Post Games This Game Won’t Save the World*
Apr 28, 2026
Friedrich Kirschner, founder and creative director of Three More Years who makes games about climate futures. He discusses a mini golf project that channels grief and agency. The conversation traces how poetry, theatre, and gig‑economy worldbuilding shape design. They explain structure, tone, and why small playful rituals can carry big, uneasy visions.
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Rejecting Solutionist Climate Stories
- Three More Years avoids solutionist climate narratives and instead focuses on living with loss and feeling complex emotions.
- Friedrich frames the studio's pillar as resisting tidy techno-utopian fixes and refusing scenarios that imagine genocide or clean-slates.
Park Arson Sparked The Game's Heart
- Maria describes Mini Mini Golf Golf rooted in local activism and a park repeatedly set on fire by real estate interests.
- The game's emotional core grew from community protests, personal memories of the park, and collective organizing against arson.
Mini Golf As Emotional Regulation
- The game intentionally uses mini golf as a familiar, childlike nucleus to manage complicated adult emotions about climate collapse.
- Friedrich and Maria tied simple play (mini golf) to narrative layers so players can regulate feelings before confronting harder futures.