Level up: Developing video games to help unlock climate solutions

Professor Gerald Singh is hoping to achieve a win with a new approach to climate change. His unconventional solution to address our planet’s most pressing threat? Make it a video game.

“We have always relied on mathematical forecasting and predictive models to try solving a problem that is actually more complex than we give it credit for,” says Singh, a professor in UVic’s School of Environmental Studies and the Ocean Nexus Chair of Global Change and Sustainable Development.

Gerald is leading the Virtual Lab for Environmental Planning, which is developing serious strategy games to explore adaptive strategies for climate uncertainty, particularly natural hazards.

Despite decades of research and the proliferation of forecasting models, Gerald argues that much of the academic and policy work intended to guide climate solutions has overlooked one of the most powerful variables: human agency.

Embracing the human element of decision-making

While the energy sector and military have long used scenario-based games to plan for an uncertain future, this is a relatively new way of looking at these kinds of problems in environmental spaces, says Gerald.

“There are environmental video games out there, but they’re often structured as educational tools—you’re guided toward one of several correct solutions,” Gerald explains, adding that what sets the Virtual Lab apart is its emphasis on incorporating human creativity, unpredictability and cooperation into the decision-making process.

“I’m more interested in games where we don’t know ahead of time what the best strategy is going to be,” he says.

A gift of $200,000 in donor support over three years—part of a larger $1.2 million gift funding several projects in Environmental Studies—has allowed the Virtual Lab to move from concept to reality.

Student-led wildfire-simulation game

Together with Brandon Haworth, Director of the Graphics, Artificial Intelligence, Design, and Games Lab in the Department of Computer Science, Gerald is leading a team of researchers who are building the project’s infrastructure, forging partnerships and identifying a real-world context for a case study. Full game development, participant testing and data analysis will follow in years two and three.

One of the lab’s first outcomes is a wildfire simulation game developed by PhD student Kun Peng. Kun’s background in virtual crowd simulations and its applications in fields such as urban design and emergency evacuation planning helped shape the game’s mechanics and user experience.

“This program not only combines my research interest in game design, but also relates to a very realistic problem, which is environmental planning,” she says.

The demonstration game challenges players to suppress wildfires across a digital landscape. Players must consider factors like topography, weather conditions and fuel sources—all while making real-time decisions with incomplete information and limited resources.

“You can't cover the entire landscape with water bombers, even if that would be a very effective strategy,” Kun says. “Humans do not always react with completely predictable behaviors, so with the interactive game in a virtual, simulated environment, you can try to deal with different kinds of situations and see what results your behavior will lead to.”

Designing for real-world emergency response

Gerald sees enormous potential in using games like this to engage directly with communities, governments and organizations on the front lines of climate adaptation and emergency response. “We see it as a way to engage in open, practical conversations about how we move forward,” Gerald adds. “Our strength is in the methodology and process, but we want to work closely with those who understand the real-world context. What are the problems people are facing? What constraints are they working within? Then we build the game around that.”

As a case study, post-doctoral fellow Anna Offenwanger is collaborating with a municipality in the Okanagan in BC to simulate an emergency-evacuation response for fire or flooding. With a background in human-centred design, Anna emphasizes that the users of the application ( who might be policymakers, community leaders, emergency-response specialists or industry representatives) must have input at the design phase if the game is to appropriately simulate their roles and the decision factors at play.

Future applications

The case study is intended to produce a completed game and research on methodology and process that can be replicated in future applications, or by other designers. The lab's long-term goal is to build custom simulations tailored to specific regions, issues or sectors. These might include reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, adapting agricultural practices under changing climate conditions, or managing disasters like wildfires, floods, or supply-chain disruptions. These tools could support community workshops, emergency planning, or even policymaking—especially in areas where real-life experience or resources are limited.

“We really want this work not to be static, but to functionally engage with on-the-ground research to action,” says Gerald.