PlasticPunk

PlasticPunk - get rid of that plastic
Build your community
Change minds

Inspiration

Our project was directly inspired by the critical challenge of environmental sustainability—an area of immense concern for us. Recognising the urgent need to address plastic pollution, we were motivated to merge our passion for environmental preservation with innovative gaming. Our game, PlasticPunk, emerges from this commitment, offering a platform to educate and inspire action through engaging gameplay.

What it does

PlasticPunk reinvents the civilization-building game genre, focusing on sustainability and non-violence. We deliberately avoided adding violence in the game since the theme is quite serious and hopefully educational. Our game integrates educational resources, linking players to scientific research and policy discussions on plastic pollution and ecological sustainability. Players begin by establishing a settlement and are quickly engaged in efforts to manage and recycle plastic waste. These efforts not only clean the environment but also supply materials for developing essential infrastructure. The game progresses by expanding facilities, enhancing clean-up capabilities, and employing diplomacy to encourage others to join the cause. Victory is achieved by completely eliminating pollution and converting all entities to sustainable practices.

How we built it

We developed PlasticPunk using the Flame engine, leveraging Tiled for crafting a detailed isometric map to enrich our game world. The visual assets, initially generated by ChatGPT, underwent significant refinement to meet our vision, emphasizing the importance of detailed and thematic game graphics. Game logic is simple and each object on the map runs its own logic circuit that gets updated every time the game loop is updated.

Challenges we ran into

The primary challenge for us was the creation of numerous detailed game assets, a foundational element for the immersive experience we aimed to deliver. Establishing the game logic was an iterative process, but it set a strong foundation for expanding game features.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The fact that the game actually works and runs as we intended it to is amazing. We are proud of bringing PlasticPunk to life—creating a fully functional game that educates players on environmental issues while entertaining them. Game logic is robust and can be tuned further to make the game more involving and replayable.

What we learned

This project underscored for us the essential role of skilled artistry in game development. If you want to build games you need a great artist. The visual appeal and clarity of game assets are critical in engaging players and enhancing the overall gaming experience.

What's next for PlasticPunk

Our hope for PlasticPunk is to evolve it into a comprehensive, dare we say, educational tool with additional levels, improved assets, and deeper, more engaging gameplay. We aim to create a scalable model that can be adapted for various educational and environmental advocacy purposes.