190% funded! A stream of streams! Dev Blog 13!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Sep 21, 2021 at 12:23:17 AM

We've come to the final five days of our campaign folks! As such we're ending our week with a whole bunch of activities, involving us! The SDR team!

(^ Us at the end of every team meeting)

Alright so first up, we are doing a Live Stream THIS EVENING on Facebook at 8:30pm BST. We will be playing Earth Rising LIVE and you can not only watch us play but even tell us what to do as we fight to transform our world in 20 years!

Then tomorrow morning at 10am BST we will be joining Bez from StuffByBez at this link where we'll be talking about the possibility of carbon neutral or even carbon positive games, and how those might be accomplished! 

Is that not enough Bez for you? Worry not, this morning I had a delightful start to the day chatting with her about board games, steam train chugga-rhythms, design tips and things we're grateful for! You can still watch it here!

And finally on Wednesday we have another live gameplay stream with Dustin Staats from Board gaming with Education at 5pm BST/9am PDT! Since we have an update on that day, we'll give you a reminder then.

Okay, that's enough stream news for now... onward to the Dev Blog! 

The Ecologist: Helping Us Understand The World Around Us

Today we’re going to get to know the man who likes to get his hands dirty: The Ecologist!

The Ecologist is able to place ‘Regeneration Tokens’ on any sustainable practices, thus allowing the practice to prevent one extra strain during the Societal Strain Phase. Every sustainable Agriculture practice allows the Ecologist to place one extra Regeneration Token. This ability is particularly useful for reducing strain on sectors with fewer sustainable practises in play.

What is Agriculture, and why is the Ecologist its specialist?

The Agriculture sector is the means by which our society grows, collects and distributes food to its people, ensuring that they have enough to eat and with enough diversity of food-types that they’re able to stay healthy. This can also include some naturally grown substances, such as cotton and hemp, which are grown for production of other goods, however the foremost role of agriculture has always been to grow food.

The Ecologist is the specialist of the Agricultural sector because in order to turn the tide of damage that the real-life agricultural sector places upon our world, we need to begin viewing the ground from which we grow our food as part of a larger whole. By more closely looking at the “health” of our soil, we can in turn promote the longevity of our world. This health isn’t as simple as piling on more phosphorus as a sort of “growth injection”, as fertilizer firms would have our farmers believe, but about creating a self-sustaining network of plants, pollinators, and insect varieties that stimulate the local ecosystem and further bolster the natural needs for the crops we depend upon.

Unfortunately our current agricultural practices are largely destructive and focussed on yield and appearance rather than quality or the health of our earth. Yet sustainable practices such as agroecology, marine permaculture and habitat regeneration, along with reducing our dependency on imported foods could reverse the damage we’ve done and help us paint a healthy and sustainable future - without people going hungry!

As with all sectors, agriculture cannot work alone. The network of support created by all six sectors is necessary for change.

Thank you to the Permaculture Association for helping us with this sector of the game! Their work educating and supporting farmers and consumers to practice a “permaculture” lifestyle is invaluable, and they’ve been an immense help making sure that Earth Rising’s practices are those that will guide us to a more stable future, positive both for people and their planet.

On Wednesday we’ll next be talking about how Earth Rising displays Ecological Collapses, but also about the change in attitude and discourse we need to overcome the fear this subject rightfully spreads.

Until then, don’t forget to come check out our streams tonight and tomorrow!

See you Wednesday!

~Laurie & the SDR Team

Stretch Goal 5 (30K) UPGRADE! Dev Blog 12!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Sep 20, 2021 at 02:00:36 PM

Hey everybody! We're very excited to announce something we've been working on - an upgrade to the £30K stretch goal that makes all first edition copies include a brand new feature! It's something you may have seen us inserting little hints about here and there over recent weeks...

What's this feature you ask? It's a box insert organiser! 

^ Actual footage* of someone seeing a future copy of Earth Rising inside a drawer

Just to be clear, this will not be an Add On! The insert will come as a punchboard which will need to be assembled by you, and each of the bits will slot into place inside the box, keeping everything flush and in place. We've been working with the designer to make sure that it will not need glue or any other extraneous or unsupplied parts, just follow the simple instructions and make your copy of Earth Rising even better than before!

We know inserts and box organisers are a big help when setting up and packing down games, so to us this is a fantastic upgrade that will improve the ease of play and longevity of the game! What's more, as the insert will be using the same punchboard as the rest of Earth Rising's pieces, they will be made completely sustainably! Don't want the insert yourself? Just recycle it!  

We hope to show you proper pictures of the design really soon, but we're very pleased to confirm it will be happening!

(*not actual footage that was a lie I'm so sorry)

And now onto the Dev Blog! Today's subject... TIME ITSELF! ⏰

The Passage of Time in Earth Rising

Since we launched our first Kickstarter in April, we've had a number of comments from our backers saying that with the calendar count starting at 2021 (you have 20 turns/years to win the game), it was going to seem weird if someone buys the game next year (2022) but still has to begin play from 2021. Their question was “Why don’t we just make the years a generic counter; Year 1 to Year 20?”

Originally, the game was developed in 2020 and 20 years fitted perfectly in terms of creating a sustainable planet by 2040, using technology that is already available to us today. Such was the theme of the film ‘2040’, Earth Rising’s inspiration.

However, getting the game produced in 2020 was out of the question, so we made the calendar count to start in 2021, the year the game was to launch on Kickstarter. Certainly, making the year count generic would have solved all the problems of people buying the game in 2022, 2023 etc. However, the reason why we didn’t want to make the year count generic is because our real world situation is not so flexible.

If someone buys the game in 2030, unless the work has been done in the 10 years prior, the chances are that we won’t have until 2050 to win this game in real life. It will already be too late.
The effect we want to have on people buying the game in 2023, 2024 and so on, is for them to play the game with the knowledge that the world is already on borrowed time. Hopefully, it will spur on players to get involved in real life if they haven’t done so already.

We don’t wish to give players the false perspective that they can start this work at any time, and that they therefore have another 20 years to transform our world.  In the game they will always have 20 years to transform our world. In real life, that period between 2040 and 2050 is the line in the sand, after which point our efforts will likely not be enough. By maintaining real years in the game we hope that the closer we get to that period the more people will see what time has already elapsed towards that all important goal.

As a compromise for people who care more for the longevity of their game than the perfection of the theme, we’ve made the back of our cards blank where the number would be. This allows players to fill in future years on the back of them if they wish to. We feel this balances out player preference and game longevity while keeping our message strong and clear.

This provides a total of 60 years of ongoing "20 years from the date it's played" longevity, and quite frankly, if you're still playing Earth Rising in sixty years time that will be a problem we will address then!

When it comes to finding the balance between theme and simplicity, it can often be a tight balancing act to walk! 

Yet the best thing about leaving the backs blank is that you can do anything you want! Still wish we'd just numbered it 1 to 20? Grab that marker and make it so - it's your game now, and we encourage you to enjoy it however you wish!

Next week on Monday we'll be getting to know the Ecologist! There's only one character left after that, so we won't bother asking you to choose - that'd be a tad pointless. Instead, tell us how you feel about the campaign so far! We're always learning, and we'd love to hear from you. 

Catch you Monday,

~Laurie & the SDR Team

Dev Blog 11 - We're in single digits already?!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 11:10:55 PM

Hi folks, it's Rhi here! I'm taking over for today's dev blog.  A warm welcome to all of our new backers, and hello again to our old friends - can you believe we're down to the final NINE days of the campaign? We certainly can't... 

Before we delve into the next character-focused dev blog, lets do a little round up of how we've done in these last few days.

Yesterday we gained an extra 5% in funding, which is a phenomenal jump! But we are also at 50 trees! 🌲 That is an incredible 1050kg of carbon absorbed once they're fully grown. To celebrate this new tree-milestone we've decided to make it even easier to help us plant trees. Every time you share our campaign link on social media and tag us - that counts towards the goal! Every five tags across all social media platforms adds up to one tree 🌲 (Make sure you tag us properly or we won't be able to count your share.)

In other exciting news... You know how we've been teasing about a secret extra stretch goal? Well... As we're so close to hitting that 30k mark we've decided that all shall be revealed in Saturday's update! 👀 So stay tuned for that!

Now that's out of the way, it's time to meet the Climatologist. 

The Climatologist: Analysing Our Way Toward Sustainability

Today we’re going to get to know our scientifically focused Climatologist!

The Climatologist allows you to redistribute one Strain to a different ‘Ecological Burden’. Each Sustainable Practice within the Energy sector allows the Climatologist to move one extra strain. This is particularly useful just before the strain calculation phase, as you can redistribute it to a sector that is doing well enough to remove strain, or to prevent Ecological Collapse. The really unique thing about the Climatologist's ability is they can be used during the actions of any other player's turn! Just don't forget to use them before you enter the strain phase...

What is Energy, and why is the Climatologist its specialist?

The Energy sector is how electrical power is generated, stored and used within a society. While at first this doesn’t sound as vital as food production or reliable running water, the vast majority of modern society requires electrical power to run at all. Blackouts - a period where an area loses all access to power - can cause widespread disruption to infrastructure, businesses and jobs, and cause severe danger in the forms of electrical short-circuit fires and the loss of emergency systems. As such, it’s vital to any society that they have access to a constant, stable supply of power, with backup options should they fail.

A simple change you can make is swapping your energy provider to one who provides clean, green energy - produced by wind, water or sun! Beyond production itself, decentralising our networks would also create a more sustainable future for the energy sector, decreasing the risk of power failure alongside increasing energy conservation.

As with all sectors, Energy cannot work alone. The network of support created by all six sectors is necessary for change.

The Climatologist is the specialist of the Energy sector because the vast majority of CO2 comes from our energy supply! Tracking and documenting its effects and providing clear evidence that they are the origin of our global heating is vital to proving that we need to divest from them. Did you know that coal plants contribute more radioactivity to their surrounding area than a nuclear power plant?

Further than that, it’s by tracking our changing climate that we’re better able to prepare for problems that arise, and it’s through this that our Climatologist can divert Strain to other burdens, giving our society the warnings we need to avoid an Ecological Collapse.

Thank you to Renewable World for helping us with this sector of the game! A great charity providing green energy infrastructure in the developing world, they helped us get the research we needed to understand why certain energy networks are unsustainable, and why others present a positive alternative.

In our build up to launch, we discussed Nuclear energy, and why we eventually decided not to represent it (either as Sustainable or Unsustainable) in Earth Rising. Check out our blog post all about it here: Nuclear Energy: Sustainable or Not? 

On Saturday, we’ll next be talking about the passage of time, and how Earth Rising tackles the representation of 20 years of progress, something we've had plenty of comments asking about!

Until then, which character would you like to hear about next? 

The Ecologist or The Innovator? 

~Rhi & the SDR Team

180% funded, Dev Blog 10!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 01:28:16 AM

Hello everyone! 

We've just hit 180% funded!! What a phenomenal accomplishment, thank you so much to everyone for their passion and support, it's through you that we've been able to get this far!

I know on Sunday I said we were only one BGG Fan away from another tree... and you did it! 🌳🌲✨💚

But it turns out that five people decided to help out, bringing us back to one Fan away from another tree again! 😂

We're so close to our donation being solely responsible for an actual tonne of CO2 removal per year, can you help us make it? Check out our social micro-goals and see if you can help!

Today we've got a Dev Blog covering a topic that many people ask about... The Status Quo!

The Status Quo Strikes! Because Not Everyone Wants A Better World

In Earth Rising, the efforts to transform our world require a lot of cooperation. But even with forward thinking, quick adaptation, and close teamwork, even the best teams can be undone by the powerful forces that lurk within the Influence deck.

That’s right, we’re talking about the Status Quo!

Who are the Status Quo, and why don’t they want things to change?

Unlike the over 6 billion people of the world we spoke about last week, who actively struggle due to the way things are, the Status Quo represents those incredibly small few who overwhelmingly profit from the current situation. While the stand-out obvious people are the billionaires who parade their wealth, the Status Quo also refers to corporate lobbyists, media manipulation, austerity measures and many others who compound the situation in order to prolong the period where we are dependent on fossil fuels, accept large quantities of single-use plastics as cheap packaging, and demand huge quantities of red meat without considering the true price paid for it.

The wealth generated from this state is not insubstantial. The meat industry in the US alone is worth $838 Billion.Global Oil and gas drilling accounts for 2.1 Trillion.These are, to most people, unimaginable numbers, and it very much puts into perspective the level of capital that moves around the world, especially alongside our poverty statistics from last week.

Of course, the desire to protect their position of power and an extremely large source of income is understandable on an individual and selfish level, but it’s important to recognise that transitioning the world away from the damaging practices we’re dependent upon does not even mean they will lose their money! As public support grows for ecologically friendly services, we’re beginning to see more of those monolithic companies buying up and implementing those very same services. Many of them have the capital to completely divest from unsustainable practices and reinvest into sustainable ones without any concern to their viability. So why don’t they just do that?

An Unsustainable industry doesn’t equal a profitable industry

The answer is that their sources of income are actually only profitable due to subsidies. Meat in particular is incredibly subsidised to offset how expensive and inefficient it is to produce in comparison to how much people are willing to pay for it. Your government pays that price so you don’t have to, allowing an industry to survive on the basis of assumed demand.

The oil and gas industries, despite their excessive profits, also enjoy hefty subsidies. This was originally designed to incentivise the development of more power sources, but these same subsidies are not extended to green energy. Instead, governments the world over pay rates to these companies to allow their existing infrastructure to remain accessible and affordable, otherwise prices would rise and people would lose support. Where do the governments receive the money they pay these subsidies with? Taxes. 

This means the money that could be used to either integrate green energy or build and maintain new infrastructure is instead spent propping up damaging, unsustainable industries that lead to negative effects on their populace.

This is the real reason they defend their industries by any means necessary. Green infrastructure doesn’t have the same existing subsidies that allow them to be paid to make a profit. Oil and gas across the world have combined subsidies equal to 3.1 Trillion; 19 times higher than the subsidy total for renewable energy (which is granted just over $163 billion globally).

Find the root and you find the solution

Oil, gas and meat aren’t the only unsustainable industries propped up by subsidies, and the deeper you dive the more you discover that the industries most dominant in your society are almost certainly benefitting from this same system, and that means the root of power lies at home.

This means that we can change what our society decides to incentivise, and in turn create change. There is the argument that, hypothetically, you could look at Earth Rising’s Social Practice counters not as existing practices but as active subsidies which in turn support the development of those real businesses. Does that make for an attractive game? Not really, but it could be a more realistic perspective on how change is made!

In Earth Rising the Status Quo hit a sector harder depending on how many Sustainable Practices are in play. Simply, this is representative of the unsustainable industries or lobby-groups doing all they can to turn the tide of your success and defend their legacy of profit, so the more they see their control slipping, the harder they’ll fight back. Nearer the end of the game they’ll start popping up more often, and we’ve had several games with them stopping us achieving our goal right at the last moment.

Have you beat the Status Quo and transformed our world? Drop a comment below and share your experience!

We'll see you on Thursday with a run-down of the Climatologist! ⛅

~Laurie & the SDR Team

Earth Rising Fan Art!? 🖼️ SDR Live Steam! Dev Blog 9!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Sep 12, 2021 at 11:36:14 PM

Hello everyone! It's your favourite designer of Earth Rising here, bringing you your bi-daily dose of development blog! But, that's not all we have in store...

That's right, we have an incredible piece of news to share, and it's that Earth Rising has its first ever piece of fan art! 

Not only is this incredibly impressive, but it's done on an EtchASketch! A huge thanks to Jonathan for all his time and effort, and sharing our likeness with the world!

And now, before we discuss 🌳TREES🌲, we've decided that to celebrate the final week of our Kickstarter, the SDR team will be live streaming an Earth Rising play-through on the 20th at 8:30pm BST (that's 14:40 CST). This will be a great chance for you to see just how badly even the creators of a game can lose - and ask us some questions 😉

And now, before you I leaf to do the Dev Blog, I must announce that we have now hit 🌲45 trees🌳!! (That will make 945kgs of carbon absorbed per year once fully grown! Amazing!)

Did you know that just one more Board Game Geek fan would take us to 🌲46🌳, and if we hit 🌲48🌳 (through comments or whatever else!) we would get that carbon sequestering number to over 1000kgs per year! 😱

Come on Earth Rising fans! We can do it!

The Grass-Roots Politician: Transitioning Our World From Within

It’s time to get to know our debater, it’s the Grass-Roots Politician!

The Politics sector is headed by the Grassroots Politician. She has the ability to check the next two cards in the Social Influence deck, and rearrange them. Every sustainable practice within her sector allows her to check an extra card. This ability is great for making sure the next few players will draw cards matching their sectors, or for shuffling Status Quo Strikes cards further into the deck so your team has longer to prepare!

What is Politics, and why is the Grass-Roots Politician its specialist?

The Politics sector is how we make decisions about how we want our society to run, and how we turn those decisions into law. The overwhelming majority of modern societies run through a form of democracy, designed to give a voice to everyone and prevent forcible rule by a powerful minority. However not all democracies are the same, and achieve this goal with varying success. Sustainable politics is therefore vital to developing a sustainable society.

By ensuring fair representation and taking our focus away from GDP, along with enacting laws that protect and regenerate our world, we can use natural capital accounting to take real stock of what we have to work with. From here, we can track our sustainable development and make our society better for all.

The Grass-Roots Politician is the specialist of the Politics sector because “grass-roots” refers to the politicians that still focus on their local area, representing the people who voted them in as much as the party that they’re aligned with. At its core, politics is about passionate people paving the way for a future they believe in, and representing others that think like they do so that changes can be made. Many political systems today make it very hard for people to be represented by those they truly agree with, but it can exist, and those passionate individuals can help our society become more forward thinking.

A Society That Looks Forward Is Prepared For What’s To Come

This is why our Grass Roots Politician looks into the deck and can rearrange what they find. By being in a position to discuss and adjust policy, and to work with people from a variety of sectors, they can better understand and predict what will be available in the coming years, and prepare the appropriate sectors for what is to come.

As with all sectors, Politics cannot work alone. The network of support created by all six sectors is necessary for change.

While we’re here, we’d like to say a big thank you to Jojo Mehta and Stop Ecocide for helping us with this sector of the game! As a powerful movement looking to make Ecocide an international crime, and making great progress, we were thrilled to work with them and hear their information about how our political systems can help us bring sustainability into reality.

We know that Politics is a subject that many have lost hope in, but it's important to recognise that it is a sector explicitly designed to involve the public and adapt to public pressure. Even if it resists this, remember that we are not alone. Join groups in your country who seek to make that change, and add your voice to theirs. As Earth Rising shows, even in the event that we don't "win" in the time we intended to, just by acting we make our world better.

As I'm based in the UK, I can't speak for organisations in other countries, but if you're a UK backer please check out Make Votes Matter! They're committed to making our votes directly match our parliament, rather than 60% of votes counting for nothing due to the system we have.

Now then, what specialist would you like to hear about next? Climatologist⛅, Ecologist🌱, or the Innovator⚙️?

We'll catch you Tuesday with the next dev blog about The Status Quo Strikes!

See you then,

~Laurie & the SDR Team