My role: Concept / Design / Animation

Programming / Backend Development: Sotiris Gyftopoulos

Laissez Vert was my final year dissertation project on the Interaction Design for Entertainment Media BA at Liverpool John Moores University in 2007. The result of a body of research into games that lie outside of the entertainment spectrum, it sought to examine the potential for videogames to engage players in meaningful political debate and appeal to audiences that don’t traditionally play games. Conceived as an installation piece for display in public spaces, players were presented with a digital landscape affected by climate change. Depicted within this landscape, climate changes’ many causes, effects and indeed solutions were represented. Importantly, the presence of these individual elements were determined by player choices in a separate, web-based game experience. In this second game, players assumed the role of a politician about to deliver a speech about climate change. It was up to the player to assemble a balanced green agenda, and deliver it to the virtual electorate. The players’ success in delivering an achievable and financially palatable approach to tackling climate change contributes to the overall flourish or decay of the digital landscape.

I was honored to have Laissez Vert exhibited at the Abandon Normal Devices Festival at FACT in September 2009. While the above is a general outline of the concept and basic mechanics of the game, I intend to give a more thorough breakdown of these mechanics – specifically those aimed at attracing non-traditional audiences – in a post on the Rethunk blog soon.