Greenland Fishing Game

A game teaching about the effects of trawl fishing on benthic life in Greenland

We were approached to make a game to teach teenagers in Greenland about how to fish without damaging too much of the benthic (sea-floor) life.

Working closely with conservationists at the Zoological Society of London we worked up a game-plan that combined a fishing action game with a map view and a adventure-game like port scene where people could get information about species and buy upgrades and fuel for their boat.

We worked with Tim Frost at the Bull and Gate animation studio who created the animations for the species and characters featuring in the game.

We and the team at ZSL tested the game with classes of schoolchildren and other groups both in the UK and in Greenland, responding to feedback throughout the process.

The game was translated into Greenlandic, English and Danish through a translation interface that allowed all text in the game to be managed through configuration files. These configuration files also determine the speed, size, frequency and points values for each of the species on each level, allowing the game to be modified in the future.

It has been shown at various conferences and exhibitions and has recently featured on Greenlandic National Television (9:10 into the programme).