Concordia team develops solar-powered Minecraft-style game with eco heart
Some Concordia University researchers in Montreal have come up with a video game about fighting climate change - and it's solar-powered.
It's a modification of 'Minecraft' where players can build a better world.
'The Enigma of Gaia' is a multiplayer survival game that uses the Minecraft platform.
Rosie McDonald is on the team that's been working on this for more than a year.
'We made mods to the game that include pollution,' she said. 'We've added temperature and thirst, we've added devastating storms that destroy the landscape, and so that's not in regular Minecraft. It's a lot harder to play this way, but it gets players to think very differently.'
Developers of new game
Muhammad Shahrom Ali, Quinn Saggio and Rosie McDonald are developers of the Minecraft-style game "enigma of Gaia," a solar-powered adventure. (Christine Long/CTV News)
Challenges include rebuilding after a climate catastrophe in a Minecraft world.
'A tornado passes and then it just eviscerates the land,' said building team member Quinn Saggio. 'It takes away the dirt, the grass, the trees, the leaves, everything. It makes splotches. You have to jump to where you want to go. It makes traversal extremely hard.'
Enigma of Gaia
Enigma of Gaia is a new game developed from the Minecraft world. (Christine Long/ CTV News)
This game is named after Mother Earth, so it's powered in an environmentally friendly way.
'This experiment is what does the world look like where solar power is ubiquitous?' said creative partner Muhammad Sharhrom Ali. 'More specifically, what does gaming look like in that world? And to experiment with that, we need to build the infrastructure.'
Three solar panels on the roof of the Concordia EV Building are connected directly to a solar controller and a battery that is then powering a mini PC that is used as a server.
Solar panles
The game Enigma of Gaia is powered by solar panels. (Christine Long / CTV News)
'If one person is playing in a power-expensive manner, then everybody suffers,' said Ali. 'So when you create these conditions, people have to play in a more mindful way.'
'It's not something you can play whenever you want; it's dictated by the sun and the clouds,' said Saggio.
The solar power levels fluctuate and are shown onscreen during gameplay in real time, encouraging more collaborative play.
'There's a lot of consideration and thought put into play that would otherwise be mindless,' said McDonald.
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