Status: In preparation
Expected publication: Winter 2026/2027
Authors: Ewelina Gdaniec & Marcin Pigulak
Abstract
Historical game consultancy is the practice of integrating historical, archaeological and heritage expertise into the design and production of games representing the past. This entry will examine consultancy as a process of translating historical knowledge into narratives, mechanics, environments and forms of player agency. It will discuss the consultant’s role in source selection, worldbuilding, systemic representation, authenticity assessment and ethical risk evaluation. Particular attention will be given to tensions between historical evidence, creative autonomy, playability and commercial production constraints. The entry will also distinguish the historical consultant from the developer-historian (by A. Chapman) and will consider different models of cooperation, from reactive consultation to embedded participation and co-design.
Keywords: historical game consultancy, historical games, game development, historical representation, historical consulting for gamedev
dr Ewelina Gdaniec
is a historian and digital humanist working at the intersection of historical game studies, methodology of history and educational innovation. She is affiliated with the Faculty of History at the University of Gdańsk and C-HIGHER — Center for Historical Games and Heritage. Her research addresses the use of emerging technologies in historical education, with particular attention to historical thinking and the translation of humanities research into playable and educational formats. She has co-authored studies on the professional competencies of historical consultants and on the design of university curricula preparing historians for cooperation with the game industry.
dr Marcin Pigulak
is a historian, film scholar and game studies researcher at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He also serves as Chair of the Executive Board of the Games Research Association of Poland (Polskie Towarzystwo Badania Gier). His work combines visual history, historical culture, memory studies and the analysis of digital games as media of historical representation. He studies how games construct knowledge about the past through narrative, audiovisual form, interactivity and ludic structures, with particular attention to commemorative games, digital ego-documents and fictional artefacts functioning as historical sources within gameworlds. He has also contributed to empirical and curriculum-oriented research on historical consultancy, focusing on the competencies and institutional preparation required for professional collaboration between historians and game developers.