Gnome Gnardener

Gnome Gnardener

An ecological management sim about sustainability and garden gnomes.

Gnome Gnardener is a sustainable take on the city builder and colony sim genres informed by contemporary environmental science. It seeks to present an alternative set of dynamics to the neoliberal and colonialist ideas embedded in these genres that is more relevant to the issues we face today. Players change an existing populated world by building nature as often as buildings, instead of expanding upon conveniently empty land. The game models ecosystem services, like the way wetlands filter water, to make wilderness just as productive and vital as man-made structures instead of free space to be put to work. Instead of playing at infinite growth, players delicately balance a finite world to achieve equilibrium between a community and their environment.

This game is part of a larger movement of alternative city games and games about sustainable futures and was heavily influenced by Simcities and Simcrises. It builds on what Terra Nil put down- which models an environment without people- by modeling the tension between people and their environment.

How To Play

See our Player's Guide in the downloads section for a full manual!

The short version: Select a type of tile to change to a different type of tile using the UI on the upper right corner of the screen. Click the "Add Work Order" button and a character will carry out the job.

Hotkeys: Space to pause/resume. Arrow keys to change simulation speed.

Credits

Core Team

• Edikan (eia231): Visual art, sound effects
• Jaden (computeruser): Programming, game design, environmental science research
• Zeru (green2onion): Game design, programming

Contributors

• Ari (cyanterminal): UI design
• @STARDISCS: Music