When designing our wildfire resilience games, using realistic information is important, but we don’t just focus on facts. At the heart of our games are stories: families making hard choices, neighbors navigating uncertainty, and communities facing tough tradeoffs.

Through branching narrative, storytelling, and lighthearted role-playing, we help players connect emotionally with the experiences of others. Instead of abstract statistics, players step into the shoes of different households—each with unique challenges, priorities, and constraints. Should a parent pick their kids up early from school during a red flag warning? Should an older adult evacuate early even if they prefer to wait? How do you decide what to take when you are evacuating from someone else's house while pet-sitting? These are not just decisions, these are dilemmas with consequences.

By allowing players to explore these scenarios and trade-offs through character dialogue and branching sequences, we invite empathy. This emotional engagement makes the learning stick. It transforms wildfire preparations from a checklist into something personal and urgent.One player stated while playing "You make me really care about these people, I don't want to give them wrong information."

Complex topics like wildfire and natural hazards aren’t just technical—they’re deeply human. Through story-driven play, we help communities better understand each other, prepare together, and build resilience from the ground up.