About this Project
- Client/Project: The SASSAH Project (Safe at School, Safe at Home)
- Project Type: Game Design (Educational Tabletop Game)
- Date: 2021
The Challenge
How do you help children, households and communities understand disaster risk and resilience in a way that moves beyond simply receiving information?
JANGA was commissioned as part of SASSAH (Safe at School, Safe at Home) Project, a child-safety and disaster-risk education project. The game was conceived as an experiential learning tool that could help participants explore the realities of risk, vulnerability, preparedness and recovery through play.
About the Game
JANGA is an educational board game that helps players understand disaster risk and resilience at household and community level.
Players navigate everyday life while acquiring assets, managing resources and making decisions about preparedness and resilience. Through encounters with hazards, life events and unexpected events, players experience the consequences of choices around insurance, savings, knowledge, emergency supplies, stronger homes and community resilience.
My Role/Approach
As the Lead Designer, I developed the communication and engagement strategy for JANGA, anchoring the experience in the game-based learning model within the Entertainment-Education paradigm. I was responsible for:
Strategy: Developing the communication and engagement strategy; Anchoring the game in game-based learning and Entertainment-Education; Translating the project’s educational objectives into an engagement experience.
Game and experience design: Shaping the learning and engagement architecture; Developing the experiential and persuasive dimensions of the game; Working with the creative team to translate concepts into gameplay and visual systems.
Creative leadership: Leading a lean multidisciplinary creative team; Directing the visual and experiential development of the game; Coordinating the transition from concept to physical product.
Prototyping and iteration: Leading prototype development; Facilitating testing and play experiences; Gathering feedback and directing iterative improvements.
Production: Leading the creative process through production of the physical game; Working across design and production considerations to achieve the final product.
Facilitation: Personally facilitating multiple JANGA play experiences, providing first-hand insight into how participants interact with the game and where additional clarification or iteration may be required.