Ecosfera Baltica

When the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) approached us with a vision to transform their board game about Baltic Sea conservation into a digital experience, we knew we had something special in our hands. Working alongside marine scientists from HELCOM, we created a web-based version of their Ecosfera Baltica game. The digital game maintains the scientific accuracy and cooperative gameplay of the original while making it accessible to classrooms and families across the Baltic region. The final product was a game that teaches complex ecosystem dynamics through play, showing us that the most effective learning happens when education feels like fun!

The Baltic Sea faces mounting environmental pressure, from eutrophication to habitat loss. HELCOM, the governing body for Baltic Sea protection, regularly conducts holistic assessments to understand how human activities impact this unique ecosystem. While HELCOM had the scientific knowledge, they faced another type of challenge: how to translate incredibly complex marine science into something the general public could understand and care about?

"We were struggling with how to convey this, and how we generally share this information with the general public – the people who don't naturally care about the sea or don't know anything about it," explains Jannica Kaldin, Special Advisor at HELCOM.

The answer came through gaming. Working with Julibert Games, HELCOM had already created a physical board game that simplified the Baltic Sea's 5,000+ species into 60 representative ones, showing how elements, producers, and animals interconnect to create healthy habitats. But physical distribution tends to be limited, especially for reaching schools across multiple countries. 

This is where Reaktor came in.

Building a digital game in three months was an ambitious goal our team was keen to take on. The key was choosing the right technology stack. We decided to work with web technologies, which usually isn’t the obvious choice for gaming, but in this case, perfect for HELCOM's needs. 

Our secret weapon was implementing a state machine architecture, typically used in game engines but rare in web development. This choice helped us separate the game's visuals from its logic, decoupling the two parts of the system and making it much easier to test.

The development process was intensely collaborative, with bi-weekly play sessions that shaped the game week by week. We started with basic colored shapes on screen and gradually added rules, graphics, and polish. Each week brought new rules and graphics, with clear progress that proved invaluable for both client engagement and team morale.

One of our biggest realizations came during the first internal playtest. The team quickly realized they needed to shift focus toward how the game feels like to play. Every action needs to have a visible impact, and the experience should feel genuinely engaging.

We invested heavily in animations, visual feedback, and the tactile feel of moving cards around the screen. The payoff was immediate – players could gather around a tablet or project the game onto a classroom screen, creating shared experiences that sparked discussion.

The game works beautifully for both intimate family settings and larger classroom environments. For kids especially, seeing the animals and learning their Latin names while understanding how the Baltic ecosystem works together creates a compelling learning experience.

This project was extra special as it far transcended simply building great technology. Ecosfera Baltica changes players’ understanding of their environment and helps people discover the linkages between all the elements. The goal is for folks to start seeing nature as an interconnected system rather than isolated pieces.

The cooperative gameplay mirrors real-world environmental challenges. The cooperative mechanics reflect how environmental work requires collaboration – environmental problems don't recognize borders, so solutions require teamwork across sectors and countries.

Our digital version also added unexpected benefits. Unlike physical board games where players can bend rules, the digital version enforces proper gameplay automatically. If the rules don't allow a move, players simply can't make it. This proves particularly helpful for teachers who don't need to spend time figuring out whether certain actions are allowed.

“For Reaktor, the development of the online version of Ecosfera Baltica has been both rewarding and exploratory. Saving the Baltic Sea is a mission we strongly support as a company, and it was inspiring for our team to figure out how to bring the board game experience online,” Pauliina Luhtanen, SVP for Gaming at Reaktor.