behind the scenes

Pula & Roots – Finding New Paths to Nourishment

Pula & Roots is a game set in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa (a coastal province and the second largest in the country). The game was created by a passionate and diverse South African team consisting of Aiden Africa, Danielle Albertyn, Kamo Makhoba and Nompumelelo Manyathi.

This interactive fiction game explores real-world climate challenges faced by small-holding farmers. Pula & Roots is a text-based narrative game where the player takes on the character of Pula, who has returned to her grandmother’s farm. The once productive small farm is now dry and nearly barren. Pula’s name means ‘rain’ in Sestwana (an indigenous South African language), as she was born just before the first spring rains. With her birth, her family planted a Umtiza tree, which would grow with her and remind her of her roots at the farm. But the rains have shifted and changed, and so too must the way of farming. Pula decides to help rejuvenate the farm.

The Pula & Root team planning out the structure of the narrative choices

The Umtiza tree is a rare and endangered. It can only be found in the Eastern Cape and has strong cultural and spiritual significance. For this reason, it was chosen as the visual representative for this game to show the important connection, intergenerational learning, and the power of community. The tree is also used to illustrate mankind’s symbiotic relationship with nature. It serves as a commentary on how people are intertwined with the earth and how the destruction of the tree is the destruction of people. Nompumelelo (the game coder) says it was important to give the character an African name to ground the story and game in the African context. This was a major consideration throughout the entire game development process, including the art, music, and so much more.

“Our main intention was to emphasize how choices influence consequences,” says Danielle, who was in charge of the game storytelling. “There are multiple endings that vary in the degree of how well off the main character and her family are based on player choices. Some choices may result in no improvement in living conditions and the implication that the main character continues to struggle, while others see improvement and upliftment”. The inclusion of the Umtiza as Pula’s birth tree represents how the player is doing at different points in the game. “Instead of using a points system to track progress, we chose to use the tree as a visual signifier for the health of the community and land,” adds Danielle.

An example of the game’s rich artwork

The very unique and location specificity of this game is indicative of the inclusion of the Global South in climate change and climate justice discussions. Kamo handled the game design. She says the exclusion of the Global South in climate justice discussions overlooks the disproportionate impact these regions face and the valuable indigenous knowledge they offer for sustainable solutions. “I learned that the Global South already contributes to the positive change, and we aren’t the ones actively destroying our climate”. Nompumelelo strongly agrees with this, “It’s absolutely imperative that the Global South is front and centre of the climate justice conversation because we are the ones who contribute the least to climate change but bear the most consequences of it”.

An screenshot from Pula & Roots

Despite the game already having multiple endings, Danielle still sees more options for future development, “I would like to map out more endings and introduce a few extra options for players to take, but visual novel style games take quite long to make as the art and text really take centre stage. I would really like to flesh out those plans more and really craft the visual and aesthetic portions of this game”. Kamo is keen to make the game more accessible and easy to play, “Maybe convert it to a point-and-click game to have fewer words and for players to be more immersive in the experience, or turn it into a top-down pixel game. We would have to change engines and develop the characters a bit more while focusing on the technical side of the game”.

Pula & Roots is a communal game that cannot be won by an individual. This is a key feature that the team wants to be a future learning. “I want to see it used in schools, to teach about choices and farming,” explains Kamo, “I want more people from the global North to know about it so they understand what the everyday rural South African experiences daily regarding climate change”.

You can play Pula & Root in your browser here.