Cell Strike

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Cell Strike takes students beneath the skin of the human body to control the blood cells and platelets that protect us all. It’s a real-time strategy game where players have the power to devise and execute their own tactics for success. By freely exploring a rich 3D environment, they observe how various parts of the immune system work together and, crucially, how they can be co-ordinated in different ways.

With direct control over four ‘units’, the player develops an instinctive understanding of how these component parts of our immune system work as a team, gathering information and adapting to invading bacteria. The key to success is understanding then effectively managing the body’s resources to locate, study and overcome the enemy. Platelets are cast as ‘Engineer’ units, playing a vital role in sealing wounds. ‘Killers’ are the footsoldiers of the immune system, attacking bacteria to release antigens. ‘Scouts’ gather up this useful information and pass it on to ‘Specialist’ units so they can pinpoint weaknesses.

Cell Strike was developed in close collaboration with blood expert Lawrence Hutchinson from Edinburgh University and the Amplify science team. It draws on a fascinating area of biology and plays out in real time to capture the real life dynamics and drama on the front line of immune defence. The game has been rolled out to a number of US schools as part of the Amplify pilot programme.

Technologies used

Unity, C#

My part

Developing parts of the core gameplay, parts of the framework and UI, including two new levels, doing a turn based prototype version