It Takes A Village
Even in single-player, single-protagonist games, stories where communities act together for change can be powerful.
Design patterns to craft green messages into games and reduce production impact.
Oil Ocean Zone
Associating your villain with fossil fuel production has always been a classy move.
Shinra: The Face of Colonialism
Final Fantasy VII provided us with one of popular culture's most devastating caricatures of capitalism, colonialism and greed.
Climate as Catalyst
Games like Battlefield 2042 embody the risk of climate wars being fought in the near future. Or are they already here?
Put Down Your Tools
When your release day coincides with the world's largest climate protest, what do you prioritize?
Anthropomorphize Everything?
Anything can engender empathy if you put enough human features on it - so when should you?
Meaning in a World of Ruin
Game worlds can be "transapocalyptic" - places that have collapsed, yet they still exist and they are still worth fighting for.
Renewable Worldbuilding
Visions of a renewable future can come from the most unexpected games.
Fossil-Free Survival
Survival games can think seriously about which methods of power generations are available to the player, and how they're portrayed.
Power-Saving Mode
Add an" Eco mode" in console or games settings to save power.
Miracle Ports
Bring the extra optimization done for console or mobile ports back to high-end devices.
Lightweight Patches
Prep your game so you can upload neat patches instead of having to replace huge chunks of the game each time.
Paradise in Ruins
Games create intimate relationships between player and place in a way that no other medium can replicate. Suddenly changing a […]
Disgusting Dystopia
Plasticity presents a near future choking under plastic waste, designed with Forced Discomfort to make players react in disgust. In […]
Low-End Support
Developers should aim to always release on multiple platforms at once: it doesn’t only increase the reach of our potential […]
Graphical Sufficiency
Picking the right art style from the start makes it much easier to both Reduce Electricity Use at Runtime and […]
Pausing Properly
If your game is paused, why render it at full resolution? How Halo Infinite saved massive amounts of electricity in no time.
CO2 Label for Games
Making a game emits carbon, but calculating the impact is easier than you may think and can shift the mindset of our industry.
Eco-Roleplay
Players can try out less resource-intense ways of living with digital roleplaying.
Movement Building Games
Meet the games that lay the foundation for a new genre of movement building.
Save the Sperm Whales
Beyond Blue has the player studying a specific pod of sperm whales and investigating sound pollution that disturbs their life.
Braving the Lost Forest
When Monument Valley 2 made us think like a tree.
The Tragedy of Galarian Corsola
When coral bleaching came to Pokémon.
Grief as a Game Mechanic
Signs of the Sojourner has an environmental grief system that both breaks us down and ties us together.
Origins of Lanayru Desert
That time when Zelda offered an environmental parable.
Settle With Care
What does a settler game that takes environmental consequences into account look like?
The Extinction Achievement
Extinction mechanics, even when used ironically, are great at reminding players that no resource is limitless.
Reclaiming History
How can settler games avoid their colonial baggage and tell new stories about land and who owns it?
Knowing is Half the Battle
Transformers: Earth War added a new mini-campaign to talk about renewable energy.
The Rise of World Games
Games can honor the cultures of indigenous peoples across the world, and bring them to life in a new way.
Incorporating Tradition
Games can actively further the teachings of indigenous peoples, with great benefits for sustainability.
Cleaning Up Your Data Storage Policy
Data storage needs energy: the more data you store, the higher your emissions.
Kind is the new Cool
Kindness can move mountains.
Repair, Re-use, Recycle
In-game economies can be circular economies - build player habits of repair and re-use, and raise the value of junk.
Irresistible Veggies
Cooking systems that dabble in plant-based food can both inspire and teach real recipes.
Optional HD Assets
The highest resolution is not unanimously desired! If you run an older PC, have a slow internet connection, or even […]
Stories from the Frontlines
We can tell the stories of those who live on the front lines of climate change, like in Never Alone […]
A Contemplative Space
Emotional connection is the key to making players want to invest in the real world or reflect on the meaning […]
Solarpunk Games
Some games take place in worlds where humanity has already acted to solve the climate crisis, and it’s possible to […]
Building the Sustainable City
Cities Skyline: Green Cities manages to both Normalize Green Tech and Imagine a Sustainable Future by exposing players to modern […]
A Simpler Life
We can represent happy lives that do not rely on consumerism, to deprogram the toxic dream of buying ever more […]
In Awe of Nature
We can inspire players to Forge Emotional Bonds with Nature by showing it in all its beauty, using the power […]
The Sustainable Living Buffet
The SIMS 4: Eco Lifestyle acts like a tasting platter of individual climate action, where everybody can find little things […]
Community Cleanup Events
Many types of climate action are better tackled collectively, so games could encourage players to connect with other players to […]
Campaign Shout-outs
Players can be encouraged to support or contribute to climate organizations, like NGOs and charities.
Rewarding Real-Life Actions
In contexts where the intrinsic motivation of doing good deeds isn’t enough, we can also add an extrinsic motivation by […]
Building Emotional Resilience
Spiritfarer makes players practice grieving for the loved ones we lost, building their emotional resilience and training them for when […]
Subverting Violence
Games can push players out of their comfort zone and question their assumptions, like Spec Ops: The Line did by […]
Skills We’ll Need
Games can teach new life skills; directly usable in our everyday lives and necessary for a sustainable yet uncertain future.
Do Good, Feel Good
Games can let players experience the joy of doing good deeds, to encourage them to re-enact them in real life. […]
Give Peace A Chance
To counteract our habits of equating conflicts with violence, games should allow peaceful resolution to conflicts.
The Limits of Hoarding
Hoarding items is a staple in many videogame genres. In RPG’s in particular, players often build up such vast stashes […]
Virtual Pandemic, Real Insight
Developers can ground games in real Earth science and data, rather than making them purely fictional. Plague Inc. isn’t just […]
Failing Safely
Games can give the opportunity for trial and error in safe environments (Experimentation & Inquiry). In Fate Of The World, […]
Honest Power Options
Your “Options” screen is a great opportunity to educate players about the impact that each graphics setting has on power […]
How Many Pixels Do You Need?
Resolution is the best predictor of electricity use. By setting dynamic limits, Fortnite ensured that it never draws a sharper image than the game needs.
Don’t Leave the Engine Running
By simply adjusting image output while players were idling, Fortnite was able to save a whole wind farm's worth of electricity.
Use the Hive Mind
If you are looking for eco-design ideas, code improvements or anything really - ask your colleagues!