The idea to make a planning game originated from an already existing game that Dr. Hein made with another study group. We basically built upon their idea of how such a game could look like and how it can be used to better understand socio-ecological conflicts. To better understand the context of the problem we were talking about, we started with reading publications about green grabbing and blue grabbing and discussed those in meetings.

After that we got introduced to „Concept Board“, a tool where the game would mainly take place. Concept Board is similar to an online working table that everyone can work on simultaneously and see what the other people are doing.

With these new inputs in mind we started to develop our game. We were split in 5 groups, each with their own task:

Game instructions, context, post-colonial, working-materials, website. Some of them worked on their own, others exchanged with experts like Dr.Heins group of master students or a design agency.

We also played the old game from the other study group to get a feel for how such a game has to be like to be effectively used in study groups/ school classes.

In the beginning we used Zoom for our meetings and working phases, later we switched to Discord, because it provided an better environment for working and discussing in groups easily.

When our game reached a certain stage we tested it, to see what has to be improved and what works well. After we finished optimizing it, one of Dr.Heins study groups tested the game. This gave us new information about exisiting flaws of the game that we fixed afterwards.

Then the final phase began, where each team focused on finishing their work, so that we could put all the final results together.

The game was then ready to be presented and played to get a better understanding of socio-ecological conflicts from a different perspective.