What if, rather than a thesis, years of study paved the way for the creation of a game? This is the story of researcher Jonas Teixeira who, at the end of his PhD in the Graduate Program in Agricultural Microbiology, presented a board game. “Colony”, named after the action of microorganisms, was developed to popularize and spread knowledge about fermented foods, the main object of study at the Fermented Products Microbiology Laboratory (FERMICRO), coordinated by Professor José Guilherme Prado Martin, in a playful and engaging way. Presented at Jonas’ thesis defense, the game continues to be a highlight in the laboratory, which has had a project approved by Fapemig to produce and distribute the product.

“This whole process was a great gift for me. I came from a very different area, a much harder science, and I learned a lot while we were developing the game,” says Jonas, who until then carried out research involving viruses and even started his doctorate with them in mind. “I did my master’s degree at PPGMBA and started my doctorate afterwards. But in the middle of this process, I went to work with Professor Guilherme, who proposed the game to me and we developed everything from there.”

The methodology chosen by the researchers to create the game was also new to the PPG. Design Science Research, used by scientists in various fields, involves several stages in the development of an idea, starting with prospecting. “It’s a first stage, raising awareness of the problem, identifying the key points that you need to be clear about before starting a project to develop the artifact itself, which is the final product,” explains Jonas. At this stage, the group identified the aims and objectives of the game, based on three pillars: fun, popularization and learning. “And for this, we consulted experts. It wasn’t just a matter of intuition. We consulted on the most sensitive topics in the field, on what was difficult to work with in the classroom, and on how to apply the game in practice. I interviewed some professors in nutrition, food engineering and microbiology. At the same time, I also consulted experts in the games industry.”

With this information, Jonas then started to create the game itself, whose main attraction is the possibility of tasting. “This is what makes it different from a conventional board game. At some point, the players will be urged to experiment, to taste, because the idea is precisely to popularize these foods, to encourage consumption,” says the supervising professor, Guilherme Martin. The final model of the game, as presented to the doctoral committee, came after three evaluation cycles, in which the researchers reviewed, among other characteristics, usability, playability, learning and adaptation to taste.

The game
Colony is a competitive, multiplayer game (from two to six people), with a modular board whose pieces symbolize different environments (raw materials) to be colonized. The players play the roles of microorganisms, and the board is assembled (by them) as they colonize new territories. Their choices are affected by the individual characteristics of each environment, their interaction with other players and the “event cards”, which can make the colonizers’ race easier or more difficult. The game is won by whoever conquers three territories that make contact with each other. “In microbiology, a colony is formed from the reproduction of microorganisms; little by little, this population increases until it becomes visible to the human eye. That’s the analogy we wanted to make,” explains Jonas.

The funds for the next stage of the work, in which the games will be produced, were obtained via Fapemig, through a call for proposals to support actions to disseminate science, technology and innovation. The project involves the production of 50 units of the game, including the inoculums for food production, distribution and dissemination of the product on the internet. “These games will be distributed to schools, gaming establishments and people who are involved in fermentation and who can give this idea greater visibility. We hope it can help popularize and increase the consumption of fermented foods in Brazil,” says Guilherme.