Immunocompromised

Inspiration

Since the theme was "attract," what I learned from microbiology class about adaptive immune systems came to mind first. Since immunocompromised hosts are people who have weakened immune systems that cannot respond as well to pathogens and viruses, it was a fun idea to create a story where a representation of the immune system had to fight off viruses that they "attracted."

What it does

The game is both a visual novel and a top-down shooter, so this allows it to personify the adaptive immune system, specifically from the perspective of cytotoxic T-cells. The game generally utilizes the WASD keys, the space bar, and the mouse buttons. This is also explained in the game.

How I built it

I used Godot to create the game, and the Dialogic plugin to create the visual novel textboxes. I used Krita for the art assets, specifically for the character portraits. The rest were free assets found online.

Challenges I ran into

The only challenges I had were creating the art assets on time, as well as figuring out how to find a proper dialogue manager.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I love how cohesive the game is, as well as the portraits I did for the characters. It was fun to see what could be made within a time frame of a week.

What I learned

I learned how to use a proper game engine for the first time, since I've used just basic game libraries like p5play and Pygame before.

What's next for Immunocompromised

Probably a UI update, as well as an expansion of the storyline that can properly explain how the entire immune system works in the human body through its personification.

Built With

• dialogic
• godot
• itch.io
• krita