Click on image to open game design document and storyboards for “Cell Cyclin”.
Main character Gabby of Cell Cyclin
Cell Cyclin is an educational video game about the cell cycle that I designed and storyboarded to complete my graduate research in Biomedical Visualization at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The game is unique in the sense that it was designed with the Lead Game Designer/Director of Legends of Runeterra (winner of the Apple iPad Game of the Year), Dave Guskin, from Riot Games. I also consulted with a cellular biologist, healthcare app designer, and education expert to craft this game.
In the game, a high school student, named Gabby, has just lost her mother. Gabby’s mother was a cellular biologist, who died in a car accident. Gabby takes the death hard and begins seeing cells and organelles everywhere as she is mourning. Gabby feels depressed and broken, but her mother’s ghost appears and tells Gabby she has special powers to feel her cells. She promises they will help Gabby help her friends. As her mother’s ghost disappears her best friend Xavier calls begging for her help. He was injured skateboarding at a skatepark. He is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico and he is scared to call an ambulance. Gabby reluctantly accepts the challenge to race to save her friend. But, upon leaving her house, Gabby, realizes that this is no normal bike ride. Cellular components line the streets and give the student special powers as she races to the skatepark. Will she be able to work through the levels of interphase in time to save Xavier?
Gabby connects with her cellular powers in the G0 level. The backstory is introduced in this level. She is sleeping in this level to represent that cells rest in G0. Once she has enough rest, she gains enough cyclins to move into G1.
In the G1 level Gabby doubles organelles by shooting protein rings at them twice. Once to double the volume of the organelle and a second time to split it into 2.
In the S- phase level, Gabby must bike down the sidewalk and correctly match DNA base pairs as she embodies DNA polymerase. The arrow keys help her toggle between base pairs.
In the final level Gabby must shoot mRNA at ribosomes that are moving to double her proteins.