during the winters. Another character took inspiration from Emma Griffin’s book Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution, a 25 year old married to a miner, forced to take on odd jobs to survive, even sending her young children to work in the mills.
Alternatively, there were characters created with a gimmick in mind, with one example being the Carter family. This line of sons and fathers shared near identical features, save for some distinguishing articles of clothing and facial hair, and would chart an ordinary family affected by different events throughout the game. The first of the William Carters could appear to the player being displaced by the Civil War in 1651, and his distant descendant could later present himself as a prosperous merchant, having taken advantage of the canal-boat system to make a profit off of the coal business.
In any case, the team ended session 2 pensive, amused or excited having gone through this creative exercise, and look forward to seeing our characters made manifest.
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