CHIJ St. Joseph's Convent partners HIDDEN.sg to design interactive game
HIDDEN.sg, an award-winning gaming company on a mission to uncover the city's hidden stories, has teamed up with CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent to self-design an adventure game that helps to educate students about sustainability with a visit to the world-famous Changi Airport.
Through a series of unique puzzles and clues, the HIDDEN.sg adventure game will prompt players to set out on a physical trail to discover various interesting landmarks and artefacts at the airport that highlight the importance of creating a sustainable future.
The interactive element ensures that students are engaged and challenged to find out more about Singapore’s sustainability efforts and how they too can play their part to ensure a greener future.
More students from CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent will test out the game at Changi Airport in October. This is part of the Go Green Singapore initiative led by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment to rally the community to take collective action towards a sustainable future for Singapore.
To play the game, CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent students would use a mobile device with the WhatsApp messaging app installed. They simply send messages to the Void Deck Cat virtual character over WhatsApp and it would return with instructions on where to find a set of clues and solve intriguing puzzles.
Void Deck Cat would ask the students to head to various parts of Changi Airport to solve a riddle or answer a question with clues that are nearby. The game is expected to be completed in an hour or two.
To deepen the engagement with the students, this is the first HIDDEN.sg game to be co-developed with players. Five CHIJ St. Joseph Convent students were mentored by HIDDEN.sg’s game designers to help create puzzles for fellow students to explore the airport and find out about its sustainability efforts.
The latest interactive quest from HIDDEN.sg builds on the company’s earlier success in developing similar games and activities in Singapore.
In November 2023, its popular adventure game was introduced at Changi Airport to enable users to explore the world-famous landmark through digital clues delivered to their phones.
Earlier this year, in April, HIDDEN.sg’s adventure game was a part of a national effort to promote the rich heritage of Singapore’s neighbourhoods. Partnering the National Heritage Board, HIDDEN.sg provided a virtual quest in Katong-Joo Chiat to help launch the Heritage Activation Node (HAN) initiative to uncover the untold stories that make communities special.
Over the years, the company’s unique chatbot-led games have also won multiple awards, including the TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Award for 2023 and 2024.
Since May 2022, more than 30,000 players have signed up for HIDDEN.sg games that help them explore various neighbourhoods in Singapore through a blend of history and fun.
From couples on a date to corporate teams gathered for a fun day out, users have been attracted to HIDDEN.sg’s adventure games by the rich content and interesting combination of the physical and digital worlds.
The latest partnership with an educational institution brings a new dimension to the HIDDEN.sg game, by helping a new generation better understand the challenges and possibilities with sustainability.
“We hope that the students will find the game an interesting way to learn about one of the most important topics of our time,” said Loh Jun Wei, co-founder of HIDDEN.sg.
“Through a more engaging and interactive manner, the young can not only understand the challenges ahead but find inspiration for the change needed to make a real difference with future sustainability efforts,” he added.
“The opportunity for students to design a real game that will be played by their peers, under the guidance of professional game designers, has been both unique and immensely rewarding. Throughout this journey, they have experienced firsthand how they can make a positive impact and inspire others to become stewards of the environment.” said Miss Cheak Ching Hui, teacher of CHIJ St. Joseph's Convent.
