VdBuijs School

Van den Buijs Installaties wanted a recruitment game for kids at the end of primary school and the start of secondary school, the age when they start thinking about a direction. The goal was to make installation work (ventilation, gas, plumbing, fire safety, energy) feel tangible, and to plant the idea early that it could be their career. It had to work well on phones and desktops.

You play a technician fixing ten problems in a school within one workday, from 8:00 to 16:00, like a gas supply that stopped working in the chemistry lab, leaking taps and fire hazards. For each one you hear the problem, pick a solution (its cost and time are shown up front) and buy any tools you're missing. If you change your mind, the purchase is undone and you get your money back. Your choices add up to one of three technician personalities, which you can email to yourself. On a phone the game fills the screen, and on desktop it sits neatly in the middle instead of stretching. A colleague made the art and content, and I built the game solo.

The game is live at vandenbuijs.nl/game, where anyone can play through a technician's workday on their phone or computer.

The game was well received and is still part of Van den Buijs' recruitment, aimed at students who are considering a technical trade.