Five games that are trying to save the world
March 16, 2021
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Game-making tool company Unity has a program which grants cash to developers of games that innovate in the fields of education, sustainability, and health. Today, the firm handed out $25,000 each to the developers of five games, which most impressed the judges.
Apart from being built in Unity, they share a common goal of helping to make the world a better place, by addressing real problems through play and simulated experience. Let’s take a look at these games, which are all inspiring in different ways.
Future Aleppo (pictured above) is a VR experience in which children are tasked with rebuilding homes destroyed by war. The game was inspired by an Aleppo-based boy, Mohammed Kteish, who used fallen debris to construct a model of his city that had been destroyed by bombings. The boy’s model was featured in a British TV news documentary. Now the game’s makers are working with kids traumatized by war “empowering them to architect their own cities and homes, restoring agency and aiding in processing their trauma.”
In the mobile game Ahi Kā Rangers, players create and maintain eco-biomes, raising animals and plants, collecting data and creating scientific progress. Players can also help each other. It was created by Ara Journeys, an indigenous New Zealand outfit dedicated to sharing pre-colonization Maori stories through games and VR. Ahi Kā Rangers is “designed to transform a generation who have lost their connection to the world around them, into cheerleaders and activists for the planet.”
Dot’s Home investigates the racism of the U.S. housing system. The protagonist is a young Black woman, living in her family home, who travels back in time to “relive key moments in her family’s history where race, place, and home collide.” The game was created by a group of housing advocates.
| Our America follows a Black father-and-son VR journey, in which they experience subtle and overt racist aggressions of everyday life. The game “allows the audience to experience life as a Black person.” It’s developed by Fishean Studio. |
| Samudra is a pretty 2D puzzle game set in a polluted sea. The player, a child, encounters underwater creatures coping with the damage done by humans. It’s developed by Indonesian team Khayalan Arts “founded with the purpose of sharing environmental & cultural awareness via visual & interactive storytelling.” Jessica Lindl, VP of social impact at Unity, says the five winners were picked from 250 games, adding that the games “connect us more deeply to our global society, help us see the world a bit differently, and give us hope.” I certainly agree, and I hope to be writing more about these games, and others with similar goals, in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned for that and please keep me informed of any other games that are helping to make the world a better place. |
Art-Science-Innovation-Society
About this Newsletter
Hello. My name is Colin Campbell. I’ve been writing about video games for more than 30 years. I’m interested in how games effect, and reflect the world we live in. You can read my newsletter (for free) every weekday (subscribe here). You can can contact me by emailing colin@campbellnotes.com, or via twitter.
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