The game would be aimed at youth from poor communities, addressing the socio-economic challenges they face in their communities and encouraging them to come up with solutions.
The 16 teams who started the Serious About Games “games to reimagine how communities work” competition have now been whittled down to four. They will present their prototypes at the final at Woodstock Bandwidth Barn on Tuesday, 4 April 2017, where they’ll be adjudicated by a panel of local industry experts and where one team will walk away with R1 million to develop and distribute their game.
The R1-million prize is the first Serious About Games competition that has been sponsored by the Western Cape Government’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT).
The winning game will assist the department to get feedback from the communities they serve and help educate its decisions around its broadband initiative and broader economic development. DEDAT also wants the Serious About Games platform to stimulate the local game development industry, where it has identified the potential for significant growth in the province.
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“Serious games are increasingly being used not only in education but in the health sector and to encourage positive behaviour change. Some of the most successful recent serious games – such as Sea Hero Quest – are also research tools,” says Michelle Matthews, head of innovation at the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), the head implementing partner on Serious About Games.
Team Next Question includes members from video agency Lantern Works and Mama’s Famous Truth Shop, an ethnographic research agency. Their game will inspire unemployed youth to start their own businesses by allowing them to learn about and practice business acumen in a virtual world.
With nine releases already under their belt, the members of Indie Collective have designed game that will allow users to manage a community centre and in doing so, explore their ideas for what resources they would like to see in their own neighbourhoods.
Another experienced game development company Render Heads have taken hands with NGO Ikhayalami to address housing concerns. Team Vukuzenzela, will invite users to learn building and reblocking best practices by building virtual settlements.
Sea Monster have collaborated with Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) to help build life skills and decision-making ability. Their Android and iOS app, which is aimed at attendees of VPUU’s Leaders of Change programme, will see gamers imagining themselves as superheroes who must use their special abilities wisely to avoid depleting their resources.
