- Food Force
"Food Force" is an
Educational game published by theUnited Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in2005 . Due to its content, it is considered aserious game (game with educational purpose). Players take on missions to distribute food in afamine -affected country and to help it to recover and become self-sufficient again. At the same time they learn about hunger in the real world and the WFP's work to prevent it.Gameplay
The game takes place on the fictional island of Sheylan in the
Indian Ocean , which is suffering from bothdrought andcivil war . The player's character is a rookie who has joined a team of UN experts, including anutritionist , alogistics officer, a pilot, an appeals officer, and the director of food purchasing.The game contains six missions:
# Air surveillance: Locating hungry citizens in a helicopter
# Energy pacs: Produce abalanced diet ofrice ,cooking oil ,bean s,sugar andsalt within a budget of only 30 cents per day
# Air drop: drop food supplies in a target zone, while compensating for wind direction
# Locate and dispatch: co-ordinate supplies of purchased and donated food from around the world
# Food run: Lead a food convoy to a depot, dealing with hazards like landmines and roadblocks
# Future farming: Use food aid to help a village develop over 10 years, by investing in it carefully withnutrition training, schooling, "food for work" andHIV/AIDS treatmentMost of the gameplay is arcade oriented, with time-limited sequences. All six missions can be played through in under an hour, though players might replay the individual missions, as their high scores can be uploaded online for worldwide comparison with other players.
Availability
The game is freely downloadable, with versions for the Windows and Macintosh.
Linux users can use Wine to install the Windows version of the game and the Quicktime bundled with the package. Users are encouraged to burn it onto CDs and distribute it to friends. Developed by the British studioPlayerthree and the Italian companyDeepend , the program usesMacromedia for gameplay andQuickTime for video.The "Food Force" website also has lesson plans for teachers, reports on recent WFP work, a high score table and other features.
Other Languages
Since May
2007 , the game is also available in German. Other languages are:
* Chinese
* Finnish
* French
* Hungarian
* Italian
* Japanese
* Norwegian
* PolishExternal links
* [http://www.food-force.com/ "Food Force" official website]
* [http://www.food-force.com/bowl "Food Force - Bowl 2006"]
* [http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Food_Force "Food Force on OLPC"]
* [http://www.friendsofwfp.org Friends of the World Food Program] United States agency helping raise funds and awareness about global hunger
* [http://www.wfp.org World Food Program] UN Agency
* [http://www.picturesfortruth.org "Pictures for truth"] A game for Amnesty International released in 2008
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