The game from Accra deals with the environmental burdens of garbage and pollution. As space commander Klinu, the player has to defeat a monster made of e-waste.
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Diversity in a Nutshell in Ghana’s Capital City
The City of Accra represents Ghana in a nutshell with all its diversity. People come together here to do business and live life – which can be unpredictable at times: You go to work in the morning and you don’t know what will happen. Anything is possible in Accra. With more and more people moving to the city, challenges evolve – especially for the environment. The main problem that also represents the basis of the location-based game “The Chronicles of Klinu” is sanitation – through the game, the Enter Africa Team Accra wants to find solutions for the problem of poor hygiene resulting from waste and pollution. Their motivation: To realize the vision of a cleaner future for Ghana by using games.
The Locations
The game takes the player to five different locations in Accra. One gets to know the busy market place Kaneshie, Newtown and Adabraka as well as Osu, the “Las Vegas” of Accra. The most important place in the game is the area around Agbogbloshie – a former wetland, which has gained notoriety as the home to Africa’s largest electronic waste dumping site. It is considered one of the dirtiest places in the world.
The Story
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The game is set in a utopian version of Accra – far advanced in technology. The player embodies Klinu, a space commander who works for a cooperation that is responsible for sanitation. However, the company made a mistake in the disposal of hardware and electronic waste. They dumped it without care. As a result, a monster by the name “Lera” emerged out of the old electronics like a transformer - and killed the commander’s wife. So, the player has to go to the dumping site Agbogbloshie to defeat the monster through solving different tasks. But before solving the problem – the player gains knowledge about it. For example, you learn about the toxic fumes that are released when wires are burned on the dumping site to extract copper. Out of the metals, one has to create a kind of weapon to fight the monster – bringing in the idea of recycling.
Characters and Symbols refer to Ghana’s Culture
Almost every character, name or symbol in the game is an allusion to Ghana’s culture, lifestyle or contemporary topics. For example, the cooperation, which the commander works for, has similarities with the environmental sanitation company Zoomlion. Besides, Klinu is accompanied by an Artificial Intelligence called Aya – short for Asaase Yaa, meaning “Mother Earth” in one of the local languages. So, it’s like the Universe is guiding Klinu while he defeats the monster. The name of the monster “Lera” is derived from Cholera. Besides, the commander is dressed like a traditional Ghanaian prince with a war horn symbol on the chest – so, symbolism can be found throughout the game.
Why Should I Play “The Chronicles of Klinu”?
Although the story may be a bit scary, it also evolves around love and curiosity. The Accra Team wants the players to feel what Agbogbloshie really is like – because it is only when you know the problem that you can come up with solutions. There is a plot twist towards the end of the game – but this will be left for the players to discover themselves. Are you brave enough to play the game?
Prince Andrew Ardayfio is an entrepreneur, writer, filmmaker and photographer from Accra, Ghana. He is co-founder of the company Gamer Television focusing on the Gaming Industry and E-Sports in Ghana. Games have been part of his life. “I view every challenge as a game. That’s why I am here”, he said about his motivation to join Enter Africa. Read more about Prince’s thoughts on Games for Change in an article he published in September 2018 entitled How We Can Use Games To Save Accra.
The team from accra
Elorm Kwesi Honu (Co-Founder of Gamer TV, Entrepreneur), Matthew Hamson (Entrepreneur, Tech Enthusisast, Co-Founder of Stein Cooperation), Paul Ziem (CEO of NerdCore), David Saah (Student, Illustrator, Animator), Makafui Louis (National Service Personnel), Sarah Armah Dede Tagoe (Student), Selom Kudje (Student, Artist), Daniel Sarpong (Digital Marketer), Michael Ekow Quain (Student), Julius Akuffo (Student, Debates)
