Great Filter: Climate

Ludum Dare 46 

GREAT FILTER: CLIMATE

You run the government, and you rule this planet! Except for industry, of course; there's not much stopping the enterprising fellows who recently discovered this stuff they call "coal," which seems to be quite useful for powering everything. They keep requesting grants to develop more uses for it in the name of science. Sounds great! 

 

Your Funds come from taxes on industry.

Industry powers civilization's growth, but those factories also produce lots of nasty smoke!

Education is key to a great workforce; every field in today's economy requires it! It might take most of your budget at first, but an educated workforce makes for a wealthy society.

Science, while a key driving force behind industrial growth and increasing the world's carrying capacity,  is also fundamental to improving medical and conservation efforts. Scientific progress is cumulative, meaning past progress is still useful even if we have to cut funding sometimes. With enough research, we might just discover something even better than coal…

Healthcare reduces mortality (during crises and in general), which also brings down birth rates, slowing the growing need for energy.

CO2 Capture involves afforestation (planting trees) and carbon capture technologies to reverse global warming.

 

Sounds complicated? Can't make sense of the data? Don't worry, you work in government; you don't need to be an expert to make sure everyone's needs are met!

Why are people dying?

Insufficient Healthcare (duh): Healthcare reduces mortality, but also serves as curbs population growth by lowering birth rates. A crowded planet that has outgrown its carrying capacity will suffer when sea levels rise.

Insufficient Science: Technological stagnation can get ugly. Industry can only provide for so many people; if the population outgrows the world's carrying capacity, competition for resources will arise.

Overspending: Taxes on industry are where your funds comes from, and those taxpayers don't tolerate fiscal incompetence . Blow your budget, and you'll have a violent uprising on your hands!

 

 

Music by So Lush Music

Created for Ludum Dare 46 Jam. Theme: Keep it Alive.

Originally intended to be an overly simplified climate model, this little sim does not represent the multitude of factors contributing to climate change, exaggerates the efficacy of carbon capture, and only accounts for global warming (a win condition usually sees global temps plummeting to dangerously low levels), so take this with a large grain of salt. Also, displaying the hidden variables and math would have aided decision making, but was omitted to not overwhelm the player (and due to time constraints). This was all created within a 72 hour weekend, and parameters were hastily chosen and tweaked to make it "playable."