The environmental association Biosfera Cabo Verde is challenging young people to learn about the archipelago’s species and habitats through a mobile game that has been downloaded over a thousand times in just a few weeks.
“With this game, we want people to get to know more about species, habitats and the importance that this great heritage of ours has for all inhabitnts, not only for now but also for the future. We created this game appealing to people to play in a fun way and win very interesting prizes, getting to know more about what we have”, explained the president of Biosfera Cabo Verde, Tommy Melo.
The game “Species Collector” was developed in the country and offers prizes to the best players, from international trips to digital materials and data, in an interaction that allows the discovery of species, some common to all Cabo Verde islands or endemic to certain regions.
“We have seven species that are common to all the islands and three more species that are specific to each island. The game has a very important and fun part which is to exchange species between the islands. It is a component so that young people from different islands can interact with each other and it will give some connection between young people,” he added.
Aiming to allow the exploration, through augmented reality, of the natural habitat of species, the game allows collecting “Species-Cards” of local biodiversity, similar to the popular game Pokémon.
The “Species Collector” started to be made available by Biosfera Cabo Verde, from the island of São Vicente, in December 2022, but only from January went into full technical operation.
One of the initial problems of the application was the geographical positioning of GPS in Cabo Verde, where certain locations and beaches appear on some maps with wrong names.
“We thought that we would not have this problem, but we still have some fine-tuning details of the GPS coordinates in Cabo Verde. Obviously the game uses these coordinates, so it came to cause some constraints. For example, Praia de Saragarça, here in Sao Vicente, appears as Sandy Beach, and this does not only happen here because, in some parts of Cabo Verde, some place names have been swapped, said the person responsible.
“This has caused some problems that we only realised when the game started being played,” he added.
In just a few weeks, the game has had a repercussion considered by the president of the association as “quite a big one”, allowing young people to come into contact with the archipelago’s biodiversity.
“We are also very much questioned for making a game that compels people to have to go out and search in different areas. The game is not only made with the intention of making people understand a little more about their natural surroundings, their species and habitats but also to drive cooperation, to work together, to be closer to nature as a family. So, we think it’s something pleasant”, Tommy Melo concluded.
