ParcelCity
The City of Goods Transportation
“ParcelCity” is a multifunctional serious game that interactively simulates the role of a future logistics dispatcher. By combining strategic decision-making under time pressure, overcoming unforeseen challenges, and applying social skills, it offers an in-depth learning experience. This game is ideal for career guidance, nurturing young talent, professional development, and as a marketing tool. It provides a comprehensive insight into the complexity and dynamics of tomorrow’s logistics industry.
Awards
Client
Planzer Parcel
a subsidiary of
Planzer Transport AG
in cooperation with
ZHAW (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Sauter-Servaes)
Contractor
Fiberjungle AG
Background
The role of the transportation scheduler is currently undergoing a significant transformation due to digital transformation. Traditional planning methods, such as paper-based scheduling, are increasingly being replaced by algorithms and AI. This technological development is leading to a shift in the required skills: Instead of planning skills, which were once the focus, social skills, empathy, and rapid decision-making are becoming increasingly important.
Our task was to introduce young people who were unfamiliar with the field to the profession of tomorrow’s logistics planner in an entertaining way. In addition, the requirement was that our application be usable in a later phase for both marketing and internal training and recruitment purposes.
Our Solution
We present a serious game designed as an innovative educational solution that addresses the challenges facing the logistics industry of the future. Through realistic simulations, the game offers the opportunity to delve deeply into the world of modern logistics while developing essential skills for an AI-driven future. With its strong focus on engaging and hands-on learning, it stands out for its dynamic, interactive, and comprehensive learning experience that far surpasses traditional learning methods.
The game’s modular design allows its content to be customized to meet the specific needs and interests of users. As a result, our serious game is ideally suited for use in vocational training as well as in the fields of marketing, continuing education, and recruitment.
Game Mechanics
Our game simulates a dispatcher’s workweek in the future, with the complexity and difficulty increasing each day. This progressive approach ensures a steady learning curve throughout the game. In close collaboration with our client, “Planzer Paket,” we have integrated a variety of case studies to bring to life the most important tasks and interpersonal skills a dispatcher needs when interacting with drivers and customers.
Players must respond quickly to calls and make decisions during the conversation that affect the course of the game. AI-generated voices give the conversations a lively and emotional quality.
It is crucial to quickly process incoming reports and respond appropriately. This includes promptly forwarding positive customer feedback to drivers to boost their motivation, as well as identifying and deleting spam emails.
Another important aspect of the game is break management. Players must plan carefully when and where drivers take breaks to prevent fatigue and keep customer satisfaction high.
Spontaneous missions add to the excitement of the game. They require players to skillfully assign vehicles while taking their capacities into account, which can earn players additional rewards.
In multiplayer mode, a live leaderboard adds an extra layer of motivation and competition among players.
Worth noting in particular
Sense of accomplishment
Players are motivated by a high level of interactivity and immediate feedback. Their achievements are easily recognizable thanks to the scoring system, rewards, and real-time leaderboard. These elements foster a drive to constantly improve.
Experiential Learning
The learning methodology is based on reflective processes and experiential learning. Players can experiment in realistic scenarios, which makes it easier to apply what they’ve learned to real-life situations. Repeated practice reinforces what has been learned, which underscores the game’s educational value and makes it an effective learning tool.
Modular Design
The modular structure of the content and logic allows for flexible adaptation to different target audiences. By combining different modules, specific learning experiences can be created—whether for young people new to the subject who are learning basic concepts in a playful way, or for experts seeking deeper insights into specific aspects of the dispatcher profession.
Implementation
For the design, we opted for a futuristic look in shades of blue that reflects technology and innovation. While the homepage incorporates the “Planzer Paket” brand colors, the game’s color scheme transports players into its own fascinating world.
From a technical standpoint, we combine classic HTML5 web technology with interactive 3D rendering using WebGL/WebGPU. The responsive backend, built on PHP, interacts seamlessly with the frontend via a JSON API, enabling a smooth gaming experience.
The web game is specifically designed for tablets and desktop computers to provide the best gaming experience; a notice regarding optimal use appears automatically on smartphones. Given the game’s intended use cases, all relevant data is downloaded at the start, ensuring that a potential network interruption during gameplay does not affect the gaming experience. The game periodically saves your current progress, allowing you to resume later.
Conclusion
Since the first internal testing phase at Planzer, the simulation game “ParcelCity” has consistently exceeded expectations, particularly due to its well-designed and realistic presentation. Since fall 2023, the game has enjoyed great success in its application at ZHAW workshops, where it is used as part of the Transportation Systems degree program at schools.
Additional modules are currently under development and are intended for use at trade shows as well as for recruitment purposes in the future. This also includes a multilingual version.