BeeCarbonize: A game that puts Earth’s future in your hands

In this complex yet accessible simulation, you must decide which sectors of society to transform and how— will you prioritise a rapid transition to renewable energy? Or are social reforms and restoring ecosystems your priority? Each game card represents a scientific discovery, action, or economic reform that affects the entire planet. It's up to you whether you expand hydroelectric power plants, allow seabed mining, introduce a carbon tax, a no-growth economy, start planting trees in the Amazon or invest in populating a new planet.

"Our goal with Beecarbonize was to create a fun game with engaging gameplay from which players can learn something if they want to," explains game designer and programmer Alex Petrova. "Progressing through climate change causes natural disasters and social crises; players must deal with them and plan their actions accordingly," adds Petrova.

"No part of society, economy and nature stands on its own in our game; the aim was to show that, for example, energy production and land protection are interconnected," says Jakub Zelený, a Climate Change Advisor with People in Need, who took care of the scientific side of the game. "All the phenomena and measures in the game are based on real research, and in the case of the more futuristic cards such as robo-bees, on real scientific visions," adds Zelený.

"The climate crisis is a topic we've wanted to tackle for a long time, not least because games are good at simulating real, complex events, which is the relationship between climate and humanity," adds Lukáš Kolek, developer and director of Charles Games. "Beecarbonize continues our studio's tradition of making games with a social overlay, but it also represents a completely new design approach and genre for our studio. We can't wait to see what gamers say about it," concludes Kolek.

BeeCarbonize launches on March 1 for free on Apple App Store, Google Play and Itch.io. The game was developed as a part of the 1Planet4All project.