Barley growing video game launched

Do you have what it takes to run a barley farm? Test your skills by playing a new game on your smartphone.

The Barley and Me game was developed by the James Hutton Institute in conjunction with students at Abertay University.

Barley and Me is a decision-based game where the goal is to produce the most barley. Players choose a number of inputs with varying complexity, flipping tiles to see barley growth. Players can answer trivia questions for bonus points. The more barley you grow, the more you can upgrade and customise your farm.

Dr Kenneth Loades, research leader at the James Hutton Institute, said: "The games highlight the impacts of farm management on profit, production and the environment. Player choices are combined with 10 years of historical weather data from the James Hutton Institute site in Dundee with results highlighting the good and the bad.

"A successful year means they can improve the farm, harm the environment though and things will start going downhill. The results are not just made up – they’ve been calculated using the decision support tool for agriculture, which is used by educators, researchers, policy and decision makers in over 100 countries for simulating the growth of over 28 crops."

Barley and Me was developed by students on Abertay University’s Professional Masters in Games Development, a 12-month course focused on training the next generation of game developers through projects with real-world clients.

Brett Murray, producer of Barley and Me, said: "I think video games are a perfect platform for teaching people of all ages about science. Much like science, games are played by making decisions within a set of rules – a player cannot make progress without having a good understanding of the rules."

So far the game has been demonstrated at LEAF Open Farm Sunday, held in Invergowrie in June, and also at The Royal Highland Show. Barley and Me is now however available for everyone with an Android device, just go to Google play and search for ‘Barley and Me’.