Research

History is our foundation

Research is the foundation our games are built on. We treat accuracy as the start of fun, not its limit.

Every decision we make starts in the archive.

Why does accuracy matter in games?

The cultural influence of video games is huge, and consumption increases yearly, particularly for young people in education and those who may not otherwise interact with history and heritage.

Video games build historical empathy, foster powerful interaction with archives and collections, and spawn new communities of historical enthusiasm. At Capstan, we embrace these hugely powerful dimensions of video gaming for the transformational educational opportunities they offer.

More accurate ≠ less fun.

Accuracy & fun are partners

When a historical setting is wrong, players feel it, even if they can't quite name why. Historical depth and immersion go hand-in-hand. Real history has stakes, characters, and settings which don't need creative embellishment.

Proudly partnered with

Capstan is proud to partner with the Prize Papers Project, a research initiative studying, cataloguing, and digitising the Prize Papers collection held at The National Archives (UK). This vast and unique archive contains documents and objects from ships captured in wars between 1652 and 1815, forming one of the richest primary-source collections on early modern life at sea.

The project is part of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony, Germany, and is based at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and The National Archives. Its academic partners include the German Maritime Museum, Leibniz-Institute for Maritime History in Bremerhaven, and the University of Oldenburg’s Gamelab.

Explore the project

Working with the experts

We celebrate scholarship and expertise in all fields related to our game worlds. These collaborations both sharpen our work and, wherever possible, reshape it from the ground-up.

Maritime historians and curators as advisors.
Partnerships with museums and archives for access and direct collections integration.
Sailors and tradespeople leading art and systems development.

Our process

Research prototype playtest refine

We try to get research into code as early as we can. If something works on paper but doesn't play, it doesn't ship.

The Capstan team digitising original maritime manuscripts at The National Archives

Want to collaborate?

If you're a historian, archivist, curator, or someone who actually sails the period, we'd like to hear from you. We're easy to get hold of, and we credit everyone who helps.

Get in touch