Game designer Sam Alfred is keenly aware of the challenge he faces in trying to build a video game with climate change at its heart.

Lists of best-selling games are filled with titles pushing destruction and violence rather than constructive engagement with the environment.

Yet “Terra Nil”, a strategy game designed by Alfred and released in March last year, puts players in charge of rebuilding ecosystems — and has since attracted 300,000 players, according to the publisher Devolver Digital.

“I’ve lost count of how many people have dismissed the game or made fun of the game, because of its nature, because it’s a game which is not about shooting people or rampant expansionism,” Alfred said.

“The environment was the focus of the game. The one angle was trying to show players and other game developers and people that it’s possible to build a strategy game without exploitation of the environment.”