Serious Simulator Game for The Embassy of France in Canada

CATEGORY

TIMELINE

3 months

INDUSTRY

EdTech

TOOLS

Figma, Unity, Adobe Suites, Miro

CONTEXT

In collaboration with The Embassy of France in Canada, Art of Festivals, and Alliance française de Vancouver, Team Nuage is developing a serious game that reflects the experience of what an arts centre can be and should be. This future-facing choice-based digital simulation game will provide different scenarios and management cycles of a fictional multidisciplinary arts venue to stimulate critical thinking, identify future trends and provide a discussion basis for change management - The future of this cultural hub is in your hand.

In collaboration with The Embassy of France in Canada, Art of Festivals, and Alliance française de Vancouver, Team Nuage is developing a serious game that reflects the experience of what an arts centre can be and should be. This future-facing choice-based digital simulation game will provide different scenarios and management cycles of a fictional multidisciplinary arts venue to stimulate critical thinking, identify future trends and provide a discussion basis for change management - The future of this cultural hub is in your hand.

In collaboration with The Embassy of France in Canada, Art of Festivals, and Alliance française de Vancouver, Team Nuage is developing a serious game that reflects the experience of what an arts centre can be and should be. This future-facing choice-based digital simulation game will provide different scenarios and management cycles of a fictional multidisciplinary arts venue to stimulate critical thinking, identify future trends and provide a discussion basis for change management - The future of this cultural hub is in your hand.

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

This project was developed as part of my Master’s program, where I worked as a UI Artist and UI Technical Artist, collaborating closely with designers, developers, and producers throughout production. I led the visual direction for the UI by creating mood boards and defining the overall art style, ensuring alignment across design and development teams. I designed all menu screens, icons, and buttons, maintaining consistency between gameplay vision and user experience. Beyond visual design, I acted as a bridge between design and engineering. I implemented UI assets directly in Unity, integrating screens using Doozy UI Manager, TextMeshPro, and micro-animations, and worked closely with developers to ensure smooth functionality and efficient iteration (Big shout out to Mars Balisacan, our director and game programmer, who teach me about Doozy!!) By supporting both design and technical implementation, I helped streamline communication across disciplines and accelerate the UI production workflow.

Systems Overview:

★ Co-developed the core game system architecture, defining phase structure, state transitions, and required UI screen types ★ Structured the experience into four system layers: Introduction → Initial Strategic Choice (ISC) → Gameplay Cycle → Ending ★ Designed and mapped a decision-driven logic framework (5 categories × 5 questions) where binary inputs dynamically modified gameplay indicators and starting parameters ★ Contributed to UX flow design, ensuring clear information hierarchy, feedback states, and decision-to-impact transparency ★ Helped define the event trigger system, including decision-based Main Events and threshold-based Side Events tied to indicator values ★ Designed cyclical progression logic across 8 gameplay loops, incorporating Social Impact checkpoints to enable system recalibration ★ Supported implementation planning by aligning UX flows with Unity integration requirements and scalable UI asset structures

Outcome & Learnings:

★ At first we tried tackling brainstorming and tasks as a whole group, but it only resulted in long meetings with debates after debates. It worked much better when we divided up the work and put trust in our team members to do what they do the best. ★ We also waited on the client to get all our content, but we realized later that we could use placeholder text to get on with the development. It was also difficult to lock down the content with minor revisions that kept coming through. So it was a good thing we had an extra week in case we needed more time. ★ For our team, our developer hosted a Unity workshop for designers and it helps speed up the process. Designers who never used Unity before like me also get to learn how to integrate assets in Unity, and Developers can just hook everything up right after that. ★ For both our team and clients, English is not our first language so it would be good to align on the same terminology in the beginning to avoid any confusion. It also helps to explain things in simplified terms. ★ I was a bit afraid to try our own ideas and relied on the client’s approval. If I had more time, I would love to add those extra ideas to make our game even more fun. What the clients need is not necessarily what they ask for, so that’s where we can step in.