Eco Quest

Inspiration

Living in Australia, our team sees the impact of severe droughts and biodiversity loss firsthand. While brainstorming solutions, we noticed a massive paradox: while the planet struggles, 82% of Australians are playing video games for over 7 hours a week. We wanted to capture that immense focus and redirect it.

What it does

Eco Quest is a game that transforms everyday screen time into real-world environmental impact. Players enjoy engaging gameplay and manage a customizable "Personal Place." As they achieve in-game milestones, an AI layer assesses their progress. The revenue generated through gameplay (via ads and premium features) is then converted into actual donations for environmental causes, fighting issues like severe droughts and biodiversity loss.

How we built it

We used Unity for some minigames and migrated the whole thing using HTML, JS and CSS. We used Adobe Xd and Figma for UI/UX design.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest hurdle was the classic "educational game" trap: players often drop off once they realize they are being taught. To combat this churn, we had to heavily pivot our design from basic quests to the highly customizable "Personal Place" system to keep intrinsic motivation high. Additionally, balancing the game's economy to cover server costs while maximizing the donation pool required constant iteration.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of creating a sustainable business model where gaming directly funds real-world charity. We successfully built a game loop that doesn't feel like a boring quiz or lecture. Seeing the "Personal Place" mechanics come together to provide a genuine incentive for players to return—knowing their retention directly helps the planet—is a huge win for our team.

What we learned

We learned that gamers actually care deeply about real-world issues; they just need a better interface to help solve them. On the technical side, we gained valuable experience in balancing game economy with real-world philanthropic goals and seamlessly blending AI assessment with gameplay mechanics.

What's next for Eco Quest

We plan to expand the customization options for the "Personal Place" and introduce community-driven global events where players can collaborate to hit massive donation targets. We also aim to partner directly with specific environmental NGOs to provide players with transparent, real-time tracking of the physical impact their gameplay is making.

Built With

• adobexd
• c#
• css
• figma
• html
• javascript
• krita
• premierpro