HOW IT WORKS

Steel Porcupine™ is designed to be facilitator-led, structured, and repeatable, while remaining flexible enough to support different teaching styles and cohort sizes.

A typical session follows a clear sequence

1. Scenario Setup

Each simulation begins with a defined scenario that establishes:

Context and background

Roles and responsibilities

Initial conditions and constraints

Time horizon and turn structure

Scenarios are pre-designed to reflect real-world complexity while remaining pedagogically focused. Facilitators do not need to design scenarios themselves.

2. Role Assignment and Briefing

Participants are assigned roles appropriate to the scenario and cohort size.

This may include political leaders, ministries, institutions, or other decision-making actors.

Before play begins, participants receive a briefing outlining:

Their objectives and constraints

Available decision domains

The structure of each decision cycle

This ensures all participants begin with a shared understanding of the system they are operating within.

3. Structured Decision Cycles

The simulation progresses in turns, each representing a defined period of in-scenario time.

During each turn, participants:

Consider available information

Debate options within their roles

Speak to other participants to ‘back channel’

Make structured decisions across key domains (e.g. political, economic, media)

Decisions are constrained by the scenario rules, ensuring focus and comparability across runs.

A person in a plaid shirt gesturing with hands while sitting at a conference table with a laptop, smartphone, and open notebook. Other people are seated around the table in a meeting room.
Close-up of a vintage-style European and Asian map showing countries, cities, and borders with colored overlays.
Crowd of people protesting with signs and flags near a church with large stained glass windows.

4. System Response and Consequences

Once decisions are submitted, the simulation engine evaluates their effects.

Outcomes are generated based on:

Interactions between decision domains

Scenario-specific rules and constraints

Real-world context and AI-assisted modelling

Consequences may be immediate or delayed, and often propagate across systems, producing second- and third-order effects.

No outcomes are pre-scripted.

5. Information, Dashboards, and Feedback

At the end of each turn, participants receive:

Updated information relevant to their roles

Clear summaries of system changes

Dashboards showing key indicators and trends

This allows participants to track how decisions have shaped outcomes over time and to reassess strategy in subsequent turns.

6. Reflection and Debrief

Each simulation concludes with a structured debrief, supported by:

Decision logs

Outcome summaries

Comparative indicators across turns

Facilitators can use these materials to support discussion, reflection, and assessment — focusing on reasoning, trade-offs, and unintended consequences rather than “success” or “failure”.

A woman with red hair smiling while holding a marker, standing in front of a whiteboard with notes, engaging in a discussion with another person in a classroom or meeting room.
A university classroom with students sitting at desks while a male professor stands at the front of the room.

Facilitator-Led by Design

Steel Porcupine™ is designed to support facilitators, not replace them. Facilitators retain control over:

Pace and timing

Discussion depth

Learning objectives

When and how debriefing occurs

No technical expertise is required beyond basic familiarity with the scenario materials.

Repeatable, Comparable, Flexible

Because simulations are rules-based rather than scripted:

Sessions can be repeated across cohorts

Outcomes can be compared and discussed

Complexity can be calibrated without redesign

This makes Steel Porcupine™ suitable for both one-off workshops and repeated use within degree programmes.

Steel Porcupine™ is designed to fit into academic teaching — not to reshape it.