The Environmental Game Design Playbook

What’s in the playbook? 

This Environmental Game Design Playbook explains relevant processes and illustrative practices for environmental messaging and impact through games.  

Designing games that create a targeted change in players is a delicate endeavor. This report is not a strict formula for developers to follow in order to properly design climate-action-oriented games, rather, it should leave readers empowered with ideas that they can work into their own games and audiences. The report begins by helping readers identify their desired outcomes, utilizing a set of clear frameworks. It goes on to offer tactics, paired with examples and evidence of their effects, to allow developers to reach that target outcome. The report concludes with bigger-picture considerations of players’ meta-game experiences, and how these might impact their journey to the intended outcome.

The Environmental Game Design Playbook’s goal

Well-designed gaming technology can use researched messaging to educate users about climate resilience.  

The gaming industry is competitive and innovative, making it a challenge to release a successful game at all, let alone one that promotes creative and effective climate messaging. The goal of this playbook is to arm game developers with a toolkit of resources that streamline the process of building climate consciousness into their gameplay. It’s our hope that illuminating these tactics will set developers up to create positive change whenever the opportunity presents itself – serving the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.