RMMV Life of a virus (for No Travel Game Jam)

[TSR]

Download Life of a virus
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See things from the other side by playing as a virus in this Immunology-Themed Pac Man-like strategy game. Try to lead a successful infection without hindering too much your Host health.

Spoiler: Synopsis

Synopsis:

Virion is an emergent viral particle that had just arrived in a new human host. Having entered through the respiratory airways, he now have access to the bloodstream. He have to infect his Host cells in order to survive, but he knows that if he's too fast and aggresive, it might result in his Host death, wich means his too... While infecting cells isn't that hard, problem is to move from one cell to another. Those angry looking White Blood Cells are always on watch. On top of this, altough he keeps infecting more cells, there is those other White Blood Cells who are constantly curing his infected cells while he turn his back. He try to keep up the pace, but he just doesn't seems to get the upper hand. Fighting the White Blood Cells isn't really an option, so maybe Virion needs a better strategy. Will you help him?​

Spoiler: Gameplay

Gameplay:

• Search the body to find the 24 cells to infect
• Avoid the White Blood Cells
• Find a strategy to beat the Immune System

Explore the bloodstream in this human body map, fully made out of unidirectional slippery tiles. As a general rule, Arteries (red paths) goes away from the Heart, and Veins (blue paths) goes back to it. Learn how to navigate following the Heart beats as you'll be pushed faster periodically.

Gameplay mechanics is fully detailed on the itch.io page of the game.

*to see credits: wait 15 seconds on the Title screen... or beat the game!​

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Spoiler: Screenshots

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This game has original game mechanics. I can beat it easily in around 40 minutes. But based on play testers, most peoples might need a few trials before getting in touch with the mechanics, and find out how to beat the game.​

What you'll need for this game:

• patience
• sense of observation
• cleverness
• a bit of luck might help

Download
Life of a virus​

 

[GoodSelf]

Wow, what a creative idea! I remember you mentioning something earlier this month about a virus game - glad to see it take shape!

 

[TSR]

@GoodSelf Thanks, it was a bit of a rush, but I managed to complete it
Looking forward to try your game too, Elegy looks pretty cool!

 

[HexMozart88]

Wow! That's impressive! I love your "person" map.

 

[TSR]

Wow! That's impressive! I love your "person" map.

Thank you!

 

[hiddenone]

I gave this game a try, but ended up lost and confused after a few minutes of playing.

Spoiler: Feedback notes

⦁ In the intro, "he didn't felt too well", 'felt' should be 'feel'. Or switch it up to be "he wasn't feeling well."

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⦁ It's clear from playing more that English is not your first language. That makes the mistakes understandable, but please try to find yourself a proofreading buddy to help you out since the little errors can add up and make players quit.

⦁ That's a lot of info at the start of the game. It may be better to spread it out, and have the Retro Virus explain as the player tries things out in a tutorial cell

⦁ The human body map is pretty cool, it's a shame I can only see a little bit of it at a time

⦁ The flow really felt too powerful in some spots. I had not option but to slam into an enemy NK Cell, and it killed me easily...

⦁ I used a Biological Membrane, but all it seemed to do was let me wander randomly? I couldn't interact with any cells, so it wasn't very useful since I'm not clear on exactly I need to do

⦁ Perhaps I just don't understand what needs to be done, but I can't seem to advance. I fly past all the cells that I haven't infected, so I don't seem to be able to do anything else. The idea of the game is interesting, but it's too focused on the science and not enough on the fun gameplay

While writing this I looked over your itch.io page and saw that there's a lot of info there that wasn't really explained well in the game. It's difficult, but you should consider reworking the start of the game to include a more in-depth tutorial that explains things as the player progresses. While some players are fine getting tossed into the action, the more unique mechanics your game has the more you need to make sure you properly teach the player.

Overall, it's clear that you wanted to make a game that teaches the player about viruses, which is great! Unfortunately the gameplay just lets the game down. It's not unfixable though, if you want to take more time to improve it I'm sure you can make this project both educational and entertaining. Good luck!

 

[TSR]

Hello @hiddenone , thank you for taking the time to try the game!
It would benefit of some more work indeed. It took some time to make, and then the worse part was to explain it It was fun to make, though...
I guess I could make something fair out of it if I put some more time on it, but that won't be for now...
Thanks for your comments!

 

[ShadowDragon]

at least I beat it after many many many tries though, even when you understand it, you should
avoid fights at all cost unless you cant the harder parts on the unreachable cells is to switch
H1, H2, H3 and N1, N2. but walking through walls are also needed for some cells to reach a bit early
and advanced.

it takes patience to beat this game though, and it is a challenge, but I dont think many people will
be able to beat it in the first couple of runs.

only the creator can do that or also after a few tries ^^ but I loved the game and enjoyed it alot.