Research & Development
We believe that to best help industry leaders and teams make games, we have to understand game development.
Our R&D games projects help us better understand the workflows, timelines, processes, and specific needs and constraints developers face, while also supporting our core aims and mission as a purpose-led business.
Learn more about our DLIVCC proof-of-concept games projects: Digital Munya 2, The Córdoba Journey (with Abertay University Professional Game Design students), and Digital Munya 3 (with Ubisoft World Design Director Maxime Durand).
"It was my genuine pleasure to have worked alongside Glaire and her team on the project The Cordoba Journey. The dedication they have to their craft and the passion they bring to projects really breathe life into them with an authenticity that would have been impossible otherwise. Oftentimes, when two disciplines meet to build something together, there’s always a wall to overcome to understand one another. However, Glaire and her team made that easy, with their open and inviting approach to collaboration and learning."
Co-Founder & Chief Technical Officer, Shouty Knot Games
"Glaire and Sarah were fast, thorough, and very specific in what we could change, and were happy to have a follow-up call and review sketches made based on their advice. This was huge for us as an indie team, as we found economical ways to address issues with expensive 3D assets."
Producer, House of Hikmah, Lunacy Studios
Engagement scope: character and costume design, environment guidance, and public-facing language
"What kind of diverse voices are we hearing, when we only see the same representation time and time again? ... working with historians is so important... There are these buried treasures in history, full of narrative, full of interactivity that you're not really going to find being a game developer just scrolling through Wikipedia. You need some direct approach, you need someone to tell you where to look or what you can mine from, and when you have that, really good things can happen. I'm seeing that, as a writer, as a narrative designer..."
Lead Narrative Designer, Gameloft, on collaborating with Anderson and DLIVCC on Digital Munya 3
"In addition to providing intensive seminars on medieval Islamic art to the Ubisoft in-house history team, Glaire and her students contributed directly to this feature, reviewing texts and suggesting illustrations from museum collections."
Creative Director, Ubisoft
“It felt on paper like it could be a great partnership opportunity. Then from the first calls, we quickly realized that you had a great personality and that it would be great to collaborate with you on a daily basis…that’s what really made us want to move forward.”
World-Design Director, Ubisoft
If your team is preparing or already in production on a project where authenticity matters, request a call with Dr. Glaire Anderson. The discovery call is a focused 30-minute conversation. She'll ask about your project and tell you directly whether and how DLIVCC can help.
“Yes, absolutely video games can successfully communicate history and education. They provide a way for us to immerse ourselves in history in much the same way that we can lose ourselves in a great historical film or a book. But video games can provide an incredible level of immersion and engagement in history.
A video game puts you in the role of active participant, rather than a passive observer, and that provides an opportunity for education that goes beyond film, and even in some ways beyond what a great book can do. And while not everyone might want to read a serious history book, no matter how well-written, lots of people of all ages enjoy playing games and enjoy learning about history.
This means that games – digital or analog – have the potential to bring history to much wider audiences. Video games with historical themes are very popular … Because video games have such potential to educate, I would argue that specialists in Islamic history and civilisation should be involved in game creation…”
Interview with Digital Lab founding director Glaire Anderson, “Ask The Expert,” Asia House/Barakat Trust, May 1, 2021.