Energy Ville

How do we make climate action fun?

We’ve seen the headlines—melting ice caps, raging wildfires, displaced communities. But between doomscrolling and despair, we need to experience the tradeoffs of climate policy, not just read about them. That’s why I am building EnergyVille —a game where you balance humanity’s energy needs against Earth’s survival. And I need your help to finish it.

The Problem

Climate change isn’t a checkbox—it’s a series of conflicting choices:

• Do you power hospitals with cheap coal, dooming future generations?
• Can you afford enough rare earth metals for wind turbines without strip-mining ecosystems?
• Will you sacrifice short-term growth for long-term survival?

The Game

EnergyVille is a strategic resource-management simulator set between 2000–2050. You’ll:

• Build energy plants (oil 🛢️, solar ☀️, wind 🌬️, geothermal 🌋, nuclear ⚛️, hydroelectric 💧, biomass 🌱) and  trees 🌳   
• Bargain with finite resources— investment $, silicon, steel, copper, aluminium and rare earths 
• Survive disasters—from methane leaks to populist revolts against green policies
• Race against the IPCC’s 1.5°C clock with a dynamic CO₂ emissions tracker that reacts to every decision

A beta version of the game is also available at https://energyville.pages.dev/ 

Key game components:

Historical Phase (2000-2024)

• Uses pre-loaded historical data
• Automatically adds historical energy projects
• Simulates natural resource depletion

Simulation Phase (2025-2050)

• Processes player-built projects:
  • Oil: High emissions, low cost
  • Renewables: Low emissions, resource-intensive
  • Nuclear/Hydro: Medium balance
• Tracks project durations (15-25 years)
• Calculates annual CO₂ impacts

Resource Management

• Real-time depletion of minerals
• Project-specific resource requirements:
  • Solar: Silicon
  • Wind: Steel + Rare Earth
  • Nuclear: Copper + Aluminum
• Slider controls for resource allocation

Climate System

• CO₂ calculated using:
  • Base emission factors (IPCC data)
  • Project maintenance emissions
  • Resource extraction impacts
• Visualized through progress bar with color coding

Victory Conditions

• Difficulty-based targets:
  • Easy: <15,000 Mt
  • Medium: <10,000 Mt
  • Hard: <5,000 Mt
• Time limit: Must achieve by 2050

Random Events System

• Post-2025 random occurrences:
  • Tech improvements (20% emission reduction)
  • Policy changes (+50 investment)
  • Disasters (+5,000 Mt CO₂ )
  • International cooperation (-3,000 Mt)
  • Resource crises (-10 random material)

Do contribute!

So far, I’ve bootstrapped development by hiring a web developer. Now, to finish the game, we need your support to:

• Implement  scientific references for all data used in the game
• Develop new features and make the game look good!
• Make it a useful educational and research tool for students and professors of energy policy

“The best time to act was yesterday. The second-best time is NOW.”