On the photo – Contributors: Nigel A. Franks (Snowed In Studios), Elliot Stevens (VOLTA), Chuck Byas (Liquid Development), Christian Rossi (Sankari Studios) & Caroline Calaway (Calaway Consulting).
VOLTA had the privilege of joining a panel at XDS 2025. It was hosted by Caroline Calaway of Calaway Consulting and Christian Rossi from Sankari Studios to discuss our collaboration on Katoa alongside our friends from Snowed In Studios and Liquid Development.
Katoa was created by industry veterans looking to develop a game that makes a real impact on the environment where your actions while playing this environmental stewardship game trigger real-world donations to environmental NGOs.
When this project landed on our desks in 2021 through Snowed In’s request for support, we were immediately invested. A video game designed to protect the planet? That’s something we deeply believe in.
“I’m so grateful we got to work with a team so devoted to the health of our oceans, our planet, and the fauna and flora than inhabit them.” said Sara, Art Director at VOLTA. “We spent a lot of time researching each species when creating the vast variety of sea creatures present in the game – keeping focus on the intricacies of their anatomy to ensure a realistic representation, while staying faithful to the inviting, colorful look of the game. We aimed to create characters that the player can relate and cheer for, full of life and personality – without forgetting that they represent a fauna that is facing real issues.”
“We wanted this world to feel alive and inspire a need to protect it.”
Our main artist for Katoa grew up in Indonesia surrounded by the ocean, where diving and interacting with the fauna in the ocean became one of his favourite activities to do. This meant he brought both personal passion and professional experience drawing animals in scientific illustrations to the project.
With a background as an illustrator for National Geographic Indonesia he saw Katoa as the perfect opportunity to unite his love for art and conservation, creating visuals that are both beautiful and meaningful. It was especially important for him to imbue his art with the purpose of protecting the ocean, while introducing the fauna in a friendly and fun way to players!
One perfect example is the game “monsters”. The team took special care when designing them to infuse their tar-like bodies with recognizable pieces of trash, commonly found polluting our beaches and oceans. We hoped implementing these day-to-day items would make the players conscientious of limiting their use and remind them to dispose of waste responsibly.
Together with our partners at Snowed In and Liquid Development, we are proud of the visually stunning, emotionally resonant, and purpose-driven experience we created. Proof that games can be a powerful force for environmental change.
