Environmental mobile game for COP26

Dev diaries
#1

Hi everyone!

My friend is organising a big event to coincide with COP26. As part of this, I have been commissioned to make a small mobile game. The game will highlight some small ways individuals can have a positive impact on their environment. It’s not restricted to climate change although that is a factor, but rather focuses on claiming and using urban spaces. The game will be a very casual introduction to the concepts, which will be explored in much more depth during and after the event.

The game is most closely inspired by Dumb Ways to Die. It will be a collection of mini games, each on a specific topic.

You can test the game here: 8bitskull.itch.io/dgp-test?password=defold
You can play it on desktop but it’s intended for mobile.

Below is a quick summary of the games that have been partially implemented. Since they all have extremely placeholder graphics, it might be necessary to explain them.

Derelict
Converting unused derelict land to more useful spaces, e.g. parks. The player will trace the outline of the derelict land, thereby converting it to something more useful.

Litter
Make your immediate environment more pleasant by dropping litter in the bin! Drag the litter and let it go when it is above the bin.

Hurcheon
How can street art make urban environment more enjoyable? The player can create street art by wiping the side of a building.

Cycling
Rather than being stuck in traffic jams, cycling is a cheaper, healthier, and more environmentally friendly alternative (shoutout to Sweden here!). The player increases the speed of the bicycle by rapidly drawing circles on the screen.

What do you think? Any suggestions on how to improve?

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#2

Is the purpose mainly to explain the different concepts or should they also feel like games with a bit of a challenge? As the minigames are designed today they do explain the concepts, but there is not much of a challenge to them. Can you fail somehow?

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#3

You’re right, not very challenging at all! This is intentional, at least in the sense that they are easy to understand (and I do note of course that simple games can be very challenging).

I’m planning two things to address this:

  1. A star rating system (e.g. :star: :star: :eight_pointed_black_star: or :star: :eight_pointed_black_star: :eight_pointed_black_star:) for each game that measures how quickly you can complete it, and

  2. Once all games have been completed individually once, a rapid-fire mode is unlocked where all of the games are randomly strung together (like Dumb Ways to Die). In this mode you’ll get a score or a star rating, and possibly you will lose if you’re not fast enough.

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#4

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Game’s done! I didn’t post as much about it as I wanted to - kind of struggled just getting it finished.

It’s called “Dear Greenest Place”. Let me know what you think!

Android:

iOS:

6 Likes