I led a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and public health professionals in a human-centered design sprint to promote trauma-informed care for adolescents and young adults. We began by asking, "How might we ensure young people who've experienced trauma are connected to the care they need to heal and thrive?"
Over the course of two years, we poked and prodded at problems and possibilities, stretching ideas to their very limits. Altogether, this culminated in Thrivopolis, a game and discussion where players take on the roles of youth-supporting professionals tasked with gathering valuable resources for those they support.
Thrivopolis is built on the insights of the many youth-supporting professionals we interviewed in our design research — professionals who consistently highlighted the high degree of collaboration needed when navigating services after trauma, as well as their desire for fun and engaging professional development opportunities.
Besides working with so many others who enthusiastically brought their vast lived and professional experiences to our design playground, one of my favorite things about creating Thrivopolis was imagining a fictional game world that gazes upon humankind’s future.
To this end, I produced eco-futurist game art and wrote a utopian-inspired short description to invite players into this world.
In the wake of the Great Unraveling in the not-so-distant future, a brave few set out to construct a utopian refuge high in the treetops. Born was Thrivopolis, a verdant, gleaming city in the lush embrace of the trees—a true testament to the enduring spirit of humanity.
As a dedicated youth-supporting professional, you are integral to this grand experiment. Your mission is to navigate a social safety net suspended in the canopy, gathering valuable resources to better the lives of those you support.
Along the way, you’ll soon discover eerie echoes of the world that came before.
For the game board, I generated thousands of fantasy-game style map images using artificial intelligence, sliced them into fragments, and (re)assembled them into a unified but ever-changing composition across 49 squares. As the gameplay advances, these squares rotate, flip, and change places so that players can access different parts of the board.
Players begin the game by choosing one of eight characters. While my intent behind creating these characters was to highlight the high degree of collaboration that professionals must engage in to provide care, what truly stood out during prototype testing was the sheer joy players felt embodying these characters. (Some testers even suggested future players show up to the game dressed as Coach Violet, Ms. Ruby, or Officer Blue!)
During the game, players gather resources to better the lives of those they support, moving along the game board's dotted lines. These 18 resources reflect the services and basic needs a young person may require after trauma, along with the "bridges" and "barriers" that sometimes govern access to them. For example, a player might be tasked with gathering a Smartphone, a resource that often governs access to housing waitlists, jobs and gigs, and connections to family and friends.
Event cards reveal changes in the Thrivopolis safety net, altering the game board in challenging — and advantageous — ways.
Using the social determinants of health as our guide, I worked with a co-designer to identify and produce card content for 25 wide-ranging event cards. She led the creation of background content available on a complementary website and I led the creation of card content, such as that pictured above and below.
Thrivopolis is played in two rounds, a competitive round and a collaborative round. After each round, players are invited in a guided discussion to reflect on the gameplay and the labyrinth of programs and services confronting young people and the professionals who support them.
Over the course of the game and discussion, the fictional world of Thrivopolis comes to life, offering professionals the clarity they need on real-world systems to help young people thrive.
