Alphatechs: Virus Defense

Gameplay: Placing defense mechanisms
Gameplay: Defending the hospital

A pandemic is ravaging the world and hospitals are on the brink of collapse. Can you help save one or will it succumb to the disease? Play Virus Defense and try your strategical skills right now!

Inspiration

the ongoing pandemic
metaphors comparing a pandemic to a war and medical care professionals to warriors, defenders

What it does

this game allows the player to take on the role of a strategic planner whose task is to arrange defending elements in a way that will successfully eliminate the incoming virus waves

How we built it

built as a 3D game in Godot engine
the first steps were coming up with the idea and designing the game
then we focused on implementing the functionality
our next step was finalizing the design, picking and modifying assets
finally, we designed a complete and compact level and tested it

Challenges we ran into

the biggest difficulty we faced was working in an engine we haven't used before
building the game in 3D instead of 2D was also challenging

Accomplishments that we're proud of

figuring out how to handle different aspects of game design
learning to use Godot
manipulating and modifying 3D objects
the final game design which we improved by adding natural lightning and textures

What we learned

we learned how to work in a game engine and in 3D
we bettered our understanding of game physics and user experience

What's next?

adding levels with higher difficulty
due to its modifiability, the game can focus on different topics in new versions, not just viruses and pandemics, which allows it to stay relevant

Pitch

Virus Defense is a game based on the "Tower Defense" genre
the main goal is to defend a hospital from collapsing due to an infection
the player's task is to buy and strategically place defensive elements that represent anti-pandemic measures so that the virus doesn't enter the hospital
as the game progresses, different viruses and mutations come in waves and the difficulty rises

Elements

enemies: different virus cells and their mutations - have different HPs
means of defense: doctors, bottles of disinfectant, vaccines - have different shooting ranges and damage values
the building to protect: a hospital - has a health value that represents its level of infection
coins: earned for successful elimination of enemies

Rules

the player starts with a fixed number of coins that allow him to buy and arrange means of defense
the enemies attack in waves and try to infect the hospital
the defending mechanisms inflict damage on enemies in their shooting ranges
if an enemy loses its full health before reaching the hospital, it is destroyed
new waves bring stronger and more durable enemies
during the game, the player can add additional defense using the coins he earns by eliminating enemies
the game ends when the hospital's health hits zero OR when the player successfully defeats all enemies

Genre

real-time strategy, tower defense

Persona

Gabriella McDavid

16 years old, a high school student
hobbies: collective sports, languages, reading detective novels
player type: explorer, casual
Gabriella is a recreational player of PC games, she mostly plays them to fill in her free time
she enjoys games that aren't hard to control
her favorite game genres are strategical puzzle games that require logical thinking

Market research

tower defense games have a long history
first games that focused on defending a territory appeared among arcade video games, such as Space Invaders (1978)
the concept became progressively more popular, shaped by games like Rampart, and is now consider one of the standard video game genres that are still played widely, despite having existed for so long
nowadays, the traditional version of the game, e.g. defending a territory from attackers, is joined by a lot of alternate concepts, such as zombie tower defense games or fantasy-based ones
additionally, tower defence mechanisms are widely used in other games as minigames or general concepts, with examples ranging from Final Fantasy VI or Warcraft to first person shooter games, like Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
the top selling tower defense games (at the time of making the research) on Steam are Dota 2, Bloons TD 6 and Element TD 2, the last of which is a multiplayer game
Bloons TD 6 is also currently the top rated game in this genre
it can be easily concluded that the tower defense genre remains popular and continues to thrive, its receptive audience making it possible for new games to be successful

Unique Selling Points

the game brings a completely new and unique perspective for Tower Defense games
in most cases, these games present player with a task to defend a territory, city, castle etc. from enemy armies, while in Virus Defense, the attacker is a virus - the idea is based on metaphorical statements saying humanity is at war with a virus
Virus Defense isn't difficult to control, suitable for both skilled and less skilled players
the game itself isn't time-restraining: the individual levels don't take up a lot of time, allowing the user to spend as much or as little time playing as they prefer