Online Santa game tackles drink driving this Christmas

‘Drive Safe Santa’ start screen

An online game to raise awareness about drink driving at Christmas and keep roads safe has been developed by a Manchester Metropolitan University student for North Wales Police.

The game – called ‘Drive Safe Santa’ – invites players to help Santa deliver his presents around the world on Christmas Eve, without getting drunk in his sleigh.

The aim is to collect the milk and cookies that are flying through the air, while avoiding the floating alcoholic drinks. When Santa collides with alcohol, the player loses points and the screen darkens to remind us how alcohol affects everyone’s driving for the worse.

As there are a lot of campaigns about drink driving, my aim was to create something different that stands out to people

- Tasha Wan, Manchester Metropolitan student and creator of 'Drive Safe Santa'

Tasha Wan, who is a third year BSc (Hons) Games Design and Development student at Manchester Metropolitan and comes from North Wales, is the brains behind the game.

Originally from North Wales, Tasha was looking for work experience and the chance to utilise the skills she had picked up on her course, so she got in touch with North Wales Police to share her idea.

Tasha said: “I wanted to find work experience where I had to follow a specific brief and have an end purpose, so I know what to expect from a client when I come out of university.

“As there are a lot of campaigns about drink driving, my aim was to create something different that stands out to people.”

She continued: “I had a really fun time developing the game, as I got to put together skills that I've learnt over the years and learn some new skills as well.

“From the course at Manchester Metropolitan, not only have I learnt how to make the game using Unity [a programme for building games], I learnt how to organise myself and communicate my ideas more clearly. 

“Hopefully, when people play the game they will be learning and realising the dangers of drink driving, especially around Christmas.”

‘Drive Safe Santa’ will support the North Wales Police annual Christmas anti drink and drug drive campaign, emphasising their message to the public to make plans to get home safely without driving if drinking alcohol.

“I'm hoping it will attract more attention to the campaign so that people are interested in finding out more and will want to know how to keep themselves and others safe,” Tasha said.