A Better Tomorrow Kids

A Better Tomorrow Kids is a sustainability learning platform for primary school children in the Netherlands, developed by companies from the Brainport Region. Enversed Studios was tasked with building an educational browser game to teach kids aged 8–12 about waste sorting and recycling, as part of a broader curriculum covering sustainability topics like water and energy.

The game needed to run on desktop and tablet (no mobile), and had to integrate seamlessly with the ABTK learning platform via iframe embedding. Communication between the game and the parent platform was handled through the postMessage API, allowing the platform to send and receive progress data from the game.

The game is built in PlayCanvas around a central GameManager that tracks all game state and coordinates communication between the different parts of the game. Three screens (onboarding, background, and game) are swapped in and out by GameManager, keeping the flow simple and predictable.

The shooting mechanic is driven by two inputs: drag to set the angle, hold to charge power. Rather than using a physics engine, flight paths are hand-crafted with sequential tweens: a horizontal tween with sine easing combined with a two-part Y tween that arcs up then falls, producing a convincing parabola. Shot strength also determines which of three depth layers the projectile lands in, creating a parallax effect that adds spatial depth to the 2D scene.

Difficulty scales by level: each level expands the set of trash categories (3 in level 1, up to 10 in level 3), with more container types and wider spacing in 3D space making shots harder to judge. This let the ABTK platform assign levels based on a child's age and skill.

Integration with the learning platform is handled via postMessage. The game signals readiness on init and sends player score data on exit. Player identity and highscore are injected by the parent platform before onboarding renders.

The 2D artwork was created by a colleague at Enversed Studios; my role was purely game development.

A browser-based educational game built in PlayCanvas where players use a catapult to shoot trash items into the correct recycling containers. The game features multiple difficulty levels, 2D visuals in a 3D space, and full integration with the ABTK learning platform via iframe and postMessage. Playable on desktop and tablet.

The game is live and actively used in primary schools across the Netherlands as part of the ABTK sustainability curriculum.

What made this project stand out was knowing the end result would have a real, positive impact. Building a tool that's actively used in classrooms to teach kids about sustainability, something that actually matters environmentally, made it more than just a technical deliverable. It's one of those projects where the purpose behind the work gives it extra meaning.