Cause
High-quality and up-to-date knowledge that we acquire in Western Europe is used in all kinds of places on earth. In the Netherlands we have leading research and knowledge on agriculture. There are experts at the University of Wageningen (WUR). Laurie van Reemst is one of them. Our education is also getting “green” and “sustainable” considerably. Not surprising because 54 % of the Netherlands is still agricultural land. So have green education from VMBO to university education. Pieter Temmink is a teacher at the Zonecollege. In their education they have made a connection with education in Uganda. Laurie lives and works there for several years now. Pieter, his colleagues and students go on an annual excursion

Prework

Within the Windesheim Honours College International Global Project and Change Management program, students have started a project in 2020 to investigate whether one aspect of education, soil fertility, can be gamified. The project has been called SOIL for short. The results, research and game concepts have been transferred to 038games, the HBO-ICT minor Game Studio from the University of Applied Science Windesheim.

Semester 1: 2020 – 2021
A first student team with artists and developers consisting of Stefan Bosch, Brian Hoen, Luc Huistra, Amanda Maatje and Mark van Dijk has started researching what a game can look like. It was decided to make a board game and a mobile game. In the project, the focus has shifted to realizing a board game that can be tested in Uganda.

For the mobile app, research was done on the gameplay and development platform suitable for use on lower versions of Android and limited for expensive internet. The board game was taken to Uganda for the summer in 2020 to be tested by students. The great corona pandemic threw a spanner in the works for this project.

The project is and will be carried out entirely in English. All documentation of the games, technique, art etc. is in English. This makes the game, all documentation and assets transferable to parties in Uganda.

Semester 2: 2021 – 2022

While the physical board game is waiting to be tested, a second team of students is working on a mobile game. Much research has been done into art style, levels and in-depth knowledge of soil fertility. With the help of the Google Godot game platform, a lot is realized in pixel art style. The students have contributed to Windesheim’s SDG program (link). A presentation will be given to the students in Uganda.

To get a first impression of what the game will be like and what the art and gameplay will look like: watch the video.