TileWorld (mleko)

💎 Idea

Educational games are oftentimes targeted at younger people. Since casual games are such a huge demographic, we want to target adults as well by creating an immersive strategy game that by design raises awareness about issues driven by climate change. While children can be taught by presenting ideas directly, with teaching adults we have to confront their preconceived notions about the world. Education embedded into the game's mechanics is the perfect way to present this knowledge indirectly. 

🛰️ EU space technologies

We are using the available data from Copernicus Dataspace to generate terrain for our game based on the real world. Our API sends requests 4 images per ~800x800m area, using Evaluation Scripts we found on Sentinel Hub:

• From Sentinel 1:
  •  Urban Areas by Monja B. Šebela
  • Radar Vegetation Index by Valters Zeizis
• From Sentinel 2:
  • Water Bodies' Mapping by Mohor Gartner
  • Pseudo Forest Canopy Density by Antonio Carlon Paredes 

The images are then scanned for specific colors, transformed into masks, merged together and downscaled, resulting in a 128x128 array containing numbers from 0 to 4 (for empty space, water, forests, agriculture and urban areas respectively)

That array is then transmitted to the game and is used for terrain generation.

We primarily used data from the Copernicus system. Information about the terrain, weather and pollution allowed us to base our game's world in reality. The map is generated from the terrain data and the atmospheric conditions fetched in real time allow us to create a dynamic world that reflects the conditions outside.

This dynamic environment makes our game that much more immersive - hear news of a flooding, drought or a forest fire? You better launch the game and see how your colony is faring!

Another benefit of using Copernicus data is that instead of having to hand-craft our worlds, we can generate them dynamically. This makes it for players to experience our game's world in whatever way they see fit. It's been shown that people are drawn to media that in some way represents their home, and in our game everyone can find theirs! 

🇪🇺  EU Space for Consumer Experience

We're solving Challenge #1 - Immersive Gameplay with Space Technology & Data.

We were inspired by the classic problem most gamers face - a library full of games, none of them appealing. The emotional state you're in when you don't feel like playing your favorite game, because you've experienced all there was to experience within it. Our game is different. Updated in real time with real atmospheric conditions, it creates an ever-evolving world of unique challenges. And if you're ever bored with the colony you're currently playing, you can always hop to the other side of the world and start again, in a place with an entirely different terrain, climate and atmospheric conditions. Think about how incredibly diverse our planet is - this is our game too!

🤼 Team

Domi - a talented 2D artist and aspiring programmer, she aids our team in more ways than one!

Hania - primarily focused on games programming and 3D art, they now use their project management education to guide the team through this project

Leon - a programming expert and ecology passionate - his expertise was invaluable during our journey

Łukasz - a game designer at heart, he made sure our game's mechanics were well-balanced and fun to play

Olek - currently studying computer science in Denmark, he used his technical aptitude to process Copernicus data, which served as a core for our game

Wiktoria - one with a technical programming certificate, she developed our project's roadmap and made sure we realize our goals during this first stage of our journey

🔗 Source code links

• TileWorld game source
• API source code