A Video Game-Based Learning Approach to Archaeological Knowledge: The Case of ‘Ancestors: Stories of Atapuerca’

The past is a common setting for video games. Game makers use ruins, archaeologists, and historical characters to develop an engaging connection with the player. Entertainment-based video games are powerful experiences portraying past societies; they make ample use of archaeological content while also introducing biases and misrepresentations because they are not purposely designed to communicate how archaeologists generate this content. On the other hand, most games crafted for educational purposes do not fully exploit the potential interactivity and agency provided by video games as they focus on traditional approaches to communication such as text-based descriptions and non-interactive scenes instead of creating content-related game mechanics. This chapter presents a project that explored a middle ground between both types of games through the integration of archaeological content within the design of the game mechanics and goals. The authors discuss the context of the initiative and follow the development process of the game, Ancestors: Stories of Atapuerca, while highlighting the delicate balance between archaeological content and game creation through aspects as diverse as theme, mechanics, artwork style, and testing. The experience suggests that Game-Based Learning approaches generate effective and playful visions of the past as long as there is an effective dialogue between the different actors of an interdisciplinary development team such as archaeologists, artists, and programmers.