There’s more to finding groundwater than just drilling holes, at least in the geo-fictional Styx Valley. Equipment breakdowns, uncooperative employees, tight budgets, colorful locals, and plain old bad luck all complicate the task. As a final project in my Geology for Engineers course, students must navigate this unpredictable landscape to locate and characterize a new aquifer for the local water supply…one frustrating well at a time.

Drawing on my experience with real-world groundwater projects and inspired by a lifelong love of games and recent interest in AI, I created the Styx Valley project as a rich, structured environment for students to apply and deepen their understanding of hydrogeological principles. To better simulate the constraints of a real-world investigation, students must choose from a variety of drill rigs with different operating costs, depths, and reliabilities, and select from a cast of on-site specialists who assist with data collection, cost management, and sometimes, “doing things on a hunch”, for better or worse. With limited time and limited funds, student groups are then tasked with finding a new water supply through weekly drilling rounds driven by iterative interpretation of their data. These elements simulate the uncertainty and decision-making challenges typical of groundwater consulting, while also engaging students through dynamic feedback and adaptive problem-solving, even as they occasionally suffer the whims of a fictional but frustrating field site and try to determine which elements are bugs or features (spoiler: they’re all features).

This project reinforces core skills such as interpreting well logs, constructing cross-sections, and evaluating water chemistry, while also incorporating gamification, narrative elements, and emerging technologies such as AI to help manage complex project components and generate engaging content including newsletters and fictional employee biographies. Grounded in experiential learning and constructivist pedagogy, the project encourages students to test, revise, and defend their ideas within a setting that mirrors professional complexity. Here I present the structure and rationale of the Styx Valley project, highlight specific design choices that proved effective, and share reflections on what worked for both students and myself as the course instructor in the hopes that you may find new and useful ways to enhance your own class projects.