Love Tropics Environmental Assets
Gaming for the planet.
CLIENT:
Love Tropics is an organization that runs an annual fundraiser event within a virtual game-world. Every year, as an organizer and artist, I create graphics and lead teams of volunteers to help in the creation of these virtual event experiences that have raised over $140,000 collectively for various environmental causes such as: Oceana, Osa Conservation, Project Seagrass and Sustainable Harvest International.
OBJECTIVE:
In September, representatives of the selected environmental organization that Love Tropics partnered with that year, provide our team of educators and developers with in-depth documentation, images and resources surrounding what their organization does to support the people and ecosystems in their local areas. I am tasked with designing pixel-art based virtual representations of these plants and animals that we will be supporting to be used as an education tool during the event.
PROCESS:
After working with the development team to determine the size and specification of each virtual plant and prop, colors are sampled from real world pictures of the ecosystems we are supporting to ensure visual accuracy. The pixel-art is meticulously crafted in a specialized editor, with each pixel purposefully placed manually. These pixel-art assets are then handed over to the development team, who program and implement the objects into the game. Then, Love Tropic’s volunteer team of educators, play testers and virtual architects can use the new plants, animals and props for the creation of the event, providing feedback for any further revisions to be made.
OUTCOME:
It’s a real treat getting to experience people from all over the world, speaking multitudes of languages, coming together every year to learn, play, and raise money to help our planet through the medium of online games. When the weekend long event ends, it is not the end of this story for these virtual ecosystems, they are made publicly available and free to download and enjoy year-round.
