Abstract Made Tangible
The University of Lleida (UdL) is a Catalan university known for innovative education and research in fields like agriculture, education, and social sciences. Partnering with the Department of Climate Action of the Government of Catalonia, UdL drives projects that prepare students to tackle real-world sustainability challenges.
- Client: University of Lleida (UdL), with the Department of Climate Action of the Government of Catalonia
- Project: An interactive agricultural simulator for higher education
- Built with: Godot Engine, tested on Itch.io
- Team & timeline: A part-time team of six, over six months
- Status: Live in official coursework and used by students daily
UdL wanted to provide students with a more tangible understanding of how agricultural decisions impact sustainability and climate resilience across various disciplines, including agronomy, veterinary studies, and vocational training.
Starshot turned their rough idea into an interactive simulator where students can experiment, learn, and see results as they go, making climate and farming lessons more hands-on and engaging.
UdL needed an interactive digital simulator to help students explore how farming decisions affect fertilizer use, crop yield, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The project started as a very underdeveloped concept, with scattered ideas from the client and no existing framework. Even so, the university was eager to explore a new, interactive tool that would make lessons more engaging and provide students with a practical, hands-on learning experience.
Starshot handled the project end-to-end, including storytelling, asset and animation design, interface development, testing, and deployment in the client environment.
After evaluating platforms for the best fit with the client’s requirements and budget, the simulator was built using the Godot Engine and tested on Itch.io, with a part-time team of six members, including a project manager, Godot developer, two designers, a DevOps engineer, and a client coordinator, over a six-month period.
The simulator allows students to choose crops, select fertilizer types, track nitrogen fertilizer usage, monitor N₂O emissions, observe crop growth over time, and see final harvest yields. We also added a glossary, calculator, nitrogen cycle diagram, and accessibility features to ensure inclusive learning.
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The simulator is now fully deployed in official coursework and is used by students daily. It gives them a practical, interactive way to understand sustainable farming and climate impact, turning abstract concepts into something they can actually experiment with.
While the tool currently serves a single course, it’s designed to be maintainable and scalable, supporting potential expansion for research programs or other educational initiatives.
- The simulator is fully deployed in official UdL coursework and used by students every day.
- Students choose crops, set fertilizer types, track nitrogen use, and watch N₂O emissions and harvest yields shift with their decisions — turning abstract climate concepts into something they can test directly.
- A built-in glossary, calculator, nitrogen-cycle diagram, and accessibility features keep the tool inclusive and classroom-ready.
- The build is maintainable and scalable, with room to extend it to research programs or other courses.