Why we created it

In the spirit of our iGEM's Human Practices, we created a mobile video game to introduce our project to a wide audience. The main objective here is to let people discover our project in a fun way, and to use this opportunity to build trust around GMOs by letting them play with a game that showcases a safe potential application of synthetic biology. To do so, we built a game that explains simply the main aspects of our project, while being fun to play either alone or by challenging your friends through an online scoring system.

Gameplay

Our game consists in a 2D horizontal scroller where you will play as the Quantifly drone. The drone has a battery that decreases slowly over time,ending the game when it reaches O%. However, batteries can be picked up as you go, if you manage to catch them.
Your objective is to fly through various cities for as long as possible while collecting pollutant molecules. Doing so will fill up the "bioluminescence gauge". The gauge is divided into 4 tubes, each corresponding to one of our real-life Containment Tubes: once the gauge filled, the drone enters its "Bioluminescence mode": its battery life is refilled to a certain percentage, and the four tubes are ejected, being replaced by a brand new set of tubes.
The plaayer will also have to dodge a variety of enemies and obstacles: hitting them will decrease your battery life. Finally, the collected samples will serve as a currency: once you will collect enough samples, you will be able to purchase certain upgrades, such as an extra battery or more tube slots, in order to fly longer and better !

Intentions

We designed every aspect of this project to match a real-life possibility: for example, nowhere in the game will be shown a bacteria being released in the environment. the battery life and the number of tubes carried by the drones are improvement possibilities we will have to consider in the future, and that is why we put them as upgrades.
We decided to reward the player with filled tubes in order to show the benefits of taking as much measurements as possible. The only "non-realistic" aspect of the game is the fact that bioluminescence is expressed during the flight, but this is a pure gameplay choice, and is also an improvement we are considering.

Demo footage (Alpha version)