Uganda Game

For the Ni3 GCRF project, we have developed third person narrative exploration games. Our Uganda game focuses on a girl, Peace, her brother and their family. It looks at the issue of child marriage from a range of perspectives and the challenges faced by Peace and her family.

The game has been designed to increase understanding of sexual coercion and abuse as both a consequence of and contributing factor to child marriage in Uganda. The aim of the game is to empower young people; to increase empathy for victims of sexual violence and child marriage; and to raise awareness of its causes and effects.

Our Uganda game is based on the core mechanics of environmental interaction, ‘sneaking’ and dialogue.

The game

Click the button to the left to go to our itch.io page to download the Ni3 Uganda game ‘Peace’, for free. We’ve trialled this PC-based game with young people in four Ugandan schools, and it’s been shown to have positive impacts – further details to follow. If you are a teacher or work with young people in another capacity, and use the game as an educational resource, we’d love to get your feedback via this short form.

Don’t forget to download the game manual (technical guidance on installing and playing the game) and the faciliator’s guide (ideas for lessons and using the game as a learning resource). These are available via the same link, or further down this page.

About the game

Peace is a 15 year old girl who lives with her brother, father, stepmother and two step-siblings. She has an older sister, who would be now 16, who has been missing for over a year.

Peace’s mother died in childbirth when her brother was born. Her father remarried and he and his second wife have two boys. The stepmother is cruel and favours her own children over Peace and her brother. She often spends Peace’s school fees on other things, as she believes education is wasted on girls, causing Peace to miss a lot of schooling.

The family struggle financially and there is pressure on Peace to find a husband who can support them.

Through the game, the player discovers more about the world Peace lives in, the challenges she faces and the perspectives of the other characters around her. The player must help Peace to make the right choices; for herself and for her family.

Development

The game is being developed by a small team of artists, developers and a game designer. Our games team are working in close consultation with our Uganda-based research team to ensure the game is culturally appropriate and is target specifically at young people in Uganda. Both qualitative and quantitative research, undertaken as part of the Ni3 project, will be used to inform the game design.

Development uses the latest Unreal Engine to ensure quality of gameplay. This will give a stronger emotional response to the characters and story and improve the empathetic response.

Implementation

We have completed schools based trials of our game in Uganda. These took place across five days, with students aged between 14 and 18. Each day represented a chapter in the story and each chapter was played for approximately 20-30 minutes.

Training was provided to teachers on how to use the game, and a gameplay tutorial was built in for players as part of the story. We distributed the game on USBs which allowed it to be played offline as well as facilitating the collection of anonymous data, to understand the effectiveness of the trial.

We are currently making minor tweaks to the game based on the outcome of the trials. Once these changes are made, and once we have completed detailed lesson plans to support teachers in using the game as an educational tool, we will make both the game and the curriculum available for download from this webpage.

Facilitator's Resource and Technical Manual

Front cover of Ni3 Curriculum document for Uganda

We have developed a research-informed resource to support facilitation of learning, which has been designed based on robust research, including studies carried out with Ugandan children and young people, and adult survivors of child marriage, by the Ni3 Uganda research centre. It has also been developed in consultation with educators and educational leaders.

Click on the image to download the facilitator’s resource as a pdf, including suggested activities on topics covered in the Peace computer game.

We’d love to hear your feedback on this resource, which has not yet been evaluated. If you use it for teaching and learning purposes, we’d really appreciate it if you could come back to our site and complete this short questionnaire after you’ve made use of the resource. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated and help us to further refine future resources.

See also the Technical Manual which will help you to install and play the game on PC/laptops, once you’ve downloaded it from our itch.io page.

Our Approach

Why?

Computer games have the opportunity to offer unparalleled immersion, allowing the player to be an active participant within the story as opposed to just watching it unfold. When immersion and story come together within a game, the result is an experience no other medium can match.

Goal

Our goal is to create a game that immerses the player in the low and high moments of the character’s journey, and to increase empathy and raise awareness of child marriage using the interactivity and immersion that only games can offer. There needs to be a seamless blend between the gameplay on one side and learning principles on the other. The player’s total experience is integral to the learning process.

Benefits

Playing a computer game can influence thoughts, feelings and physiological stimulation. These can interact with each other, and through gameplay mechanisms such as achievements or choice-driven narrative, can also reinforce each other. Playing a prosocial computer game can increase interpersonal empathy and, consequently, contribute to improved social interactions.

Characters

Peace, 15, Main Character

I’ve been missing school a lot recently. My stepmother said my family can’t afford to send me or my brother, Michael, to school but I’ve seen my father giving her money to pay for our fees. She’s always been mean to us children that aren’t hers by blood – last year our older sister, Harriet, disappeared after an argument with her and we still don’t know where she is.

I’m so scared; I don’t know how I’m going to look after my brother or provide for him – what can a 15-year-old girl do, especially if she doesn’t have an education? I miss going to school, and I miss seeing my friends.

Sometimes I think that the only way I can protect myself is by getting married. I don’t want to do it, but I know there are boda boda riders who would give me money if I married them. Michael won’t understand why, but if I leave it means that he’ll get more at home.

Is this what I have to do to survive?

Michael

Michael, 14, Brother and Main Character

I know Peace is worried about taking care of me. She tries to hide it, but ever since Harriet disappeared, she’s been thinking about what will happen to us too, especially because our stepmother only cares about our stepsiblings. I don’t blame them, I love them, but Peace is scared that there won’t be enough for all of us.

Boda boda riders have been approaching her at the market every time we go, asking her to leave with them – so far, she’s said no but now she seems tempted by the offer. What would happen to her if she left? We don’t know these men or how they might treat her.

I don’t want her to go, but I don’t know how to stop her. I don’t think our father would intervene either, and if he wouldn’t help us then who else would?

Paul

Paul, 36, Boda Boda Rider

Although I’m already married, I left my first wife and our children in their home village so I could travel to another village for work. One of the reasons I enjoy being a boda boda rider is that it gives me freedom, both literally and financially; there are many beautiful girls in this village, so I am thinking about taking a second wife now that I am earning a better wage.

There is a local schoolgirl that visits the market often, and I intend to make her my bride. I know I can charm her into coming home with me, if I can get her away from her brother who follows her around. She doesn’t seem to have much to eat, so maybe if I show her that I can provide for her she’ll be swayed into leaving with me…

Agnes

Agnes, 31, Stepmother

I married Simon even though I knew he had 3 young children. It doesn’t bother me that he has them, but he must understand that our children come first. If that means that Peace or Michael don’t go to school, then so be it. At least we don’t have to take care of Harriet anymore, although I do wonder where she is now.

I was barely older than Peace is now when I married, so I keep telling Simon that we should find her a husband too – after all, she’ll have no value if she has a relationship outside of marriage. She’s too free spirited and needs a man to protect her, plus it’ll lessen the burden on our household, so why wait? He seems hesitant, but I think I’ll be able to convince him eventually.

Simon

Simon, 34, Father

I met Agnes a year after my first wife died. We married quickly, and now have a large family with 5 children in total. As a construction worker I leave early and come home late, so I must trust Agnes to take care of the home and our children while I’m not there. I wish Harriet hadn’t run away, but I can’t deny that it’s easier now with one less mouth to feed.

Peace and Michael don’t always get along with Agnes, but I don’t think she neglects them. They’re fed, clothed, and go to school so they’re better off than many other children in the village.

Agnes has suggested that we find a husband for Peace, but I don’t know if I agree. On the one hand, it relieves a burden on the family, and I can get a bride price for her, but on the other it can be dangerous. Peace’s mother died in childbirth at a young age – is that a risk I want to take?

Jane

Jane, 29, Police Officer

I’ve come to this village to investigate a girl called Harriet who went missing a year ago. I understand she has family here, so I’d like to speak to them to see if they know where she is. There are rumours that she’s married, and if that’s true it’s essential that I find her and help her – she’s only just turned 16, so it would have been an illegal child marriage.

After meeting her sister Peace, I’m worried that she might also be tempted to get married. She’s a very caring girl – I can tell she only wants what’s best for her and her brother, but she can’t be allowed to sacrifice her childhood, education and freedom like this. I hope I can get her family to understand how serious – and dangerous – it is when a girl enters early marriage.

Jonathan

Jonathan, 38, Teacher

As a teacher at the local school, I’ve noticed a growing number of children – especially girls – leaving school before they’ve finished their education. This worries me, and although I’m trying to help local families by counselling them not to take their daughters out of school for work or marriage, I know it’s still happening.

I’ve known Simon for many years and helped him through his grief when his first wife died, but one of his daughters has already disappeared, and now Peace has stopped coming to school. I’m concerned he may be thinking about finding her a husband and need to get him to understand how important an education is for all his children, and especially Peace. I hope I can help him see that his sons and daughters are equal and should be given the same opportunities in life.

Sustainable Development Goals

Through our prosocial computer games, the None in Three Research Centre is working to address the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 in Uganda, by seeking to redress gender inequality in our society.