01. Context

During my penultimate semester of my bachelor's degree, I was part of a team of 3 that developed a game demo for an educational puzzle game for the organization called Isla Urbana in Mexico City. The main objective of the organization is to develop and propagate the use of rainwater recollection tubing systems to solve the water deficiency crisis in Mexico, especially in scare resources areas. The company has a multitude of objectives and programs relating to solving the water crisis, included in those is the free installation of the aforementioned water recollection system inside of low resources government schools, and with these installations they create educational programs so that children and young teenagers learn how to utilize and take care of the systems, as well as reinforce the importance of taking care of water in the community.

The game was conceived and as an addition to these learning programs so that children could have fun and learn about the water recollection and filtration system through the puzzle resolving gameplay, as well as the importance of themes such as water conservation, community and cooperation, and finally reconnection to the environment and its resources through the games narrative.

02. My work

For my role with the production of the game I worked mainly as a game designer, which entailed the following aspects:

• Design the main gameplay mechanics and puzzles

• Conceptualize the layout of each zone in the game and its exploration paths, in relation to the locations of the puzzles

• Write and develop the narrative alongside my teammates.

I also did some work modeling props and elements for the modular system we used for the environment

03. Conclusion

This was a really important project for me; it allowed me to completely dive into the production of a videogame and exercise my skills as a game designer. I got to work with an incredible team and learn from them how to grow and how evaluate and solve problems encountered in the pipeline for videogames.

It was a challenging and stressful, but it allowed me to view games through the lens os what a serious game is.

Team Members

Sara Nataneli Sierra Reynoso | Programing | Narrative design | Unity Implementation | Game Artist

Eugenio Lautaro Fritz Zuleta | Game design | Narrative Design | UI design | 3D Modeling | Research

Diego Anaya Álvarez | Game Design | Texture Artist | Rigging | Animation | 3D Modeling