On the University of New Brunswick campus, students walk through the same halls, sit in the same classrooms and walk down the same steep hills as UNB students from 50, even 100 years ago.
Current students may not know the vast history of UNB and the historical people who studied there. However, one UNB research group hopes to change that.
On Jan. 29, the research group Resolve, in partnership with the UNB archives and special collections, released its card-based UNB history game “Project AUDE.”
This marks the group’s first official game release which is now for sale at the campus bookstore.
“[The game] just makes you feel a little bit more connected to the place that you’re at when you know that history,” said Director of the Media Arts and Cultures program Scott Preston. “It’s really exciting to see it all done.”
Project AUDE has been in the works since 2022, after Preston attended an applied arts conference and was inspired by a project from McGill that was based on the game “Timeline,” where players must place the cards, each depicting a historical event, in chronological order.
Resolve’s game Project AUDE follows similar conventions but with a unique hook: in the game’s world, the UNB archives have suddenly burned down and as the researchers, the players must deploy their research assistants to travel back in time to find the artifacts and memories that were lost. The researchers must then figure out what order these memories, or cards, are placed in.
Preston said even as a history buff who has been at UNB for over 12 years, he learned a lot throughout making the game.
“I had heard more about the arts and literature side of the history of UNB, like the poets and writers and so I was surprised to learn more about the science history at UNB,” he said. “I think we captured that balance of the history [in the game].”
Resolve research assistant Katie Roger said she was “surprised constantly” during the research portion of the game design, specifically when she was looking for 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC history at UNB.
Highlighting diverse experiences in UNB history was crucial for Resolve, to both portray underrepresented communities, but also to tell stories that many students may not have known before.
“It’s really easy to dismiss the rich history that UNB has because a lot of us are from New Brunswick and we think, ‘Oh, it’s just New Brunswick,’” said Roger. “But there have been so many incredible things and incredible people who have come through UNB.”
One card tells the story of botanist Hal Hinds, a prominent ecological activist and faculty advisor for UNB’s first LGBTQ+ student group. Another card shows Mary Matilda Winslow, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and was the first Black woman to attend UNB.
“[UNB has] such a rich history for so many different marginalized communities,” they said. “That was probably my favourite part of the research process.”
Roger has been part of Resolve since 2023, which is now a three-person team of student assistants including Livia Steeves and Autumn Roy, who joined later in the game design process.
After seeing the project through for nearly two years, long days researching in the UNB archives and endlessly playtesting the game, Roger said she’s glad to finally see the game’s release. She recalled the day the team received boxes containing 1,000 copies of the game as impactful.
“We’re unboxing them [and I’m] like, ‘Oh my god, this is real,’” said Roger. “It’s really, really satisfying to see it come in this nice package and it looks professional. [You can see] all of the hours that myself and my teammates, both past and present, have spent.”
Now that copies of Project AUDE are officially for sale, Resolve has been promoting the launch through their social media pages and hosting trivia nights at the UNB Grad House.
Roger said their goal is to ultimately sell out of the copies they ordered and then order more.
“I’m just really glad to see it pay off like this [and I’m] excited for more people to get their hands on it.”
