When research historian Joanna Nowak comes running down the halls of game developer Warhorse Studios in Prague, her co-workers have reason to be worried. Something in their game probably needs to change. As Warhorse’s in-house historical consultant, it’s Nowak’s job to ensure that the studio’s new medieval role-playing title, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, is as historically accurate as possible. The game is set in Bohemia — the modern-day Czech Republic — in 1403, and it painstakingly re-creates period-specific details, from armor and swords to the layout of the towns players can explore.
The realism of those details depends on the expertise of Nowak, who previously studied art history and architecture preservation before joining the studio. She spends her days digging into reference materials, whether it’s digital databases or old history books, and calling up experts at museums or galleries. She also fields plenty of very specific questions from the rest of the 120-person team, covering everything from how characters should dress to what kinds of flowers you’ll find in the fields.
When she really starts moving, it means she’s found something, like new research that changes the way in-game characters should fight, or details about how the inside of a monastery should look. Sometimes she realizes an artist has crafted something without her feedback, and it needs to be changed right away. “Mostly they’re scared if I’m coming very quickly,” Nowak says of her co-workers.