The Brief

We were asked by Merck to create Minecraft maps for both the Bedrock Marketplace and Education Edition which introduce players to all the naturally occurring elements in the Periodic Table.

The Build

Minecraft already contains gold, iron and copper - so why not the 100+ other elements of the periodic table? We created a scavenger-hunt style game, where players explore a vast world to discover and collect these elements from the environments they occur in.

Not only can each element be found in a zone that reflects their respective natural environments, they also have similar properties to the real elements – better wear protective equipment before handling Chlorine! Back at the science lab, players see the fruits of their labor visualized, amassing the collection of found elements, unlocking sections of the lab by doing so, and being rewarded with special tools to help with their search as the rarer elements become more challenging to find. It all adds up to turning screen time into learning time, and ultimately to spark inspiration in budding scientists. 

The Result

Periodic Odyssey has been downloaded over 1.75 million times through the Minecraft Marketplace, and the educational version has been used in hundreds of schools. The Association of Science Educators awarded the project their Green Tick certification, praising the extensive background research and demonstrable educational quality of the project.

The project generated over 223,000 impressions through influencer partners, and social campaigns generated over 60 million impressions globally within the first 12 weeks.