Climate Resilience Center: GDC Workshop

Young Global Professional, Project Assistant

Sept 2021 - May 2022 | ~7 person team

"How can we teach game developers the basics of transformational design in a short workshop?"

We gave multi-stage presentations where attendees learned a concept, put it into action with a breakout group, and repeated until several strategies had been covered, and rudimentary game designs had flowered.

Competencies

  • Revised and edited multiple slide decks for visual consistency and theming for the audience and context.
  • Assisted at tables of breakout groups, answering questions and helping them generate and refine ideas in the practice phases.
Photo of a game developer workshop participant holding a poster with sticky notes
Photo of game developers and members of the Resilience Center sitting at a presenter's table and podium, smiling and discussing during the workshop

Findings

  • There was strong demand from both individuals and companies to hold these workshops and transform their existing game ideas.
  • Having multiple presenters made things more engaging, and integrated different lenses and strategies.
  • With the right design strategies, developers were able to turn quite gloomy subject matter into really interesting, cool game concepts.

Context

We ran multiple private and public workshops in partnership with the IGDA Climate SIG, most notably at GDC 2022, that teach game developers how to include climate change and resilience topics in their game and facilitate player action. I assisted running the workshop at GDC, and one with a developer company inviting members of the Climate SIG, as well.