Coral Song

You begin your journey as a young Marine Biologist, brought onto a decommissioned oil rig to build a thriving and diverse marine ecosystem. The goal of your research is to see if the site of the oil rig, post fossil fuel, is able to rejuvenate coral reefs, which have suffered under the rising temperatures due to global warming. Using contemporary scientific methods, you encounter a landscape of various actors who are affecting your research, as you try to facilitate collaborative survival within a multi-species landscape.

Video Trailer here.

TLDR: 

Play as a Marine Biologist in this Coral nursery sim :

• Support the growth of a diverse self-sufficient ecosystem
• Simple controls, just move your diver (WASD/Arrow keys), other actions are performed automatically when in range
• Manage 3 main systems: clear out trash, attract corals with the speaker, chase away fish,

Description

Coral Song is a coral reef growing simulator that takes its inspiration from contemporary debates around the afterlife of decommissioned offshore oil rigs. In imagining a world after fossil fuels, what happens to the tools of extraction? The estimated 12000 offshore oil and gas rigs in the world currently present a conundrum of waste material management. But despite the extractive violence performed through the oil rig, most oil rig sites have been hosts to biodiverse ecosystems by being a substrate for coral reef development. With studies showing rigs in California supporting the preservation of slow-growing rockfish from commercial over fishing. A site shrouded in complexities from its function as a tool by the oil and gas industry, an economic lifeline for marginalized communities, and location for the growth of underwater biodiversity. 

Through the mask of a casual simulator, Coral Song hopes to highlight the complexities that exist from the varying actors in determining the future of decommissioned offshore oil rigs.

Inspiration (use of theme)

On the deliberation of this year’s theme, we took a page from Anna Tsing’s seminal Mushroom at the End of the World, which asks the questions - What manages to live in the ruins we have made? What are the prerequisites for continuing life on earth? What from the present are stepping stones to the future? Guided by the terms reparation, remediation, and repair, we researched and pondered about current discourses surrounding the industry of oil and gas. It led us to the questions - What would happen to an oil rig after the end of fossil fuels? With its initial contribution to ecological harm, how does the site of an oil rig facilitate repair of the ecosystem that it exists within. The complexities around the oil rig with its relation to ecological harm, whilst simultaneously contributing to the preservation of ecological diversity was such a fascinating contrast. With the various disagreements that stretch from marine biologists to environmental groups, to its relation with big oil and marginalized communities brought to light a complexity of reality rather than a dichotomy of positions. Through a casual coral reef grow simulator, where opposition stems from environmental groups, and corporate interest, engages the theme of “Change the story”, whereby the “story” and narrative of an oil rig through an ecological lens has “changed”. 

References

https://geographical.co.uk/science-environment/cost-scrapping-worlds-ageing-oil-and-gas-rigs

https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-leave-old-oil-rigs-in-the-sea-and-why-we-dont-145587

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/oil-rig-decommissioning-end-of-life

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/04/decommissioning-oil-and-gas-platforms/

Members

• TylerIsland (Art) - https://tylerisland.itch.io/
• sweeyee3 (Tech art) - https://sweeyee3.itch.io/
• zivankira (Programming) - https://zivankira.itch.io/
• k1nc (Audio, Narrative) - https://k1nc.itch.io/

Created for Climate Jam 2024