Syndemic was developed in collaboration with the Australian National Univeristy and the Australian Prevention Partnership centre as a way to highlight to people advantages of positive health policies/early intervention strategies and the impacts of government decisions on general population health.
This was achieved through creation of an 'Alien Invasion' scenario. However as opposed to traditional direct attack methods the Alien would subvert and decimate the health of the planet. Players had limited resources in which to enact policies and plans to counter this threat.
“The novel use of an Alien invasion scenario create immediate interest for players.”
Before Lightning Rock's involvement the project had extreme difficulties with player interest in such as dry topic as health policy. Our suggestion for the novel use of an Alien invasion scenario create immediate interest for players.