How Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge highlights the importance of environmental change
gamesindustry.bizGames can be a great tool to convey important messages, whether plainly or subliminally.
For Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, developer Humble Reeds used the idea of collecting and taming frogs to highlight the importance of ecological biodiversity, and how simple restoration efforts can help save the planet.
GamesIndustry.biz spoke with the studio's co-founders Aurélien Condomines and Mélanie Christin about how they conveyed this environmental message, and what they hope players take away from the cosy frog farming sim.
Kamaeru launched on June 8, 2024, for PC, Switch and Xbox. While the duo initially sold it as a mobile game, they ran into issues with the business model.
"We didn't want to make a free-to-play game where you have to purchase stuff," Condomines says. "So we decided to put it on PC and console first."
"We'd like to [sell on mobile] later on, if we can find a partner that can help us with good marketing because premium mobile games are very hard to sell," Christin adds, highlighting that the touchscreen element works really well with Kamaeru's gameplay.
As for the concept of Kamareu, the pair were inspired by games like Pokémon and Cats & Soup. But the game found its footing from Condomines and Christin's focus on biodiversity and the restoration of nature. Condomines explains that the main inspiration for the game came from Project Drawdown, a non-profit organisation and global resource for climate solutions.
"Because the game has an environmental message, [the main inspiration] was Project Drawdown, which is something that provides pragmatic solutions for fighting against climate change," he says. "One of the solutions is restoring wetlands, so wetlands – frogs. That's how the whole game came together."
Condomines also notes that other farming sims had a major influence during development, particularly Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing.
"That's the kind of audience we get. And people like frogs, obviously. I discovered a big frog-loving audience," he says, with
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