A grave robber has been disturbing the spirits who reside at Graceland Cemetery. As the new groundskeeper, how will you put the spirits back to rest? 

What forgotten histories lie beneath the graves of immigrant women? Find out by cleaning their headstones.

These are just a couple of the immersive experiences you can look forward to while playing games created in the course Playful Narratives at Graceland Cemetery, taught by associate professor of game design Richard Wetzel. During spring quarter, interdisciplinary student teams designed digital, analog and hybrid location-based games (played by physically moving around an environment) centering the histories of the people of Graceland.

Playful Narratives is one of four courses comprising DePaul’s Hidden Narratives at Graceland Cemetery initiative, a two-year collaboration spearheaded by anthropology faculty members Michelangelo Giampaoli and Jane Baxter and funded by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation. The initiative aims to educate visitors about Graceland’s history using different narrative approaches.

The project-based game course, which offers experiential learning credit, tasked students with collaborating with both Graceland Cemetery and Arboretum and the mobile app startup Encurate to develop and integrate the games into Graceland’s existing offerings.

“Games that are played in the real world are really exciting and Graceland is a beautiful site with lots of historical layers to it, so this course is a very unique opportunity for students,” says Wetzel, who has been researching location-based games and experiences for twenty years. “We are taking them out of the computer lab and onto the cemetery grounds, and that creates so much inspiration and opportunities for design!”

Prior to designing their games, students conducted research using resources provided by the DePaul Library, like genealogy tools and historical newspapers, and Graceland’s archives, including burial searches, maps, lot cards, and interment books. Students spent hours walking around the cemetery, exploring the environment and cross-referencing what they discovered on their walks with what they found during their research phase.

“Through research, we were able to turn what initially seemed like a forgotten gravesite into a larger story about family, law, railroads, abolitionist work, and historical memory,” reflected one student group.

When Graceland Cemetery was founded as a rural garden cemetery in 1860, public parks did not yet exist. Instead, says onsite director Jensen Allen, “visitors from all over the neighboring areas would spend the entire day at the cemetery, tending to their loved one’s graves, having picnics, playing games, and telling stories to keep the memory of their loved ones alive.”

“Entrusted with keeping our original founding in mind, it only felt natural to work with a class focused on immersive, playful narratives at the cemetery,” continues Allen.

Students presented their final projects on June 11 to stakeholders, including collaborators from Graceland, DePaul, and Encurate. Encurate is a woman-owned business that supplies digital ecosystems and engagement tools for museums, gardens, and other cultural destinations. The Chicago-based company provided the CMS infrastructure and technical training necessary to surface the games on the Graceland Cemetery app.

“I think the real-world experience students get by working within the structure of an existing product like our software is invaluable,” says Nancy Harmon, co-founder and chief curatorial officer of Encurate. “We guided students through designing for a specific client with real-world constraints and collaborating on ideas that will continue to shape Encurate.”

Wetzel also believes working with Encurate gave students the kind of practical experience and problem-solving skills they’ll need in their careers. Without having to do any coding or programming, students were able to focus more on the game’s interactivity and narrative - but many weren’t used to the limitations of working with an existing platform.

“Students had to make compromises, but that has its advantages,” says Wetzel. “Encurate is still in development, and has constraints that don’t allow for what some students might have wanted to incorporate. But that’s also great, because students had to work in a realistic environment, restricted in what they were able to do, and find workarounds.”  

Students say their experience working with clients and collaborators gives them insight into potential career paths as well as the necessary skills and insights they’ll use in future roles. “This class was my most impactful one this quarter as it exposed me to new topics in UX/UI, and helped me realize what I want my future career to be like,” says Vanessa Lugo.

“Learning how to work with different clients will be very useful as a designer as I will have to work for many people with many different needs and priorities. Learning to be adaptable was important, since I might not always have the same goals as the people I work with, and I will have to learn to adapt to their needs and limitations,” reflects Seren Winslade.

Enrollment for the course was open to any DePaul student. No game or technical expertise was required. Students joining the course came from disciplines including game design, film and television, user experience design and computer science, and were encouraged to be creative with their concepts. Some experiences leaned more heavily on the playful side (“Mystery at the Graveyard,” “Graceland’s Scavenger Hunt”), while others engaged deeply with personal histories of people buried at Graceland (Who is James H. Collins?” and “The Path Before”). Two effectively balanced both sides (“Can This Be Your Resting Place” and “Love Letter to Graceland”).

“Many people think being playful or ‘enjoying’ a cemetery isn’t apropos, but quite the opposite is true,” says Allen. “Cemeteries are kept alive by those coming to enjoy the space - and they have many ways of doing so.”