That is an awesome title! I would totally read that.
I would like to put in my vote for @NaomiL’s idea with HC
The number of times I have read poorly written romance novels set in Victorian England, involving a redheaded buxom lass (even though redheads were obviously witches) with vibrant green eyes (green eyes were a sign of magic!) and a Dashing Duke hooboy. Gotta love Amazon’s selection of harlequin novels, hahahaha.
So, yes, I would likely read it. That kind of historical fiction isn’t even slightly historically accurate, 90% of the time, though. It goes back to my idea of (genre) painted as Shakespeare.
And of course the hero should probably be shirtless on the cover or have the shirt halfway off while the heroine wears an evening gown. It amuses me to pretend that all men of the nobility just hung out at parties without shirts on
I would totally play that game though. Choose between the dashing duke/duchess, the man of parliament trying to make England a better place, or the runner of the gambling hel. I would have so much fun with that.
Agree, and that is so often part of the fun.
A tangent here but I do wonder if historical fiction may be like science fiction. Different people have different definitions for the genre, with varying levels of strictness when enforcing it. I was shocked a couple of years ago to be introduced to the concept that not everyone considered Star Wars to be sci-fi, and I’ve met some people that have said that unless everything in the story can absolutely be explained with science, then it’s not science fiction. It could well be there are similar views about historical fiction. Unless everything is historically accurate some people aren’t going to count it.
Speaking of: one historical Victorian England romance writer who actually did a lot of research and writes quite well is Georgette Heyer. So much fun! Her books are fantastic.
You know I will love playing a game like that Made by cog. @Mary_Duffy Imagine a game about romance Where women aren’t forced to be that stupid submission flower vase waiting for their men. A game that let choose based in time period A Gay or bi dandy pal of Oscar Wilde Suffrage women from all spectrum trans woman and trans man like George Sand etc…
Because hell if all that was more real than the crap machismo victorian nobels. Sorry for the rant But as Spanish all novels come from that style are the messed up machist cheap romance novels and I hate those so much… And those cover art…
So If Cog made a realistic no machismo patriarchy bullshit I will praise that eternal
If that Courting of Ms Bennet game had given you the option to play as Mister Darcy or Mister Bingley I would have definitely bought it. I happen to find the idea of dating the various Bennet sisters almost as fun as many would find dating Mister Darcy and company.
And obviously look like Dacre Montgomery (shameless stranger things reference, wee).
I tend to dislike playing as men, because I just don’t identify with them, at all, but oh my gosh, I would play that just for the humor. 10/10.
But no, to be back on topic, I would love to see some more historical CoGs/HGs with interesting storylines. I sometimes struggle to understand what, exactly, the storyline is in some of these games - so having a subgenre, such as mystery (Elementary, my dear Watson), romance (the wee buxom lass!), adventure (sail the seven seas on a ship, living your own Hornblower fantasy! - I love Choice of Broadsides), horror (escape Jack the Ripper or become another one of his victims???), supernatural (what, indeed, caused the plague?), or anything else. I feel that slice of life is usually the most boring game genre out there, and putting it into a historical game does the genre no justice.
Glad you approve! I feel like I am most like Mister Bingley in terms of personality and would happily enjoy a game where I get to date Jane or Lizzie (Lydia not so much).
And I definitely agree having a sub genre with history based stories help - whilst we have had games like Tally Ho and The Butler Did It there hasn’t been a proper 1920’s Cluedo style murder mystery game yet where the murderer can vary each game! And of course you missed sci-fi if you include time travel, where the player is a visitor to the past.
That would be a lot of fun and there’s so many things you could do with the storyline. I think it’d be especially fun to do something like Blackadder’s back and forth where he keeps getting dropped into periods of time where his ancestor’s lived and sometimes getting mistaken for them and trying to act the role properly. I’m actually really surprised no one’s done a time machine type CSG yet
Because time is just…wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey…stuff, and I could 100% see it being a total mess to figure out, planning-wise. Omg, imagine the flow chart
I would definitely play it, if someone else had the guts to attempt it, though!
We have had Paradox Factor which is a fun Quantum Leap style game, and there’s TRex Time Machine too (though I have yet to play that one) but you’re right in the fact we haven’t seen a full on game with a working time machine yet. It would be complex but you could solve puzzles by using items from one time in another, or do something in the past that changes the future and play with lots of tropes of time travel - are you an observer, meddler or dominator of time?
Ah now my head plans a time travel plot. Puh you give people ideas be careful with your power
Silverworld involved time travel too.
In general when people ask “why isn’t there yet a X type of game” there often sort of already is (T-Rex Time Machine, Silverworld, etc), and the answer is: we don’t have a professional writer who has pitched it to us in a way that makes it a workable and satisfying game for us to proceed with. The process here (https://www.choiceofgames.com/looking-for-writers/) really is what we go by, though it’s possible we may try assigning pitches in the future. Certainly not a definite thing, and one that would have some pitfalls, I think.
Can I vote against this? I feel like people tend to write better, when it’s something they like. I could see telling your contracted authors, “Hey, here’s a pool of 10 story ideas that have seemed popular with the audience; any of them sound like something you’d wanna write?”, but I think outright assigning them could cause a decline in quality, which nobody wants
That said, to be back on topic, I don’t think the issue is with the historical genre. I think the fundamental issues are:
- a lack of a subgenre (adventure, mystery, romance, sci-fi, supernatural, usw.)
- a deluge of information (codex, please, you guys)
- spreading oneself too thin (as is touched upon in the other thread, What stops you from having fun…
That doesn’t really count since it’s not our world’s history though…
@Kaelyn Since I was the one who suggested the Lucid the initial idea which led to Paradox Factor I am used to that… But if anyone wants to create a Doctor Who style Time Travel game I’m happy to make some suggestions.
on it, don’t worry, I been trying to figure the damn thing out since September, but at least I know theres a market for it.
Anomaly
What would you do with that power
I lover of history in general I love the classics I love eastern history I love Medieval history special in the academic setting and when he goes into social history which I feel is criminally under explore hence people do historical games here.
Fell in love with American history as I take it in University. The American revolution is a vastly interesting complex and messy as any other revolution is but we neutered it and white washed it in the Americans educations system. The war of 1812 bloody huge in American history that no one talks about. The Canadians look at it as a victory the English look at it as a draw. People said nothing change but really what happened is that there’s no longer imperial support to indigenous. then there’s also the backwoods social climber that became the Hero of New Orleans One of the key contributors to the US incredibly complicated legacy.
For example you most like know who Fremont is. Really colorful figures of American history in the 19 century that no one knows about in the east coast.
Actually, my knowledge of Fremont is a bit in the middle. I know more than my east-coast buddies, certainly, but my friends who remained out west know far more than I do.
(Also, I’ve always been curious but who is that in your profile photo?)
So what top 3 eras in historical fiction or historical fantasy would any of you be interested in? I’d love to see more in the American Revolution, the Cold War, or some sort of story about being a woman in early modern Europe.
I only discovered him when I took Civil War class. I did a bit more research later on and he’s a vastly interesting figure him and his wife are incredibly interesting.
It’s a picture of me and in that particular moment I was in the throngs of infatuation.
It’ll depends I kind a love it all when it comes to American history I wish it was more it was done during the antebellum period it’s a huge transitional time in American history and it’s completely wild and vice versa I would love to see more done with reconstruction. So I like games about little know historical subjects like playing a writer during the American Renaissance.
Would love to see a game about women in early modern Europe!! Again when are things that drives me nuts on here is people don’t dive into the social history because they don’t know it they look at that it only surface level and it makes them feel uncomfortable.
You can make a game about women being powerful figures in the medieval ages in the early modern period and it doesn’t have to be this power fantasy or even liberties need to be taken.
For example some brought up Pillar of Earth I love Ken Follett Kingbridge series He writes incredibly rich female characters but he also put some in positions of authority and power that is not just plausible but that makes sense in the existing social hierarchy and it’s very interesting to see how he use it to show norms and custom broken down.