Are you a microbiologist? Do you just play a lot of video games? I’m looking for suggestions for how to make the game more educational and fun. Let me know your ideas!

Already implemented:

1. Physics — environmental parameters allow setting the viscosity and diffusivity of the environment by changing the Temperature and Salinity
2. Respiration — you lose energy just sitting there, so go forth and forage
3. Extracellular Enzymes — use these to access food particles that are too big to ingest. you gotta spend ATP to make ATP!
4. Motility — run and tumble, run and tumble, ruuuuuuuuun and tumble. takes energy. also, damn it’s frustrating being a bacterium.
5. Division — double your energy reserves and you automatically divide. when you die you are resurrected as one of your offspring
6. Predators — watch out, the protists are coming!

Here is what I’m looking forward to adding:

1. Viruses! — they can kill you, but every once in a while, you’re hit with a transducing phage and can access…
2. Horizontal Gene Transfer! — this will allow upgrades like Chemotaxis, Antibiotics, Degradation Enzymes, Photosynthesis, Chemosynthesis, Nitrogen Fixation, Psychrophily, Thermophily, Barophily, Halophily, EPS production, Transformation, Conjugation, CRISPRs, Quorum Sensing, …
3. Environments — seawater, sea ice, glaciers, hydrothermal vents, streams, soil, guts, teeth
4. Species — play as Vibrio, Bdellovibrio, Prochlorococcus, Pelagibacter, or Pyrococcus!
5. High Scores — but then, I’d first have to decide what the “goal” of life was and I don’t know if I’m ready to make such a strong statement!
6. Music — wouldn’t a little ambient electronic music interpreted from DNA sequences really go with the mood of existential angst that permeates the lives of bacteria?

Built (somewhat painfully) in Stencyl.

Older Versions:

Tags:   bacteria · games · outreach · scienceNo Comments