Login | Register

Terra Nova​: Enacting Videogame Development through Indigenous-Led Creation

Title:

Terra Nova​: Enacting Videogame Development through Indigenous-Led Creation

Longboat, Maize (2019) Terra Nova​: Enacting Videogame Development through Indigenous-Led Creation. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

[thumbnail of Longboat_MA_F2019.pdf]
Preview
Text (application/pdf)
Longboat_MA_F2019.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
5MB
[thumbnail of Terra Nova PC Build]
Archive (Terra Nova PC Build) (application/zip)
Longboat_MA_F2019_TerraNova_PC.zip - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
351MB
[thumbnail of Terra Nova Mac Build]
Archive (Terra Nova Mac Build) (application/zip)
Longboat_MA_F2019_TerraNova_Mac.zip - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
192MB

Video (Documenting a full play-through of Terra Nova) (video/mp4)
Longboat_MA_F2019_video.mp4 - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
588MB

Abstract

Indigenous peoples have had a rich tradition of utilizing digital media to tell their stories in new ways. These stories often run counter to popular Western-centric narratives that perpetually position Indigenous peoples as only existing in the past. Indigenous peoples are regularly forgotten as participants of the technological world, but we are also both players and producers of videogames. Indigenous videogames can express something about specific Indigenous communities and cultural contexts or can be made by Indigenous individuals who wish to communicate their own unique narratives through the medium. This research-creation project studies these aspects of Indigenous videogames in detail through the production of my own videogame, ​Terra Nova​, alongside a written survey of the field, contextualization of the videogame itself, and reflections on the game and the creation process. Through the production of a videogame as its primary form of research, this project seeks to draw attention to how and why Indigenous peoples are making videogames on their own terms to answer the question of what makes a videogame Indigenous.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Communication Studies
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Longboat, Maize
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Media Studies
Date:August 2019
Thesis Supervisor(s):Consalvo, Mia and Lewis, Jason Edward
Keywords:Indigenous, videogame development, research-creation, representation, self-determination, consultation, cyberspace, futurisms, first contact
ID Code:985763
Deposited By: Maize Longboat
Deposited On:05 Feb 2020 03:01
Last Modified:05 Feb 2020 03:01

References:

Works Cited

“Aboriginal Identity & Terminology.” ​Indigenous Foundations​, https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/aboriginal_identity__terminology/​. Accessed 27 July 2019.

Arguello, Diego. “How Crunch Affects the Lives of Game Developers.” ​Digital Trends​, 21 Oct. 2018, https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/how-crunch-affects-game-developers/​. Audiokinetic Wwise​. 2018.1.3.6784, Audiokinetic, 2018.

Bird, Ashlee. ​One Small Step​. 2017.

Brown, Michelle Lee. ​Submurge​. Forthcoming.

Cameron, James. ​Avatar​. 20th Century Fox, 2009.

Capello, David. ​Aseprite​. 1.2.9, Igara Studio, 2018.

Cartier, Jacques. ​The Voyages of Jacques Cartier​. Edited by Henry Percival Biggar, F. A. Acland, 1924.

Chapman, Owen, and Kim Sawchuk. “Research-Creation: Intervention, Analysis and ‘Family Resemblances.’” ​Canadian Journal of Communication​, vol. 37, no. 1, 2012, p. 5.

Cruise, Owen. “Fantastic Racism: The Problem With World of Warcraft.” ​Autosave.Tv​, 14 Aug. 2018, https://www.autosave.tv/2018/08/14/fantastic-racism-the-problem-with-world-of-warcraft/.​

Darkwatch​. High Moon Studios, 2005.

Darkwatch: Game Manual​. Capcom Entertainment, 2005.

Dillon, Grace L. ​Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction​. University of Arizona Press, 2012.

Doom​. id Software, 1993.

Dyer-Witheford, Nick, and Greig de Peuter. “‘EA Spouse’ and the Crisis of Video Game Labour: Enjoyment, Exclusion, Exploitation, Exodus.” Canadian Journal of Communication​, vol. 31, 2006, pp. 599–617.

Ehdrigohr: The Roleplaying Game​. Council of Fools, 2013.

Fragnito, Skawennati. “What Is CyberPowWow?” ​CyberPowWow​, http://www.cyberpowwow.net/about.html​. Accessed 22 July 2019.

Gaertner, David. “Indigenous in Cyberspace: CyberPowWow, God’s Lake Narrows, and the Contours of Online Indigenous Territory.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal, vol. 39, no. 4, 2015, pp. 55–78.

Games — Elizabeth LaPensée​.​ ​http://www.elizabethlapensee.com/games.​ Accessed 1 June 2019.

Gibson, William. ​Neuromancer​. Penguin, 1984.

Git​. 2.19, 2018.

Glasner, Eli. “‘I Just Broke down Crying’: Canadian Video Game Creators Face Gruelling ‘crunch’ Hours.” ​CBC News​, 26 Apr. 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/burnout-crunch-canada-1.5109599​.

Google Drive​. Google LLC, 2019.

Hyper Light Drifter​. Heart Machine, 2016.

Ka Lei Milika`a Collective. ​Wao Kanaka: I Ka Wā Mamua, i Ka Wā Mahope​. Initiative for Indigenous Futures, 2018.

Kovach, Margaret. ​Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts​. Toronto University Press, 2012.

Langer, Jessica. “The Familiar and the Foreign: Playing (Post) Colonialism in World of Warcraft.” ​Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader​, MIT Press, 2008, pp. 87–108.

LaPensée, Elizabeth. “Games as Enduring Presence.” ​Public​, vol. 27, no. 54, 2016, pp. 178–86.

---. “Self-Determination in Indigenous Games.” ​Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities​, edited by Jentery Sayers, Routledge, 2018, pp. 128–37.

---. ​Thunderbird Strike​. 2017.

---. “Transformations and Remembrances in the Digital Game We Sing for Healing.” Transmotion​, vol. 3, no. 1, July 2017, pp. 89–108.

---. ​We Sing For Healing​. 2015.

---. ​When Rivers Were Trails​. 2019.

Legault, Marie-Josée, and Kathleen Ouellet. “So Into It They Forget What Time It Is?: Video Game Designers and Unpaid Overtime.” ​Managing Dynamic Technology-Oriented Businesses: High-Tech Organizations and Workplaces​, edited by Dariusz Jemielniak and Abigail Marks, IGI Global, 2012, pp. 82–102.

Lewis, Jason Edward. “A Better Dance and Better Prayers: Systems, Structures, and the Future Imaginary in Aboriginal New Media.” ​Coded Territories: Tracing Indigenous Pathways in New Media Art​, edited by Steve Loft and Kerry Swanson, University of Calgary Press, 2014, pp. 48–77.

---. “Preparations for a Haunting: Notes Towards an Indigenous Future Imaginary.” ​The Participatory Condition in the Digital Age​, edited by Darin Barney et al., University of Minnesota Press, 2016, pp. 229–49.

Lewis, Jason, and Skawennati Tricia Fragnito. “Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace.” Cultural Survival Quarterly​, no. Summer, 2005, pp. 29–31.

Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” ​Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches​, Ten Speed Press, 2007.

Milner, David. “Crunch: The Video Game Industry’s Notorious Labor Problem.” ​Game Informer​, 16 Jan. 2018, https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/01/16/crunch-the-video-game- industrys-notorious-labor-problem.aspx​.

Monson, Melissa J. “Race-Based Fantasy Realm: Essentialism in the World of Warcraft.” Games and Culture​, vol. 7, no. 1, 2012, pp. 48–71.

Mortal Kombat 3​. Midway, 1995.

Moser, Mary Anne, and Douglas MacLeod, editors. ​Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments​. The MIT Press, 1996.

Nash, Curtis. ​Cultural Appropriation, Postcolonial Fetishism, and Indigenous-Settler Relations in Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft​. University of Guelph, 2016.

“Never Alone - Our Team.” ​Never Alone​,​ ​http://neveralonegame.com/our-team/.​ Accessed 22 July 2019.

“Never Alone Interview Series: Ishmael Hope.” ​Never Alone​, 30 Oct. 2014, http://neveralonegame.com/interview-never-alone-writer-ishmael-hope/​.

Never Alone: Kisima Ingitchuna​. 1.8, E-Line Media, 2014.

Noe, Kari. ​Kilo Hōkū​. 1.0, 2017.

O’Donnell, Casey. “The North American Game Industry.” ​The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future​, edited by Peter Zackariasson and Timothy Wilson, Routledge, 2012, pp. 99–115.

Owlboy​. D-Pad Studio, 2016.

Petersen, Carl. ​Tipi Kaga. Northern Plains Games, 2019.

Powless-Lynes, Nathan. ​SwapBox+​. 2018.

“Products.” ​Unity​,​ ​https://unity3d.com/unity.​ Accessed 22 July 2019.

PURITY&decay. Achimostawinan Games, 2017.


Roetman, Sheena. “Arcade Aboriginal: Indigenous Storytelling Takes a New, Compelling Shape in Video Games.” ​Native Peoples Magazine​, no. March/April 2016, pp. 46–49.

Runescape​. 1.0, Jagex, 2001.

Schreier, Jason. “The Horrible World Of Video Game Crunch.” ​Kotaku​, 26 Sept. 2016, https://kotaku.com/crunch-time-why-game-developers-work-such-insane-hours-1704744577​.

Scott, Ridley. ​Alien​. 20th Century Fox; Brandywine Productions, 1979.

Skins 6.0​.​ ​http://skins.abtec.org/skins6.0/​. Accessed 1 June 2019.

Slack​. 4.0, Slack Technologies, 2019.

Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. ​Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples​. 1999.

Spielberg, Steven. ​War of the Worlds​. Paramount Pictures; DreamWorks Pictures, 2005.

Terra Nova​. 1.0, SlipCycle, 2019.

“Territorial Acknowledgement.” ​Concordia University​, https://www.concordia.ca/content/concordia/en/about/indigenous/territorial-acknowled gement.html.​ Accessed 4 May 2019.

Todd, Loretta. “Aboriginal Narratives in Cyberspace.” ​Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments​, edited by Mary Anne Moser and MacLeod, MIT Press, 1996, pp. 179–94.

Trello​. Atlassian, 2019.

“Twine / An Open-Source Tool for Telling Interactive, Nonlinear Stories.” ​Twine​, https://twinery.org/.​ Accessed 4 May 2019.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3: Game Manual​. Sega, 1996.

Unity​. 2018.2.14, Unity Technologies, 2018.

Vizenor, Gerald. ​Survivance: Narratives of Native Presence​. University of Nebraska Press, 2008.

Weststar, Johanna, et al. ​Developer Satisfaction Survey 2017 Summary Report​. International Game Developers Association, 8 Jan. 2018.

Witehira, Johnson. ​Maoriland Adventure​. 2016.

World of Warcraft​. 1.0, Blizzard Entertainment, 2004.

World of Warcraft: Game Manual​. Blizzard Entertainment, 2004. Yuxweluptun, Lawrence Paul. ​Inherent Rights, Vision Rights​. 1992.
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads per month over past year

Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
- Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
Back to top Back to top