SAA

VIDEO GAMES AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Figure 4. Use of light orbs to in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
relatively straightforward task to process LiDAR data with
geographic information systems (GIS) and export the data in
a format accessible by the software used to create video
games (typically referred to as a game engine). The use of
geospatial data supports a more accurate world upon which
to place structures, roadways, and other features of the built
environment. In addition, a massive update to the structures
is designed to increase the virtual world’s realism. Figure 3
compares a structure from the original version of this virtual
world with an updated version. This and other structures are
based on the documentation of nearby, contemporaneous
structures. Studying the historical architecture of northcentral
Florida is necessary to create as accurate a version of
Rosewood as possible. Finally, new 3D models that more
accurately re-create the region’s vegetation are being created
and incorporated into the updated virtual world as well.
Engaging with walking simulators is particularly useful as it
guides the creation of new interactive features within the virtual
world. Relevant examples include the recent game Everybody’s
Gone to the Rapture, by indie developer The Chinese
Room. This game is a good example of how walking simulators
can connect players with the experiences of others in
sensitive and emotionally evocative ways. The game is set in
the fictional village of Yaughton, a picturesque rural location
seemingly devoid of life. The goal of the game is less about
learning what happened and instead about uncovering the
everyday lives of the inhabitants prior to their disappearance.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture utilizes a simple, yet visually
appealing device for players to interact with the vanished
inhabitants. Small balls of light materialize as one moves
through the landscape. Upon closer inspection these orbs
coalesce into humanoid shapes (Figure 4), and the sound of
the game changes to accommodate the voices of the vanished.
Sound, typically an underutilized element in games, is
one of the primary characteristics of this game. The entire
tone of the game changes as the balls of light form human
shapes. Once formed, the player begins to hear the final
experiences of the town’s inhabitants. The haunting quality
of this approach creates a deeply emotional atmosphere and
connects the player to the lives of the town’s inhabitants in
evocative ways.
This is similar to the use of “witness points” in the Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Second Life (González-Tennant
2013:72–74). These witness points allow visitors to listen to
the oral histories of Holocaust survivors in a virtual museum
interpreting Kristallnacht. Ongoing updates to the Rosewood
26 The SAA Archaeological Record • November 2016