(4) Vision Statement & Top Level Summary

Experience the progression of climate change in a new perspective as you play as a species of animals trying to survive in a bountiful ecosystem. However, humans are progressing their civilization and in turn their impact on climate change and the natural disasters that are changing your environment become more apparent. Choosing how to react to climate change amidst a competitive ecosystem will test your ability to adapt and plan for the future. Your decisions will make the difference between survival or extinction.

(6) How Does It Address The Design Challenge Of A Transformative Game?

1. What’s the underlying challenge/problem your game aims to tackle, and how could addressing this help make this world a better place to live?

The problem our game aims to tackle is the lack of awareness of current climate change occurrences and the severity of how it is affecting our world in the present. Moreover, we want to highlight the effects on wildlife and their habitats that are causing certain species onto the brink of extinction and creating long term effects on the environments around us. We want to generate awareness not only around how the problems of climate change are currently happening, but also shed light on how humanity’s actions are contributing towards climate change in aspects that the common person may not even be aware of. In turn, awareness on how our actions contribute towards climate change will allow for reflection and better understanding of the consequences and tradeoffs of certain actions in our communities. In turn, a society with a better understanding of its actions will not only make us more conscious of the environment around us, but also allow us to plan or address the effects that our actions cause.

2. Background research on underlying problem/challenge that your game aims to tackle

Climate change or global warming can primarily be attributed to an increase in the planet’s natural greenhouse effect within the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is the process in which sunlight gets reflected off the ground and back into the atmosphere as heat. Certain gasses within the atmosphere prevent the heat from escaping which causes it to radiate and warm the planet. Gasses which contribute to this include water vapor, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane. Water vapor is the most prominent gas in the atmosphere and because it produces clouds and rain, this gas is important for contributing to meteorological phenomena around the world. CO2 is another gas which contributes to the greenhouse effect and can be produced naturally but a 47% increase in this gas in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution can be attributed to humans. Methane is a more pollutant greenhouse gas and can be produced naturally and through human activity however it is not as abundant in the atmosphere as CO2. Lastly, Chlorofluorocarbons are entirely man made chemicals used in industrial applications but their use has been heavily regulated since they were linked with contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer. Global warming is not universal and some regions may experience colder temperatures as it balances out per region. Some studies have indicated elevated CO2 can increase crop yield and plant growth but this can also be reduced if the temperature, ozone levels and nutrient levels in the soil are changed. Climate change can cause droughts, floods, extreme temperatures which can lead to crop and food security loss, extreme weather events and rising sea levels through a melting of polar ice. For more information see https://climate.nasa.gov/ as their information is extensive and goes into much more detail than this section allows. Our game seeks to tackle the belief that climate change is entirely natural and has not been affected by human activity. There is clear science that this is not the case with the 47% increase in C02 since the industrial revolution. This information being verified by NASA gives weight to its scientific merit as well.

Base level: emissions of these gases contribute to more heat being trapped by our atmosphere.

• carbon dioxide (CO2)

• methane

• nitrous oxide

3 main sources humans produce that is contributing towards climate change

Scope:

• Burning coal, oil and gas produces carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. The consideration is that society has requirements on energy to maintain our functionality for daily life

• Cutting down forests (deforestation). Trees help to regulate the climate by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. So when they are cut down, that beneficial effect is lost and the carbon stored in the trees is released into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect.

• Increasing livestock farming. Cows and sheep produce large amounts of methane when they digest their food.

• Fertilizers containing nitrogen produce nitrous oxide emissions.

Difficult to address because:

-energy demands for daily life

-diet habits, demand for meat

-human expansion, need for more space (resulting in deforestation). Includes clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.

-climate change happens over a long period of time

-form of natural disasters are something that may not necessarily be attributed towards climate change

Environmental effects on animals due to climate change:

-changing seasonal timings; life cycles of plants as a source of food

-changing the environment as a habitat (increasing temp, food availability, water availability, changing river flows, flooding, etc)

-reproduction of animals (baby turtle’s sex depends on the temperature of the sand the egg is in; imbalance in gender will be detrimental to their reproduction capabilities as a species)

https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2015/02/03/climate-change-poses-challenges-to-plants-and-animals/

https://www.gvicanada.ca/blog/6-animal-species-and-how-they-are-affected-by-climate-change/

Humans are trying to plant more trees with the Trillion Tree program that encourages everyone to plant or donate to areas that have deforestation. https://trilliontrees.org/home

Climate change effects from human actions that can damage natural ecosystems (for event cards):

Acid rain from burning fossil fuels to run large manufacturing factories and to generate electricity. The chemicals mix with rain, snow, fog, or other kinds of precipitation and collect on the soil or in water sources. The pollutants accumulate and can contaminate water bodies such as rivers and lakes, making it toxic for certain species of animals. However, if an animal species is affected in the food chain, it can cause harm to other animals who may be more resistant to acidic waters as well. https://www.epa.gov/acidrain/what-acid-rain

Climate change has led to the warming of earth’s atmosphere. Thawing permafrost in tundras can release large amounts of greenhouse gases from decomposed organic material (e.g. dead animals and plants) as well as toxic waste from excavating gas and oil that have been trapped by ice for decades. The melted ice carries chemicals to nearby water sources. The carbon released from the gaps in the ice exponentially increases the greenhouse gas emissions and further speeds up the warming caused by climate change. This is the permafrost carbon feedback. https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-melting-permafrost-is-beginning-to-transform-the-arctic

Mountaintop removal mining destroys a large amount of the ecosystem at a rapid rate. The process includes deforestation, bulldozing the landscape, and using explosives to blast top-level soil and rock to expose materials that are to be mined. The debris changes the landscape and water systems and buries other land and forest areas. https://e360.yale.edu/features/mountaintop_mining_legacy_destroying_appalachian_streams

Slash and burn agriculture can destroy forests or grasslands due to the rapid farming method depleting all nutrients from the land and burning the plants for farmland. http://ecologic.org/actions-issues/challenges/slash-burn-agriculture/#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20problems%20that,climate%20change%3B%20and%20an%20increase

The dam’s effect on the environment and climate change. Upstream of the dam is flooded while the downstream of the dam has less water. When flooded, the vegetation that holds carbon decomposes faster and releases methane and more greenhouse gas. Since dam traps and controls the flow of water, the fertilizers that are transported by the water are not delivered. As well as sewage flows into these reservoirs. Both reasons cause more algae blooming to pull oxygen out of the water causing the water to become more acidic, affecting vegetations, animals and humans.

https://www.dw.com/en/five-ways-mega-dams-harm-the-environment/a-53916579

Various human activities: agriculture, deforestation, overconsumption, plastic production, emission of carbon dioxide/other greenhouse gases, and overexploitation. Some key points were:

• Deforestation can cause aridity and erosion to an ecosystem

• Trees and plants are required to filter the air and balance co2 levels

• Chemicals in plastic are released in the water affecting animals’ endocrine system and change their reproduction patterns

• With more co2 the warming of the earth which leads for sea-levels to rise which affects extreme weather events around the world. Flooding, heatwaves, tsunamis, droughts, and snowstorms.

• Water pollution can cause increased salt intrusion and changes the local weather patterns

  • Higher salt levels makes some fish species difficult to survive

  • Animal and plant species have shrunk by more than half of their original sizes because of over-drained rivers and destruction of freshwater aquifers

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-human-activities-that-affect-ecosystem.php

3. Team motivation

Climate change is a prevalent issue in the world that could affect all of us in our lifetime. Even now we see the impact with the sudden natural disasters, such as the Texas cold snap, Australia wildfires, and Indonesia flash floods. These disasters can affect the natural ecosystem and habitats of animals, which can lead them to become endangered. We wanted to raise awareness on how human actions can impact other lives on the earth with our game as well as the issue of climate change and global warming as there is misinformation on the topic.

4. Why would a game be a suitable approach to tackling this challenge/problem?

It is hard to envision the long term effects of climate change, with a game it shows the effects of the challenges and how little things add up to make a change. It is a hands-on way to experience a real-world problem that players will have to directly interact with. It can help them engage with the information. The small scale of the game and its mechanics can translate the complex processes or systems of climate change in relation to natural disasters into simple procedures.

5. Desired “transformation” and impact of game on players

The desired transformation that our game will cause on players is to allow them more understanding of the environmental consequences of human actions and allow for better analysis of choices that occur in a community. We don’t only want players to understand how their actions are affecting the environment but also how they are affecting the wildlife around us. Climate change is a daily occurrence that isn’t happening down the road but constantly changing the world around us right now. It is something we need to be more conscious of in our decision making in the present and something we need to address.

6. How would you assess the game’s impact?

An indicator of success during the playtesting session would be to have players feel confusion or realization that climate change disasters are occurring now and in a localized scope rather than something that happens elsewhere or something in the future (can be verbal thoughts of, “does this really happen?” “I didn’t know climate change caused this”, etc). After playtesting we would conduct interviews and/or surveys to get information on what people felt when playing the game and the conceptual changes that occurred due to cognitive dissonance. The indication of success would be players gaining new insight into how human actions are affecting not only the wildlife around us but also changing the environment and landscape around us drastically. If players come out with the takeaway accepting that climate change is constantly occurring and is a problem in the present then that would be a success in our books. We want people to have a second thought when they hear about different occurrences happening around them such as plans for a dam being built and how that may affect the environment and life around them.

(7) Inspiration Analysis

1. Pandemic legacy board game was one inspiration as the game had randomized events that occurred that impacted the players decisions as an individual and as a team. We would like to have this dynamic of players having to make decisions based on drastic events that occur that are randomized but also some that they could predict based on a narrative on climate change’s history.

2. Japan Sinks 2020 (Netflix series) - This series is about a earthquake disaster that occurs in Japan and causes Japan to sink. There is a group of people from different age groups, backgrounds and experiences that have to survive and get to a safe point. Our team can see some aspects of having different roles be part of the mechanic, but the main insight is how players react when a drastic event happens to their environment and people around them.

3. The Day After Tomorrow (Film, 2004) - This movie portrays a fictional near-future earth where the effects of climate change causes several sudden natural disasters leading to extreme weather conditions, including flash floods, flash freezing, and severe tornado storms amongst other things. Although the scientific accuracy of the film is debated, it covers the basis of what climate change can potentially lead to and humanity's response to it. The drastic loss of human life is also shown, which is another fearful thing to imagine for the future with climate change. I think that it can help us draw examples of situations of sudden disasters and how we could respond to them. With our own further research, we could use situations in the film to mirror our game's scenarios.

4. Elysium (Film, 2013) - This film portrays the social class divide between a destroyed, overpopulated Earth where it's inhabitants live in poverty and the rich that live on a space station away from the ruins. The setting/narrative might not be the correct source material for our game, but there is a message to be said about how our financial status or social class can determine our response to extreme situations. The team discussed this aspect as a potential mechanic for our game, with starting resources that can give a player a privileged position or the opposite.

5. Texas snowstorm - The drastic change in the drop of temperature that was unexpected. We are inspired by the aspect of how people reacted towards the event. What actions they took and how it affected them or others around them.

(8) Why Your Project is Innovative?

Our project is innovative because our game takes a different perspective on climate change with eyes from animals while they are trying to survive in different biomes in Canada. The players have to prosper in the environment while having to defend their territory from other players while simultaneously dealing with the effects of climate change. This makes all decisions meaningful as the players actions not only have to juggle maintaining the livelihood of their current animal species but also overcome the obstacles that climate change is constantly presenting to try and expand their species and thrive. People should ultimately play this game to have fun and compete against each other but in the process will end up learning around climate change and can reflect on the message after the game.

(9) Introduction

Different species of animals in the Boreal Forest compete to become the most prosperous species while human activities threaten their habitat through the effects of climate change, ultimately turning their natural competition into a test of survival. The game takes place on a central game board with a variety of commonly seen environments placed randomly. Habitat tile types include forest, wetland, prairies, mountain, tundra, and rivers, each of which produces a different resource for the tile owner to obtain. Players each choose a species of animal native to Canada to play as and start with one animal figurehead each. The main objective is to be the first to expand your species to 5 animal figureheads or be the last species surviving. Players can reach the objective by moving animal figureheads to claim territories and collecting resources from tiles at the start of each phase in order to keep their animals alive and further reproduce. Human activity event cards are drawn at the beginning of each turn round with global effects on the habitats and resource production for the following turn phase. Players must juggle their management of food to keep their species alive, plan their movements around the board and territory control, fight against other species over limited resources, and react to the climate change effects constantly changing the board state around everyone.

(10) Narrative/Story

The storyline is that you are an animal species seeking to prosper in a changing environment due to human actions and climate change. Unable to control the sources and actions of humans, experience the hopelessness and effects of climate change through the perspective of animals struggling to survive.

Animal Species and Unique Traits:

Environment Tiles (Resource Holdings):

(16) Analyze your game in terms of decision types, dilemmas, rewards, surprise, and endings

(a) Decision Types

Analyze for hollow, obvious, or uninformed decisions

1. We don’t believe our game contains hollow decisions as every action taken by the players will have some consequence to the overall game state, be it immediate or long term.

2. An obvious decision could be if the player will run out of food next turn to keep their population alive, they would have to claim a tile that would give them additional food of some kind. This can be improved by simply reminding the player to keep an eye on their food counter frequently so they don’t accidentally reproduce too quickly and end up with their population dying off.

3. We don’t believe our game contains uninformed decisions as the game state is entirely known to all players for that turn.

Analyze for desirable decisions

1. Players know the requirements to survive each upcoming turn as well as the climate change effect on the environment tiles and its resources provided that turn as well. Players make informed decisions on what environments they prioritize that round as well as the competition with other players with survival needs and climate change in mind.

2. A dramatic decision in our game is seeking to battle and take back control of your previously owned territory which another player has managed to claim instead of going to capture another which is not contested.

3. The decision to reproduce is a weighted decision because it has both a positive and negative aspect; The positive effect being players have control over an additional piece to move around and capture territory and the negative consequence is that the additional piece will require an additional resource to keep the new piece alive.

4. Moving into another player’s territory will result in a conflict. The animals will battle as the players each roll a die to determine the winner, which is the player that rolls the higher number. Based on the battle, the owner of the territory will either change immediately or be maintained by the original owner and therefore not provide the attacker with any additional resources.

5. Reproducing is also a long term decision as after that decision is made, the player will require additional resources on every subsequent turn to keep that new piece from dying off.

(b) Dilemmas

Our non-trivial dilemmas include where you move to claim territories in order to collect certain resources, whether you choose to use your resources to reproduce, whether or not to start conflict with another species. These dilemmas are part of the core gameplay as they are the choices of player actions for each turn.

• Each time an animal figurehead moves to claim another territory, the state of the game board is changed for other players as well since it now decreases the amount of free spaces available to move into. It limits other players’ movement and could force conflict. If the tile’s claim is maintained until the start of the next round the player will receive resources that can help with reproduction.

• Reproducing increases the amount of animal figureheads being controlled and therefore increases the amount of actions/movement of the player but requires more resources to maintain. More figureheads could lead to claiming territories faster and obtaining more resources to reproduce.

• The conflict affects the claim on tiles, which will give the winner of the conflict the resource at the start of the next round.

Overall, the dilemmas play a big part in reaching the game objective and the win condition with how resources are obtained. Additionally, it adds an engaging factor with the enforcement of player interaction.

(c) Rewards

The reward system is mostly used for winning. Such as the collection of resources that are used to keep their species alive and able to produce offspring. To gain more resources will require successfully marking their territory on terrain which requires offspring's to help mark. There are aspects of being tied to the story line with the climate change cards which affect the resources, terrain and requirements to reproduce. All the rewards occur in turn at the beginning of each turn phase: Apply human impact to the environment and collect resources from marked territory. So that what occurs from the human impact affects the collected resources as well.

(d) Surprise

The surprise element occurs when the environmental impact card is drawn at the beginning of the turn phase. As the outcome affects and changes the plan of the players. There is a surprise element when players are fighting for a terrain tile and a dice roll occurs. As well when players decide to begin to mark their territory on other player’s terrain tiles.

(e) Endings

The ending of our game will always result in one ultimate winner who has either managed to expand the amount of their animal figureheads to 5 or be the last animal species remaining at the end of the turn phase. This can be a satisfying experience for the winner as the result of careful planning in claiming territories, as well as having survived through the different drastic human activities that have destroyed their habitat.

(17) Overall Reflection

Reflecting on the overall team game, firstly with the design process, we realized how important it is to be unified on the game vision and the foundation of the game. Even though we had already designed a game together on the assignment prior, it was a completely different thing when trying to implement more task delegation and splitting up the work. What we found was that even though we were all thinking of the visualized game in a relatively similar manner, the small differences were magnified when bringing the components of the game together. What that meant was that we had to revert a lot of decisions we made and had to restart at one point to make sure that we all had the exact same vision for the game at least in the foundational stage. What worked well was focusing on one strong message and making sure the mechanics supported that message/idea. With the core in place, what ended up being the most helpful was playtesting with different users that gave us an immense amount of insight into the current problems with the game that us playtesting ourselves would never have even considered especially regarding game balance. What we learned from iterating constantly was to make sure that the current state you’re at is polished even if it is boring or lackluster before you start adding more to it and increasing the complexity. Interestingly though, we did find it very useful when keeping two mechanics connected straightforwardly throughout the game, it really allowed us to evolve the gameplay while making things stay cohesive. In terms of additions or improvements we’d make in the future, we feel the game we currently have is very scalable. We’ve designed it in such a way where adding new species of animals can be easily added to support more players or give players more choices for which animal they choose to play as. We also would add more climate change event cards to the game since while 14 event cards were enough for playtesting and game iteration, it would be severely lacking in a retail game. We’d also most likely have to look at the naming of resources. We’ve had several discussions surrounding renaming meat and plants to more generic counterparts or reworking the resource system in a way which makes more sense for each animal. Specifically, we observed a disconnect with reality when having animals like rabbits, who in the wild are herbivores, sustain their population off of a resource called meat. We’ve known about this disconnect for a while now while designing the core of the game however we never could solve the disconnect in a way which fully made sense. We’ve previously proposed changing the meat and plant resources to food and comfort but then found it wasn’t exactly logical for biomes to be giving comfort where realistically herbivores would go in search of plants. Further iterations of the game would seek to address this disconnect so that players aren’t taken out of the experience by logical holes and are more likely to have a transformative experience through the game.

(18) Team Communication and Processes

Overall, after discussing our JiTT 9 responses, we ended up deciding to implement some changes to our collaboration process. This meant we decided to meet more frequently going from 1-2 meetings a week to 4, at least until the base version of the game became playable and had fully fleshed out. This meant we didn’t have to meet as long since we were meeting more frequently and allowed us to get much more work done this week allowing us to catch up in the design process and develop a better prototype. Ultimately this led to us working in a sprint to get the mechanics and rules to a working state and I feel it was successful given that at the end of the sprint we felt much more confident about the state of our game and were happy with the progress we made. In the future, we may end up sticking with sprints to finish our game however now that we feel that our game is in a more complete state, these sprints may not be necessary. Additionally, we didn’t decide to use any planning tools or SCRUM software as we felt our current progress would only end up being slowed down by adding more intermediary steps to the design process. Ultimately, we didn’t end up making anyone a project lead as we felt it may cause more conflict than the time savings were worth since our current collaboration methods were working great, it was just that they were progressing slower than we would have liked at the time.

Appendix