I recently worked with one of my favorite clients on the first phase of the most exciting project I have led in a long time. The brief seemed simple enough on the surface:

Create a game to encourage would-be activists to get out there and make a difference in their neighborhoods.

Easy, right? WRONG! Everything, from what we mean by ‘a game’ to what skills or interactions players needed to learn/have was up in the air when we began. Slowly, and after many hours of planning, prototyping, and discussion, we narrowed our vision down to a v1 that we could test with real players.

Context

This game was conceptualized for an American audience. With the shifting political landscape in the USA, activists and their allies must stay informed to navigate the ever-changing contexts in which they work. In its final form, the game will help experienced activists stay in the loop, give would-be activists who are just starting out a gentle introduction into how to make a difference in their communities, while still being a fun and educational experience for everyone in between.

Getting started

The first step was to make a list of the various skills, resources, and so on that players would need. From this large (and rather messy) list, we broke our concept down into four levels:

1. Allies
2. Resources
3. Systems
4. Training

While we are still deciding how these levels might relate to each other in the final version of the game, we decided to focus on Level 1 to get started.

Find the Helpers

Finding Allies very quickly became Find the Helpers. At a weekend-long event, we tested an immersive, in-person version of this first level for feedback and further development. During the game, players:

• Built their characters: We created a DND-like character building mechanism as a way for players to extend themselves beyond their real-world skills.
• Joined teams: Similarly, players were encouraged to build a team of characters with complementary skills to complete missions and earn points.
• Went on missions: Missions were designed so that players had to interact with their ‘neighbors’ at the event to achieve deliverables. Team and individual points were awarded throughout the missions.
• Received their prizes: To incentivize participation, individual and team prizes were awarded at the end of the event.

Not everything we planned ended up being useful. Some things were missing and needed to be thought up on the fly. But now we have some valuable feedback on how to move forward with our idea.

Next steps?

Next comes a detailed review of the feedback received, and then it’s on to game design and development! Will it be a card game? A board game? An app? Who knows (not us!). We have about a thousand different ideas, but whatever form our game finally takes, we know that it will be a valuable tool for building community involvement across America and beyond.