Dahoon Lee

Rising Tide

Date

01 NOV 2024 14 NOV 2024 (2 Weeks)

Interactive

Heat can sustain life, but in excess it can also lead to destructive outcomes. Starting from this duality, our group translated the macro-scale issue of the climate crisis into micro-scale gameplay centred on choices made in a “market”. The result was a playful experience designed to make sea level rise feel immediate and tangible. Please protect our city.

A Warmth That Floods

We wanted to move away from the resignation of “one person can’t change anything” and help people see the climate crisis through the accumulation of small choices. By reframing the issue as market-based decision-making, we aimed to maximise physical and emotional impact.

From Heat to Consequence

To explore the lived experience of heat, we conducted behaviour mapping in spaces such as a local community garden and a school environment. We expanded scenarios through bodystorming by imagining what happens when heat is excessive or insufficient. Rather than focusing on narrative, we prioritised experience and set our direction towards a simulation-style game.

Large-scale issues like the climate crisis become more tangible when translated into physical change, and that it is effective when choices lead directly to immediate material consequences.

Mayor of a Melting City

You are the mayor of this city. Protect it from flooding. Everything depends on you.

We reinterpreted the structure of a simulation indie game into an offline game that could be experienced in real space. We built a LEGO city and placed it inside a water tank, then designed policy-choice cards to shape the gameplay flow. Using an Arduino-controlled heat pad, we planned to adjust the rate of ice melting so that player decisions directly influenced physical change.

What the Game Could Hold

Early on, we considered a competitive structure with roles such as mayor and entrepreneur, but simplified the implementation to a single mayor role. This helped the game function, but also revealed a limitation: it could not fully reflect the complexity of real-world systems.

In the prototype, choices only changed the water level in the tank. We received an interesting suggestion that, since we used LEGO, the city’s appearance could also change in response to decisions. This felt like a compelling direction, and it highlighted the project’s potential to grow into a richer and more layered experience.

Credits

UX Design

Dahoon Lee
Isobel O’Connor (Izzy)
Jiayi Zheng
Priyanka Goel
Shivangi Gadhoke

Prop Design

Dahoon Lee
Isobel O’Connor (Izzy)

Graphic Design

Jiayi Zheng

Shivangi Gadhoke

Arduino Design

Priyanka Goel

Mentored by

Alaistair Steele
Tonicha Child
Mor Bakal
Wes Goatley

Project Journals

UX of Warmth Week 1Experience of Temperature
07 NOV 2024

UX of Warmth Week 2Oh, I'm Drowning
14 NOV 2024