It’s been a really long time since I posted a game update, and in that time, I managed to make a fully functioning game for all to learn and enjoy. In fact, you can play it right now with this link.

I figured I should give you some brief instructions on how to play, so here they are.

The premise of the game: You are a single-celled organism trying to thrive and live as long as possible. Unfortunately, nature will throw many obstacles at your course. As players overcome these obstacles, they will learn how cells function in the real world.

First and foremost, you should watch the notification area on the left of the screen. It will tell you when important things happen in the game, and is key to surviving long.

Getting Energy:

The first thing a cell needs is energy. This comes in the form of Adenosine Triphosphate, or ATP for short. It makes it in the mitochondrion(seen above) by burning glucose in a chemical reaction. To get ATP in the game, click the mitochondrion, which opens up its menu. On the menu, click the green button which says Burn Glucose. This will give you 40 ATP and subtract 20 Glucose. ATP is needed to create proteins, which are what get stuff done in the cell, like fighting viruses.

Fighting Viruses:

When your cell does get attacked by a virus, a box will appear in the top-right corner showing you how many viruses there are. The number of viruses will multiply every 5 seconds, and when they hit 1000 or over, your cell bursts open. To stop the viruses, you have to kill them with proteins called DICER enzymes. You make proteins inside the menu of a nucleus. When you click on the nucleus and open its menu, you will see a green button which says ‘Create Dicer Enzymes’. When you click this button it will create 5 DICER enzymes. Each DICER enzyme kills one virus. To make a protein, a cell first needs to encode the instructions for making it through RNA, which needs nucleotides to make. The actual protein is made from amino acids. In the game, making a protein like DICER enzymes subtracts from your nucleotides and amino acids. But if you defend yourself from a virus attack, you get some resources in return.

Earning Resources:

There are many ways to earn resources in the game, such as defeating viruses. One way is to enter the menu of the Golgi Body(shown above).  This will show you 3 buttons, each with the names of a resource. In real life, the Golgi Body recycles all the free-floating resources in a cell to perform other tasks. In the game, clicking on any of the Golgi Body’s buttons will give you some of that resource, but you have to wait sometime before you can get more.

I hope you enjoy the game in its current state. I will add more features into the game, such as more challenges for players to face. My hope is that players will learn more about microbiology while playing the game. Remember to follow my game updates for more information.

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