Manitoba-developed game Vaccine Quest uses Indigenous culture to inform about vaccines

A new adventure awaits gamers in Vaccine Quest, a new video game in which a young person gets past obstacles to obtain a vaccine and bring it back to their elders.

"People will come away feeling like, 'Oh, I feel like I've learned more about the vaccines,' or 'I feel like my decision to get vaccinated is, you know, validated,'" said Roxanne Balan, the project manager at Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, a lobby group that represents 26 First Nations in northern Manitoba.

Vaccine Quest, which officially launched on April 12, focuses on making vaccines easier to understand through the use of a video game adventure with themes like family and togetherness.

The player character goes through multiple levels, fighting enemies like mosquitoes and deadly gas clouds, before achieving the final objective of finding a vaccine that will help their elders.

The game has a significant Indigenous focus, as all the characters are based off cultural teachings such as love, trust and courage.

"They all have been built on the teachings, as well as the Cree, the Dene language," Balan said. "You can hear that throughout the game as well."

Project Whitecard, a video game development company based in Winnipeg, was part of the project.

It was "an incredible honour to be trusted by [the] Indigenous community," said Khal Shariff, CEO of Project Whitecard. "To respect their culture and to bring their message within their own community to their community."

The creation of Vaccine Quest came following community engagement sessions. MKO travelled to Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Fox Lake Cree Nation and War Lake First Nation to ask members what they'd like to learn more about when it comes to vaccines.

After those sessions, MKO decided to take a different approach to vaccination education.

"Do we really want to create another binder toolkit that will probably just sit and collect dust, that no one's really going to take the time to read?" Balan said.

"We thought, 'OK, well, what about if we turn it into a game that people can actually play?'"

MKO reached out to Project Whitecard and development of Vaccine Quest started.

MKO members provided the voices of several of the game's characters. Dr. Barry Lavallee provided the voice of Sabe, who teaches honesty.

Vaccine Quest had a five-week development timeline, Shariff said, and the team just met it.

"We finished the game this morning and it launched at noon," he said during the launch.

The game is available online at mkonorth.projectwhitecard.com for anyone to check out and, possibly, take something away from it, Balan said.

"We want kids and even parents to be able to have access to this game, so that they can check for themselves," she said.

"I'm pretty confident that this is going to be a tool for everyone and anyone."