Regina-based developer's new game aims to help both kids and adults understand how governments work
Jurisdictions: Canada gives players an interactive way to learn what different levels of government do
With Saskatchewan's provincial and municipal elections just around the corner, a new educational video game from a Regina-based developer aims to help people understand how the different levels of government work.
Jurisdictions: Canada is an educational game that's available to play online for free. It was developed by Massive Corporation Game Studios, a game development studio in Regina.
The game features different modes. The "explore" mode allows players to choose one of four different scenes: inside a home, in a neighbourhood, in a city downtown or flying over the country. From there, the player can interact with objects you see in the scene by clicking on them, and learn which level of government is responsible for them.
For example, clicking on a fire hydrant will tell you the municipal government is the level responsible for firefighting.
Once you feel like you have explored enough, you can choose to put your knowledge to the test with three different challenges.
Kai Hutchence, the CEO of Massive Corporation Game Studios and the game's developer, said anyone should be able to play the game.
"There's a number of different ways you can play, depending on your level of knowledge or comfort in the subject," he said.
Hutchence said that the inspiration for creating the game was a mix between his passion for politics and making a difference in the world.
"We saw this as sort of a great little area where our niche interests and the community needs sort of came together, and so that's sort of how it fell into place," Hutchence said.
Another inspiration for creating the game was Hutchence's friend, who was studying for his Canadian citizenship test.
"Having to see someone come from a different country where there are different standards, procedures and a whole other constitutional system was very enlightening, as they had different perspectives on things," he said.
Hutchence said everyone, both newcomers and people who are already citizens, needs more education on how different levels of government work, especially in light of Saskatchewan's upcoming provincial election on Oct. 28 and municipal elections on Nov. 13.
"We are facing a lot of disinformation and misinformation that is fundamentally undermining our democracy, and a big part of that is people not understanding how our democracy is supposed to work and who is responsible for what," Hutchence said.
The work of educating the public starts in the classrooms, he said.
"The education system has to cover it in social studies, but there's not a lot of great tools and resources out there for teachers to work with," Hutchence said.
He hopes the game can be incorporated in schools as a way to make education around politics and government more engaging.
- Watch more Sask. election coverage, including full news conferences, on CBC Saskatchewan's YouTube page.
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With files from The Morning Edition