Bacteria Blast

Antimicrobial Resistance is increasingly problematic in our world.  In simple terms, it is when a pathogen (such as a virus, bacterium or fungus) develops mechanisms/traits which mean that it can avoid being killed by a substance designed to do so.  If these pathogens develop resistance to all our antimicrobial substances, then human illness will increase, and life expectancy will decrease, because pathogens which today can be easily eradicated, will instead cause incurable infection and lead to death.

There are various reasons why this resistance develops - for example; natural mutation, overuse in agriculture, poor adherence to treatment regimen.  Antibiotics are probably the antimicrobial which is most familiar to people.  One of the things which individual citizens can do to help improve the situation and protect these important drugs is to take their antibiotics as prescribed, and only when they really need them.  Various advertising campaigns have been used to try to remind people of this - but how much notice do people take of a poster or leaflet?  

As games are a very popular pastime for people of all ages, it was thought that creating a game to teach people about AMR would be useful.  Thus, this game was born!  It has been created in Unity, using assets & media freely available on the Unity Asset store, and also from sites such as Shutterstock.  The story and art style was chosen so as to be appealing and fun, but still convey the message that antibiotics are powerful and individual actions can help or harm society as a whole.  Common gaming mechanisms such as character selection, various difficulty levels, highscore tables, level unlocks, have been included to encourage repeat play.  Availability on browser as well as on Android, and ability to control the game using touch, keyboard/mouse, and gamepad, ensure it will be accessible to a wide variety of gamers.

I have really enjoyed creating this.  I have programmed it all myself, having completed Unity Learn's Junior Programmer course, and searching online (YouTube, online forums, etc) for assistance to implement other ideas.  I am also grateful for advice/support/feedback from some people in the gaming industry/academia.  Prior to this I have had no programming or game design training or experience; however I have played games for 35 years+, so I have experience as a player.

I'd really appreciate your feedback/suggestions - any bugs you find, things you like/don't like, suggestions for additional features.  Please complete the form at https://forms.office.com/r/j36zeYM0aS if you would be so kind!

Thanks for playing!  :)