CityZen: Award-Winning Civil Engineering Simulation Game 

Overview

CityZen is a multi award-winning* educational city-building game created for the Institution of Civil Engineers to inspire young people to explore careers in civil engineering. Deployed in secondary schools across the UK, the game has helped boost awareness of the profession by giving students a hands-on way to explore the kinds of decisions civil engineers face. My role focused on the 2D visual design of the game, creating the user interface, on-screen graphics and supporting visual assets that helped bring clarity, personality and polish to the player experience.

*Awards: Bett Awards Winner 2024 and Learning Technologies Awards, Gold 2024.

The challenge

The game asked players to manage a virtual city while balancing budget, sustainability, stakeholder needs and long-term impact, so the interface needed to communicate a lot of information clearly without overwhelming the player. My challenge was to create a 2D visual system that felt approachable, colourful and easy to navigate for a younger audience, while supporting the game’s more strategic and educational content.

I designed the interface elements, icons, information panels and other on-screen assets to work seamlessly with the 3D environment, helping players understand the consequences of their choices and move confidently through the game. The visual language needed to strike a balance between playful and informative, making the experience feel polished, engaging and accessible without losing the complexity of the subject matter. You can read all about the project here.

My role

• UI Design

• Visual Design

• Graphics Production