Video games are seldom used for environmental science education, despite the variety of compelling lessons that they could be used to teach. We designed, built and tested a video game about the effects of climate change on a charismatic local animal, the pika. Native to North America and Asia, pikas are sensitive to changes in climate because they are covered with thick fur and get heat stroke even under modest temperatures (77 °F). Pikas have to gather food throughout the summer, enough for them to make it through the long winter in their burrows. When temperatures warm, pikas do not have as much time to forage for food during their day. We decided to take these ideas and turn it into the major mechanics of a game that we developed. The resulting project, Life of Pika, is a runner game in which players need to collect flowers to survive while managing their temperature to avoid overheating. We have taken inspiration from other runner games such as Frogger, Crossy Road, and Sonic the Hedgehog, but this game is unique in that player vulnerability centers around their temperature bar, rather than around avoiding obstacles. The game is divided into seven levels to represent the pika’s seven year lifespan. As one advances from level to level we make the game progressively harder by increasing the rate at which the player’s temperature increases to simulate increasing global temperatures. Developed with industry-standard software for implementation in classroom and museum settings, we aim to promote empathy in the player about the pikas’ struggle against climate change. We hope that players will become more thoughtful about their impact on the world and its inhabitants.