Games company looking to put sustainability first launched in Warwickshire
By James Smith
10th Mar 2024 | Local News
A new games company looking to put sustainability first has been launched by four friends in Warwickshire.
Enviro Games - run by Dan Phillips, Jack Vickery, Chris Hewison and Andy Glover - has looked to make every aspect of production, from design through to packaging, as environmentally friendly as possible.
And after 18 months of development, the team released its first tabletop wargame 'Novus Malum' in December 2023.
"What we are fundamentally striving to do is make games that are exciting, enjoyable and people want to engage with," Dan explained to Nub News.
"But we want to do so in the most sustainable manner.
"We are not pretending here that what we have got is the finished, best way of doing it.
"But it is our first step, in what hopefully will be a much longer journey in which we challenge the status quo of how the industry works."
First Steps
The company first began to take shape in the summer of 2022 when research chemist Dan and war gaming enthusiast Jack were discussing the impact of the industry.
"We were talking about what a game involved, its environmental consequences, and the materials that were used," Dan said.
"Many games come with a lot of packaging, a lot of waste plastic, and we wondered whether it was possible to do things differently; to challenge the industry mindset and drive towards being more sustainable and environmentally-conscious."
From there they began researching possible new materials to make the miniatures with, before realising this would be a huge undertaking for an early-stage start-up with budget constraints.
Putting this on the backburner, they instead started by addressing "unthought about consequences" associated with a wargame from concept, through production and then to distribution.
"We started looking at all the small pieces that are involved in creating a game," Dan added.
"We really looked to build a product from the most sustainable building blocks that could be accessed today.
"Obviously it was our very first chance to do something meaningful, within our budget."
So when Enviro came to produce its first game, it was able to leverage materials and processes with sustainable credits across all aspects of the production - from the miniatures all the way through to the packaging.
Some components come from specialist companies, some are created in-house - but all elements of the process have been thoroughly researched and thought through.
'Novus Malum'
Now available to order, Enviro's first game Novus Malum (A New Evil) was released at the end of 2023.
Set on the fictitious continent of Seldar, the high fantasy, skirmish miniatures wargame features two armies, the Knomes of Knarlwood from the Fallen Kingdom and the Dwarves of Anvil Keep from the Royal Kingdom of Konior.
The game is centred around the Great Shroud - a previously impenetrable boundary which has sealed the Fallen Kingdom in shadow and away from the rest of Seldar for over three millennia – is showing signs of weakening.
"We wanted to create something cool, combining our creative ideas to make a game that people would want to play," Dan explained.
"But we wanted to do so by placing a greater outward focus on sustainability than we think is currently the norm and, in doing so, hopefully make others think about this aspect to a greater extent."
The game was created from scratch, and took inspiration from a variety of sources including films, other games, as well as Norse and Anglo-Saxon history.
The map even features some familiar South Warwickshire place names, including Loxley and Armscote.
"We wanted to apply a ruleset that would be familiar to gamers but with our own twists, to try and offer something a little bit different," Dan added.
"Fundamentally Enviro Games was launched with a view of changing the mindset within the industry, but at the end of the day the games still need to hold water in their own right."
What's Next?
Dad of two Dan said there had already been positive feedback to Novus Malum, and said the company's immediate next steps are to listen to feedback on Novus Malum and the Enviro Games mission before making refinements to the existing product.
From there they will look to release expansion packs, and develop the world of Seldar further. Beyond that, the team are also looking at offerings for the board game and card game enthusiasts.
But for Enviro, it is all about challenging what is possible within the industry.
"I am super proud of where we have got to and all that we have been able to do so far," Dan said.
"It has been about taking something from scratch and building it from first principles.
"What you realise by doing that, is there are so many things you need to learn and do as a small business – from advertising, to supply chains to website and digital footprints and so on.
"So in that sense it has been super eye opening, and I think we have all had to stretch our core skills, challenge our own norms and expand our comfort zones.
"That has been really satisfying.
"We are producing games that hopefully people want to play. We are not changing the world at this point, but we are challenging things and hope this is just the beginning."
To find out more about Enviro Games, visit the website here, visit the Instagram page or even reach out to the team directly on [email protected].
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