Based on more than 8 years of research into Aberdeen's medieval council registers through the Aberdeen Burgh Records Project and a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project on making games based on the council registers (2019), Strange Sickness is a narrative game that explores the struggle of managing an outbreak of plague in medieval Aberdeen. The goals of the project involved making the records more accessible, and helping researchers find new ways to communicate the events of the past.
A creative collaboration between Dr William Hepburn (historian and creative lead), game developer Dr Katharine Neil (Astrologaster, Over the Alps) and myself as artist, the game is co-produced by Dr William Hepburn and Dr Jackson Armstrong, founders of Common Profyt Games Ltd. The original Kickstarter page for the project can be viewed here.
Below are examples of some of the artwork I created for the project, this included character art, backgrounds, UI and supplemental material, including the digital art zine and the marketing artwork for the game's various promotions and its kickstarter funding page.
Creating Old Aberdeen
The setting of Strange Sickness is one of the game's most important aspects, and balancing the gritty tone while recreating a historically accurate setting was one of the project's biggest challenges. Working closely with the team, we aimed to portray a few select locations within Aberdeen as accurately as possible based on the fact we do know, as well as taking some creative liberties to fill in the blanks with educated guesses for the things we couldn't find directly reference.
Many elements, such as the map and city layout, took inspiration sources such as Gordon of Rothiemay's 1661 town map as well as maps and documentation from later points in history.
The People of Strange Sickness
The characters that appear throughout the story drew largely from stories found within Aberdeen's council records, and bringing them to life presented its own unique set of challenges. We aimed to show a range of people from many different walks of life, from the royal court all the way to the taverns and back-alleys of Aberdeen.
UI Design
Being intended for educational purposes, the UI for strange sickness wass designed with a focus on accessibility. Large, readable fonts, simple icons and a focus on text-based gameplay. Menu icons were also designed to follow the theme of the game, incorporating elements from the records, Aberdeen's
Kickstarter Backer Rewards
Many Kickstarter-specific were created, including limited-run prints and an Art Zine to go along with the game, some examples from which can be found below.
