Australia's climate crisis inspired an indie game about a doomed island

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Australia's climate crisis inspired an indie game about a doomed island

Australia's record-breaking heat wave has been marred by wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and blanketed the sky in smoke. For Melbourne-based developer Max Myers, the wildfires have left a deep imprint on his mind. It is one of the threats facing the island in his climate disaster game, "soon, only the ocean," which he developed.

Myers has been working on [soon, only the ocean] since late last year in response to what he sees as the inaction of the Australian government on climate change. Players will be stuck on a dying island that is being swallowed by the ocean and ravaged by fire and smoke.

"It is an expiring island. All that is left for the players is a small patch of land overgrown with dead trees." Unfortunately, the end is inevitable, but players can at least take care of it before there is nothing left. They can clean up trash, collect weather data, and catalog wildlife.

"Ultimately, the island is doomed, and no one person can save it, but they can help right it in a small way by taking care of it while it's still here," Myers says. I want people to witness, in a small way, something that is going to happen in a thousand little ways all over the world."

The game is fatalistic, but Myers doesn't want to dishearten. He says, "The climate change I wanted to present is not something we can fight on our own, it's not something we can fight on our own. What matters now is how we deal with this mess and clean up after it."

He hopes the film will help remind people of the crisis and bring attention to Australia's crisis, not just the current bushfires. There are a number of people who have called Australia "the canary in the coal mine of climate change.

Myers plans to donate all proceeds from [Soon Only the Sea] to climate change charities. In the meantime, donations can be sent to the Red Cross, the Country Fire Authority, the NSW Rural Fire Service, and the Fire Relief Fund for Indigenous Communities to help bushfire victims and firefighters.

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