VIRUS ATTACK
After a small break we return with part VI of our making of series “Inside the Lab”. In this part we will reveal a few more details about the viruses you will see in the game so let’s start!
NEXT VIRUS PLEASE
The viruses are split in different categories. When a client appears, he will ask for a virus that will target a specific group of people. Choosing the correct virus will have the best effect on the population. But choosing the wrong type means that the results will not be the best and this will affect not only the population but the money the player will get for finalizing his contract. This way we make the player to think twice before choosing the kind of virus he will create. It’s not simply creating the best looking virus and wait for the money to come. So it needs patience and good management because if money finish its game over!
SHOW ME THE BUGS
We will start by showing you a virus that is strong to antibiotics. Since this nasty bug is higher level you can’t create him from the beginning of the game. You will have to work to reach higher levels in order to use stronger viruses.
Another virus we will show you is the one that is strong to water. This time we will show you the first and second levels to see how the virus transforms with each level.
First level…
For second level we tried to make it look more developed but on the same time to keep its characteristics.
As you can see it has the same style but looks a little bit more menacing. To be able to create this virus the player has to reach level 2 first by gaining experience. The same applies for all the other viruses in the game.
ARMED TO THE TEETH
Except from just creating the viruses we have added an additional characteristic in the game. The viruses will have an extra property that will allow them to not only kill people but also infect more of the population. In the game there are two groups, healthy and infected population. A virus can only kill the infected population. But when this number gets too low the player must create viruses that not only kill but also infect the healthy population. This is what the extra property is doing and although in the beginning it isn’t such a big problem as the game progresses the player must use it more often. Of course this means extra cost for creating the virus so the player must always think what is best.
We have created different groups for the symptoms property. The next step was to think how this property will affect the appearance of our bugs. In the beginning we thought to make subtle changes to the viruses just to make them look different. But it wasn’t enough so we decided to go crazy. We thought that since our game has a cartoonish feel and almost no connection with reality it would be more interesting to create extras that would add some flavor to the viruses. This way our imagination can go wild. And it went…
One of the symptoms categories is the one affecting the nervous system, so we decided to give the viruses weapons. Yes…weapons
For the first level here is what the water virus level 1 will look like…
The symptoms categories will also have different levels. So if you develop more and you are able to unlock the second level this is what you get.
What you see is almost final and only a few more details remain. For the next level expect something even more extreme. And this applies also for the other categories.
I WANT TO BE THE GOOD GUY
What we shouldn’t forget is that you may decide to play on the good side also. Most of the rules that apply for the viruses apply for the vaccines also but with some small differences to make the game have more diversity. The mood we follow for the vaccines is exactly the same in order to be in line with the rest of the game. In the beginning, as with the viruses, we made some concepts and then we proceeded with the actual designs.
Vaccines concept art…
Here we show you two vaccines. One from level 2 and one from level 4. And this is how they look after the transition to 3D.
And the level 4 vaccine…
Obviously there is still work to be done but you got a small taste of how they will look.
DO THE MATH
In our game variety is very important. So we tried to give the player alot of different types of viruses and vaccines so he will not have to look the same thing again and again.
For the viruses the player will be able to choose from 20 different viruses from all levels and he will have 15 different symptoms to add to them. This means that in total there will be 320 different combinations to choose from. As for the vaccines we have 20 types in total but each vaccine is divided into 3 parts for hands, body and legs meaning that any part can be used to make any combination. If you put everything together you reach a number of 8000 combinations!!!
REACHING THE END
We reached the end of this “Making of” and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. This time we revealed a little more about the viruses, we showed you about the extras you can use and revealed also a few bits about the vaccines. We gave more details about the categories of the bugs and how the choices the player will make will affect the outcome of the game. In the next part we will close the series of this “Making of”, talk about the music of the game and reveal a few more details about the gameplay. Until then you can check our website at www.demigod-studios.com. We would also be pleased to see you in our forums at forum.demigod-studios.com to join our great community!
