This is a prototype so many of the collisions have not been set for environmental purposes
A lot of the non-main story dialog hasn't been set
I was only able to prototype a quest management system and some of the branching dialog. I was not able to prototype the investigation mechanic to a playable state, so once you reach the town meeting you have done all the main things to donfor now.
Please see my GDD for my game about addressing the climate impacts of data centers.
This will be an investigation style adventure game where you collect information and call your community to act to enact change.
I do not currently have a working title. To mitigate having to download the contents of the document is below. (It's better formatted in the document and all the links are better formatted in the document. At some point the images broke in the html so see the document for all images)
Climate Jam 25
High Level Design
Concept Statement
An investigation style adventure game where you collect information and call your community to act to enact change
Genre(s)
Top-down, Zelda-like, Adventure Game, Detective Game
Target Audience
Gamer Audience Cozy Gamers that like narrative based combat free games
Learner Audience People that live in areas affected by Data Centers that want to learn more about their environmental impacts
Unique Selling Point
It blends light investigations with real-world learning. It's has a short running time.
Player Goals
You play as a teen on a community organizing internship in a small rural town where a new company has built a data center without regards for the environment or the community. They want to hold the data center owners responsible for transparency and equitably sharing the burden with the community.
Platform(s), Technology, and Scope
Web-based game that can be played with keyboard or controller
Godot 4.4.1
4 week timeline - 1 week to prototype, 2 weeks to develop,
and 1 week to polish
Gameplay and Core Mechanics Controls
Movement - WASD, arrow keys, or left joystick controller Interact - space, X controller
Cancel - C, B Controller
Core Game Loop
Talk to NPCs to get their opinions on the impact of data centers. Collect facts. Use the facts to confirm or disprove their opinion; this grows an activist. Grow more activists to present more information during your community meeting.
Objectives and Progression
There will be a linear progression threw quests in the game. As the user progresses through the quest they will travel through different areas that have different visuals.
Game Systems
Quests the player will complete to progress the story
Merit is gained by completing quests for NPCs to get more of them to come to the town meeting
Keys open locked doors
Bookshelves get information to confirm or disprove opinions
Doors will prevent the player from proceeding. Can be opened with keys or passing a knowledge check
Hidden Areas that may lead to a shortcut or special item
Collectables
Opinions can be collected to by interacting with NPCs
Facts can be collected to verify or disprove opinions
Recyclable Materials can be collected to be repurposed into mission items
Branching Dialogueuse collected facts to counter opinion
What topic are you addressing and what are you consulting for input? I want to shed light on the impact of allowing data centers to be built in communities. Data centers have been known to introduce an increase in noise and light pollution, an unsustainable increase in water usage that can exacerbate drought conditions, and an increased electrical burden without equitable cost share. I live in the greater Northern Virginia where many new data centers are being built. I have read several local articles, "Municipality related" documents, academic articles, and seen many new reports detailing the impact of data centers on the environment. Here are a few notable ones (including places I live):
What did you learn this week about natural hazards and climate change? I live in an area that is currently exploring allowing data centers to be built in the area. I have learned about the environmental impacts and possible trade offs of implementing different strategies to mitigate the affect of climate change caused by data centers. For example, the trade off of utilizing liquid vs fans cooling methods. Liquid cooling methods are usually more energy efficient, however, they lead to large amounts of water being evaporated away that can no longer be used, warmer water that needs to be repurposed, exacerbate the impact of drought. I have also learned that for my area the trade off of using renewable energy sources like windmills and solar panels as oppose to Generators. Renewable energies may not meet the power need and at end of life may create more e-waste if there aren’t proper recycle/reuse measure put in place.
In regard to natural hazards, I learned that over time a lot of storm in the area have been getting worst as the area is getting warmer, wetter, and windier. This has lead to an increase in severe storms. Overall Resilience Metrics Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination Fairfax County VA
What thought about natural hazards will your game provoke? In my game I plan for there to be a wind storm that temporarily causes a power outage with the local power grid. This leads to an increased use of diesel turbines by the data centers to make up for the shortage of power. I want people to think about how fault tolerance plans for data center usually yield worst environmental impact; such as, an increase need on generator during grid outages.
What is the call to action that you expect players to come away with? My call to action is to get involved. This can be as small as learning/researching about what is going on with data centers; or, as large as organize and encourage your local governing bodies to hold Data Center accountable by requiring ongoing environmental assessments, transparency, and maintaining ongoing funding to support mitigation efforts.
Have you thought about the presence of misinformation/ disinformation with regards to your hazards? Yes. I plan to implement opinion gathering and confirming/disproving them via fact collection. It is important for people to learn media literacy and be able to support their opinion with facts and identify inconsistency. This is an issue that directly impacts me, as I live in an area that is greatly impacted. Misinformation and disinformation have lead to a lot of people lacking concern and ignoring the future impacts of the decisions. This allows the project to continue to be built and green-lite without increasing regulation in conjunction with proposed plans.
Mind Map
see document
Main Story Beats
see document
Example Quest
Q1: Intro to player You receive an email telling you, "Sorry you didn't get your pick of city for your internship, but at least you got one. How about you take some time to walk around and see what's even going on in the community. How are you going to help the public if you don't meet them."
Requirement: talk to X# of NPCs around town
Q3: Hang flyer find all X# locations around town to hang flyers
Required: Interact with x# of locations
Q4: Collect facts Interact with computer and books around town to collect facts
Required: Interact with x# of books and computers
Q4: Collect opinions You see a NPC A in the library that
tells you they are tired from researching. You suggest they get some coffee. They tell you they would if they were less busy. You decide to make them a cup with your recycled material. You can fill the cup with coffee give the cup to NPC A. NPC A will then tell you an option on how they feel about a topic and if you have collected facts to confirm/ disprove you can response with that; otherwise you will respond with "I'll have to look into that". Required: You must figure out how to get community members to interact with you
Q4: Confirm/disprove opinion You can confirm/disprove any NPC that gave their opinion during Quest 3 if you have corresponding facts for their opinion
Requirement: You must find the facts to confirm or disprove all concerns from the meeting
Note: The concerns from quest 3 must be addressed in order to re-hold the meeting. All other concern are optional
Bonus: Branching Paths If you have enough merit in town, after you make it the librarian tells you NPC B in the library has a crush on NPC A. You can fill the cup with coffee give the cup to NPC A or give the cup to NPC B. Who every you choose will give you their opinion.
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