Credit: Tuile and Jubal

The theme has been released, and the jam has begun! If you’re unsure where to start or need help developing a concept, here are some tips to kick off your brainstorming phase:

Look up dictionary definitions of the theme’s keywords – Exploring alternative meanings of each word can spark new ideas. Search the theme’s keywords using various search engines – While Google is a great starting point, there are other academic search engines that might be better for finding reliable sources. Check out this recent article(2024) for some useful options.

Here’s some tips for the research process itself:

Take notes – With so much information, it’s easy to forget a good idea. Keep notes of anything that stands out, whether on paper or in a notes app—whatever works best for you. i.e. If you’re using a google doc or word doc, using headings & the navigation pane can be useful when your notes get long!

Note down your references - URLs, page numbers in books - it will save time later when you want to look back at things again!

Create moodboards – Gather images, sources, bits of text, and even game mechanics or ideas that inspire you during your research. Moodboards don’t need to be fancy—just collect whatever catches your eye. Some good tools for this include Excalidraw and Figma. You can even use MS Paint if you’re feeling adventurous!

Is this wiki incomplete? Please feel free to suggest changes or let us know at historicallyaccurategamejam@gmail.com