The first two weeks were about addressing a design challenge through a research report. This is an important step in the design process as it serves as the foundation of my game premise moving forward. I decided to go with animal rights and the topic of overfishing and its effects on sharks.
I began by researching various academic sources through the Sheridan Library and found some good books and articles on overfishing. I learned about the problematic advancements in technology that are allowing fisheries to harvest at a rate that vastly exceeds the rate at which fish can reproduce and ecosystems can recover. I then investigated the two types of aquaculture, wild fisheries and mariculture (fish farms). This study provided data that shows that we are moving towards a fishing market that utilizes primarily maricultures. I then looked into the negative effects that overfishing has on sharks. The reason being that sharks are generally the apex predator of their ecosystems meaning that if removed, the entire ecosystem's food web would be out of balance. This research showed that sharks are being overfished for their fins as well as being the result of bycatch. It also showed that longline vessel fleets are fishing in areas that overlap with important shark hotspots that should be protected by global regulations.
In the coming week, I'll be looking at the ideas that I have for a game on this topic and picking one to pitch to the class. Currently, my two ideas are a management sim that would have the player managing a large fishing operation and a game where the player plays as a shark that needs to manage their ecosystem's food web and survive in an overfished ecosystem.
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Love the topic choice! animals are great, and they deserve kindness! I really like the idea where you will be playing as a shark trying to manage their ecosystems food web! What will they camera view be like? similar to Edith finch?
The idea of a sim about managing fish is amazing. If you utilize the shark mechanic well, it could be a challenging sim. Very much looking forward to your game.
Ayo, I think both your game ideas are pretty solid for a topic like this, I think there's definitely a lot of room for a game that's both compelling & heavily connected to the importance of such a topic. I personally think the management sim game idea is both a compelling game idea and one that can really get the message of the topic across to players. But at the same time, the shark game sounds like a more fun game that more players can probably engage with so I'm curious to see how your ideas change and which one you focus on for the game pitch!
Hi Ben,
Happy to see someone tackle this topic. It's a shame that sharks are often mistaken as a harm to humans when they're just as useful as bees. I think the game idea with the player playing as a shark is a great way to build empathy on the subject, and can be even more impactful depending on how you choose to represent humans in it. Good luck with the final pitch!
Ben,
Given how overfishing has been leading to the decline of several ecosystems for decades this is a really cool topic to see someone tackling. I really enjoy the concept of a shark that is trying to maintain the ecosystem in such a way that protects itself as an apex predator of that environment. I look forward to seeing your presentation.
Hey Ben,
You chose a very interesting topic that I was not very familiar with. Now that you've brought up this topic, I'm curious whether overfishing happens a lot in Canada specifically. I think I remember learning that Canada catches many different kinds of fish in large amounts too. I'm a big fan of management sim personally so I think a game based on overfishing would be really interesting. Can't wait to see what you come up with.
BEN :^)
interesting topic you went with, did you have this as your number 1 topic? or did you decide on multiple topics beforehand and decide that this is what you want to research more into?
I too, agree that research is important to starting to design, but do you think that things need to be intensively researched all the time like what we have done for class?