Federal Environment Agency Releases Serious Game Little Impacts

The Federal Environment Agency has released an Impact or Serious Game called Little Impacts, developed by Oldenburg studio Quantumfrog. The game is based on scientific findings by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and is available for free on Mobile devices.

The German Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA) has released a Serious Game for Apple and Android devices. Little Impacts is developed by Oldenburg dev studio Quantumfrog and is described as a short learning game about generational impact and sustainability. The game is aimed at young adults. In five chapters, players explore various everyday topics such as food, housing and mobility, as well as political participation and sustainable investments. The protagonist Leah “navigates reservations and conflicts between the generations, inspires other people with her motivation and allows players to directly apply what they have learnt themselves”, as the game page describes it.

The game is based on scientific findings and will later be evaluated in terms of its effectiveness and reach. It was developed as part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems' (ISE) ongoing research project "Potential of Serious Games as an Instrument for Promoting Sustainability". In this project, the Fraunhofer Institute is working together with the Federal Environment Agency to explore the diverse potential that game-based approaches have for creating an awareness of sustainability and to utilise this for the Federal Environment Agency. In addition to the development of Little Impacts the state of research and the need for further research were analysed and networking with players in the gaming community was carried out.

The development of the game was entirely in the hands of the development studio, the UBA says. The event and consulting agency was responsible for exploring and activating the gaming community.

The webpage features an info section on "Serious Gaming and Sustainability" and a background report on the game. The final report of the research endeavour will also be made publicly available at the end of the project.