Bridging Disciplines: Reflections on ReAnimate Summer School and Interdisciplinary Approaches in Digital Game Studies

by Sophie Bémelmans and Adrian Demleitner

In June 2024, the ReAnimate Summer School in Montréal brought together a diverse group of scholars and practitioners from all over the world to explore the intersections of digital game history, criticism, and development. This unique event, organized by Concordia University, Université de Montréal, and École de Technologie Supérieure, aimed to bridge the gap between humanities and engineering in digital game studies, and initated by Carl Therrien, Yann-Gaël Guéhéneuc, Fabio Petrillo, and their team. As researchers from Confoederatio Ludens, we participated in this week-long program that challenged traditional disciplinary boundaries. The summer school featured a rich mix of academic presentations, practical workshops and collaborative activities, providing a multifaceted approach to understanding digital games as complex cultural and technological artefacts.

This blog post reflects on our experiences at ReAnimate, highlighting key insights gained and exploring the crucial role of interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing the field of digital game studies. Through this reflection, we aim to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about research methodologies and collaborative approaches in our rapidly evolving discipline.

In their own words, the summer school was an attempt to invite “both humanities and engineering to provide unique insights on retro gaming, both theoretical and practical, and opportunities for cross-fertilization among research fields.”¹ The event, running from June 10-14th 2024, shared the same research interests and approaches as those pursued by Confoederatio Ludens. Although retro games are enjoying some popularity, digital game history is seldomly researched in academia. The stark difference to us was the inclusion of the computer science and engineering disciplines, a point that will be elaborated upon later in this report.

Next to a game jam and the obligatory gaming sessions, the summer school program featured a captivating lineup of presentations. See below for a brief recap of all the presentations. Of all the approaches and research brought forward, two were especially valuable for us: one was John Aycock talking about the origin story of digital game archaeology and presenting cases from his own work. The other was Rilla Khaled and Darren Wershler leading us through materiality, technique and culture in digital game studies, and how all three aspects are always entangled in a kind of Gordian knot².

The importance of collaborating

In hindsight,a broader theme emerged from all these presentations, as well as from informal discussions between attendees. Game developers in the 1980ies figured out that they needed a team to create a decent game, as outlined by Chris Gibbs’ and Carlos Pinto Gomez’ presentations. Similarly, no single researcher can encompass all the perspectives needed to analyse digital games. Rilla Khaled called out for more multidisciplinary approaches – where we help each other out – and bring the necessary humility in the knowledge that we cannot do or know everything by ourselves. This is a general approach at the Technoculture, Art and Games institute, where Rilla Khaled, Alex Custodio and Darren Wershler notably work. Being trained in one discipline, they constantly dabble in others, with the help of others.

The same principle applies to John Aycock’s digital game archaeology. Coming from computer science, Aycock was able to further develop his approach through the intense engagement and collaboration with archaeologists. In his presentation³, he recounted the origins of digital game archeology. Originally, he taught digital game development as an engaging way of introducing basic computing topics to students. To better understand these old games, he started to apply rudimentary archeology methodologies in his research. This new field of “retrogame archeology” flourished when Aycock began collaborating with archaeologists and other humanities researchers who shared similar approaches.

Khaled’s and Wershler’s contribution⁴ sparked some thoughts on how to work together, beyond disciplines, in their joint-presentation. Their talk concentrated on the Gordian knot of materiality, technology, and culture, and how profoundly researching digital games (or anything else for that matter) will need to traverse all three aspects. Both discussed their own career and how they experienced this first-hand in their own work and research. Wershler brought a modded SNES console to the discussion, providing a great example. He acquired the console from eBay and explored the reasons behind its modifications, despite having no prior knowledge of these technical intricacies. This opened up discussions on topics such as video ports in different countries, signal processing, fashion (trends) in soldering, the hierarchies and power of knowledge in hobbyist circles and engineering. He used the example to outline the approach of the Residual Media Depot, which is a mix between an archive and a hackerspace, or a digital game studies hardware archive geared towards preservation for use. 

Adrian : I was especially fond of Khaled’s approach to game design, as it resonated with the design principles I was trained in during my master’s studies. Her focus was on the entanglement of academic digital game studies and digital game design/development courses as well the importance of research-creation and the indie/alt scene. Her point being, don’t walk alone and get your hands dirty.

The team at CH Ludens also follows this principle as the project brings together around twenty researchers from different disciplines (History, Game Design, Sociology, Media, Culture and Gender Studies, and more). We are indeed convinced of the necessity of multiplying perspectives on our subject of study, the digital game, particularly digital games in Switzerland.

However, we have identified a blind spot in our approach: Predominantly stemming from the humanities, game studies rarely discuss the technical dimensions of their subject and focus more on social and cultural aspects. This observation was already made notably by Bogost and Montfort when they spearheaded platform studies on digital games in 2007⁵, regretting studies that pay too little attention to materiality and code, for example. Thus, like Wershler and Khaled, we share the analysis that to study digital games, one must also be interested in materiality and technology, which are directly intertwined with social and cultural dimensions. Nevertheless, we believe that one reason these dimensions are so underrepresented in our research, aside from a few exceptions like the works of John Aycock, is the lack of technical knowledge required.

Sophie : Indeed, it is easier to make this observation than to apply the principles to one’s own research. I have personally faced this situation. Trained in sociology, my doctoral thesis involves analysing the history of the Swiss computers Smaky and the playful software developed on this platform. Inspired by the platform studies approach, I have emphasised the importance of considering material and technical dimensions in my research from the start. However, to grasp these dimensions and understand the underlying issues, one must at least master the concepts specific to them. Since the beginning of my thesis, I have been learning technical terminology, basics of electronics, basics of programming, etc., in parallel with my research work. For instance, we organised an electronics workshop with a colleague, electronics engineer Loïc Cattani, who taught us the basics of electronics. Nevertheless, I have reached the same conclusion as Darren Wershler when he says, “If you try to have all of Batman’s skills, you’ll be 60 by the time you get there.” Indeed, I can immerse myself in these fields, but I will never possess the skills required to grasp the underlying issues fully. Rather than trying to master these skills, I must surround myself with competent people to help me in my research, and find ways to bridge the disciplinary gaps.

Thus, we have come to the same conclusion as our colleagues: we must collaborate more with people who have the skills of computer engineers, programmers, electronics engineers, whether they come from academia or are hobbyists. We have everything to gain by collaborating with competent people. Their results and approaches are different from ours, but it is precisely this diversity that enriches the collaboration because we cannot claim to reach the technical level they possess. 

The ReAnimate Summer School broadened our academic perspectives and provided a unique opportunity to experience Montréal, a city that embodies the multidisciplinary spirit of our studies. Much like the field of digital game studies, Montréal is a place where diverse elements converge to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Its multicultural and multilingual character, along with its status as a hub for both technology and arts, provided an ideal backdrop for our cross-disciplinary discussions. The city’s blend of innovation and creativity, evident in its thriving game development industry and rich cultural institutions, constantly reminded us of the potential that lies in bringing together diverse perspectives.

What truly set our experience apart was the warmth and hospitality of Montréal’s people. The summer energy was palpable, with a constant stream of events and gatherings animating the city. This vibrant atmosphere, coupled with Montréal’s unique charm, created an environment that fostered both intellectual growth and personal enjoyment. As we conclude our reflections on the ReAnimate Summer School, we are grateful not only for the academic insights gained, but also for the opportunity to immerse ourselves in such a dynamic and welcoming city. The spirit of Montréal – collaborative, innovative, and warmly inclusive – will undoubtedly continue to inspire our approach to interdisciplinary research in digital game studies.

Brief Summary of Talks

To provide a brief overview, here is a quick summary.

• Jimmy Maher: Origin story of him being a digital game historian and how that shaped his approach to his studies.
• Alex Custodio: Game Boy homebrew in between elitism and activist practices and modding hardware as a research approach.
• Chris Gibbs: Origin story of his digital game development and producer career.
• Carl Therrien: Speedrun-presenting 15 important Amiga games and linking them to fundamental research in the digital game studies.
• Charlotte Courtois: Retro homebrew as feminist and activist practice.
• Frédérick Maheux: Noise, video-games and research-creation.
• Cindy Poremba: New materialism, rotoscoping and the discourse on “motion capture”, and Mechner’s work.
• John Aycock: Origin story of digital game archeology/archeogaming and cases from his own work.
• Rilla Khaled and Darren Wershler: Materiality, technique and culture in digital game studies, and how all three are always entangled.
• Carlos Pinto Gomez: The history of digital game development technologies.

Next to these longer presentations, there was also an array of lightning talks by participants.

• Robert Glasshüttner: About the history of the pinball machine and his research on pinball and the discourse on luck and skill, and a second presentation on the GDR microcomputer KC/85.
• Aleks Franiczek: His approach on narrative design in digital games for his literature courses, and examples from the JRPG genre.
• Cristiano Politowski: Categorising a digital game easter egg corpus with GPT-4.
• Fábio Petrillo: Modeling and analysing digital game post-mortems with computational methods regarding the production’s organisation.
• Sophie Bémelmans: About her research and approach on studying the Swiss microcomputers SMAKY.
• Adrian Demleitner: On tracing video game programming practices in the 1980ies and -90ies 

Recommended citation: Sophie Bémelmans and Adrian Demleitner, “Bridging Disciplines: Reflections on ReAnimate Summer School and Interdisciplinary Approaches in Digital Game Studies”, in: Confoederatio Ludens, https://chludens.hypotheses.org/3110, 14.10.2024

1. Quote taken from the ReAnimate frontpage [↩]
2. See Gordian Knot on Wikipedia [↩]
3. See John Aycock’s presentation slides [↩]
4. See Rilla Khaled’s and Darren Wershler’s presentation slides [↩]
5. Bogost, I., & Montfort, N. (2007). New Media as Material Constraint: An Introduction to Platform Studies. Electronic Techtonics: Thinking at the Interface. Proceedings of the First International HASTAC Conference., 176–193. [↩]

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