Ab Uno Sanguine

This game requires JavaScript. Works best in Chrome, but should function in all modern browsers. Minimum playtime ~ 5 minutes.

Description

Welcome to the complicated world of 19th-century Indigenous rights activism. Your name is Frederick Chesson and you are the secretary of the Aborigines' Protection Society, a humanitarian organization in London, England that fought for Indigenous rights between 1837-1909. You live in a society that is apathetic at best towards Indigenous rights, and you have to balance courting public support with making a real difference in the British colonies. It is a difficult balance to strike, and most historians agree that the real Aborigines' Protection Society was a failure. Can you do any better?

This game has two phases. In the main phase, you examine letters received from the colonies and must decide to either accept or reject them. Accepting and rejecting the correct letters will increase your income, while accepting or rejecting the wrong letters will reduce your income. In the management phase, you must use whatever income you achieved to balance your books and keep your organization running. Keep your Society solvent for four rounds and you win.

Early access version - 27 September 2022

2 October 2022 update:

- Added restart button

4 April 2023 update:

- Added citation system with links to all primary sources as well as a bibliography.

- Added save system

Controls

• Left click the stack of letters to begin each round
• Right click to open/flip letters and newspapers
• Drag letters onto open envelopes to enclose them
• Drag sealed envelopes into the street to send them

About

This game is based on my PhD research at University College London and presents aspects of my analysis of Victorian humanitarianism. All documents and events referenced in this game are real, although paraphrased extensively to make them work in a game. Any document with an asterisk in the top right corner has been altered more extensively, but is still based on historical evidence. Real photos and transcripts for many of the letters seen in the game can be seen at https://aps.darrenreid.ca/letters/, and you can learn more about my research at https://www.darrenreid.ca/.

This is my first foray into game development and is very simple, made in Twine and based entirely on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I apologize for any bugs or glitches, I am still in the process of testing it and welcome any feedback. 

I also welcome comments on the historical content of the game. Did you know the Aborigines' Protection Society existed? What do you think about it?