While searching for motion references for a biofilm animation on YouTube (you might be surprised at how many scientists post footage from their labs) I came across a trailer for the game “Biofilm: making bacteria beautiful”.
Made by Battery Acid Games, it pits you, the good bacteria, against the challenges of life in the petri dish: limited food supplies and aggressively reproducing competitors. The strategy varies from level to level – some have additional cell types that you can use in doing battle, others have cell types that help you feed on new food sources.
You can tell that it’s been made by people who love the science behind it – there’s a fair bit of detail specific to real-world studies of bacterial growth bundled in without bogging down the fun. The lovely glowing background graphics would make a captivating screen saver. They’ve also succeeded with a soundtrack that loops from meditative to tension-building without becoming too repetitive.
Needless to say, there went the weekend! Haven’t made it to the final level yet, but there’s still hope. There’s a free download available with two levels, and an $18 version with many more. Check it out at: http://www.batteryacid.org/
Verdict from the WORD STICKLER: could do with some light proofreading – I spotted a mix-up of “it’s” for “its”
Verdict from the ART STICKLER: the “dark” levels need to provide some kind of cue when you reach the edge of the petri dish, so that you don’t continue a futile search without getting anywhere
