At Scienseed we pride ourselves on always trying to push things a step further. We’ve worked with a broad range of formats and projects of all shapes but always keeping one thing in mind: purpose. We feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work on projects that drive real change, typically rooted in sustainability and addressing pressing global challenges.
We’ve worked on projects that aimed at raising awareness on the extinction of migratory bird species, like in “The last tweet”, or BERN’s “Not alone” campaign attempting to bring biodiversity back to our cities. Through these initiatives, we’ve become increasingly aware of the environmental challenges facing our world. Today, we’d like to highlight a project that has deepened our understanding of climate action while inspiring us to innovate in new and creative ways.
The Centre per a la Sostenibilitat Territorial approached us with an exciting mission: to help communicate the EUDEMON project, which focuses on resolving and preventing conflicts around environmental and social issues, particularly related to energy. Complex, but boy, do we love a good challenge. “How about a card game?” – we said.
We had previously developed a few other games, such as one for Bioroboost, which aimed to illustrate the concept of standardisation in synthetic biology and explain the structure of genes and DNA modules; or Rafts! The game for the Rafts4Biotech project. The lesson that struck the most? Card games closely reflect on real-life experiences. With this in mind, we started to design a game that could help teach mediators the project’s protocol.
While board games often spark conflict rather than resolve it, we saw this as a creative and engaging way to convey the project’s purpose. So, we eagerly got to work, turning that idea into reality.
EUDEMON is all about teamwork. Everyone brings their own unique skills to the table, whether technical or personal. So, we wanted the game to be about collaboration rather than competition. Each player takes on a role defined by a “Resources” card, which highlights their strengths and personal qualities. These “Resources” cards let players use “Action” cards to involve the “Stakeholders” in meaningful dialogue throughout the process.
The game’s goal is to keep stakeholders engaged in dialogue while using “Dialogue Attributes” cards that unlock with player actions, defining their interventions. However, players also face “Challenge” cards that present obstacles to overcome. Eventually, points are awarded at the end to assess whether players successfully applied the EUDEMON protocol or fell short.
In close collaboration with the EUDEMON team, we’ve worked together to craft an impactful and science-based experience, much like board games, to bring people together for a shared purpose.
We can only look forward to creating more and more games and experiences with science and climate action at their heart. Check out the recent coverage of EUDEMON’s card game in actions by Panorama Comunidad.
