A serious game built in Minecraft to engage European coastal communities in learning about ecosystem-based climate adaptation. Launched during EU Green Week 2023 with multilingual support across 11 languages.
EbAcraft is a serious game designed to help children and local communities understand ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) strategies for climate resilience in coastal cities. Developed as part of the EU SCORE Project, it uses Minecraft’s familiar world to make environmental concepts more accessible and engaging.
As the lead developer and gameplay designer, I handled the game mechanics, educational content integration, workshop organization, user testing, and automation for translation into 11 languages.
Coastal cities across Europe face urgent climate adaptation needs, yet effectively communicating innovative strategies like ecosystem-based adaptation to local populations (especially younger generations) remains challenging. Traditional educational approaches often fail to engage children, who are crucial stakeholders in long-term climate resilience efforts.
EbAcraft turns climate education into an interactive experience within modded Minecraft. Players explore a fictional coastal city and learn about:
The game contextualizes climate challenges, presents possible responses, and invites active participation in a familiar virtual environment.
EbAcraft was launched during EU Green Week 2023 as an online workshop event, bringing together participants from 10 European coastal cities part of the SCORE Project:
Beyond gameplay, EbAcraft captured detailed interaction data and in-game questionnaires to better understand player behavior and learning patterns. The research framework I helped develop analyzed how players approached climate adaptation challenges, informing future educational game design and climate communication strategies.
EbAcraft builds on my previous work in educational technology and serious gaming. The data recording principles from VRdeo and the Minecraft-based community engagement methods developed for Emcify laid the groundwork for this project. Following the success of Emcify, the SCORE project team reached out to collaborate on EbAcraft. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the fantastic collaboration with Italo Sousa de Sena and the entire UCD team.