BYCATCH-22

An educational VR game about fishery bycatch.

Bycatch-22 explores the environmental impacts of bycatch, non-desirable species that are caught as a byproduct of commercial fisheries. Onboard a fishing boat of their own, players are tasked with sorting through growing netfuls of flopping fish, scallops, prawns, and trash, and will need to think and move quickly to return bycatch to the sea in time. 

The experience aims to inspire players to make sustainable seafood choices, avoiding seafood that generates excess bycatch, and to join the consumer movement for sustainability.

Bycatch-22 was developed for the HTC Vive and requires tracked controllers. (It supports SteamVR 2.0 input remapping, so it theoretically should be playable on other SteamVR-supported systems.)

Hotkeys:

• G: Restarts the game (back to tutorial)
• R: Restarts the current level.
• W: Loads the level selection area.
• T: Ends the current level.

Version v. 2.01 Update Notes: (2/4/2020)

• Added a new Longlining Trial stage to show a different fish harvesting method. See if your bycatch ratio differs while playing it!
• Removed some unused in-game UI elements (the strike and target boards)
• Added new trash examples (plastic bottles and soda cans)
• Added extra visual effects (bloom, color grading)
• Updated the ship model based on a real trawling/research vessel. (Let us know if you recognize it!)
• Fixed bug where an incorrect amount of catch and bycatch would be shown after a level.

About:

Bycatch-22 was created by Matthew Grinnell and Peyton Lee through the foundry10 summer internship program. It was inspired by our love for marine science, a passion for game development, and a particularly exciting (and/or traumatic) experience aboard a scientific trawl.