Author：Ziming Wang, who hates the epidemic

Contents

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1. Highlights Design

1.1 DNA Points and Evolution

In this game, players need to use DNA points to continuously cultivate their virus, so that the virus continues to evolve and eventually infect and kill all of humanity.

DNA points can be earned when the virus successfully infects new countries, when the number of infected people rises, and when the number of fatalities rises.

Infect - gain DNA points - evolve the virus - infect more people.

1.2 Spread of the Virus

Many countries in the game have airports and ports. The virus can be spread around the world by these means of transportation. This is a key channel for spreading the virus to countries that do not share a border.

1.3 Virus Types and Game Strategies

Each virus has its special ability. Some viruses are good at mutation and can evolve themselves without consuming DNA points; some are difficult to spread and need to use DNA points to strengthen the virus' spreading ability. Players need to adjust the game strategy of each game according to the type of virus.

1.4 Antidote DLC that Combines Current Events

In this DLC, players play as the human camp, DNA points have become “resources”, and our goal of victory has changed from wiping out all humans to stopping the virus from wiping out humans. The player’s strategy is to control the rate of infection of the virus, and research and distribute the vaccine as soon as possible within the limited time.

2. Improvement Scenarios

2.1 Strategy Gaming

What is regrettable about this game is that the player and the game itself have no strategy above the game: each country’s handling of the virus is not dynamic, but will only take countermeasures when the number of infected and dead people in the world reaches a certain percentage. Smart players can use this mechanism to accumulate enough DNA points when the infection mother spread to various regions, and then immediately evolve the infectiousness of the virus; when countries begin to develop the vaccine, and then immediately evolve the severity and lethality of the virus, slowing down the efficiency of the development of the vaccine, to kill all humans before the completion of the vaccine to win.

As a strategy game, I think the strategy mechanism should be done in more depth: for example, according to the country’s level of development to determine the level of government attention to the virus, after the number of infected people reached the local government’s tolerance limit, then the local transmission channels will be temporarily controlled, and began to develop a vaccine (slow research), the vaccine research will be delayed according to the continuous evolution of the virus, giving the player enough time to deal with Strategy game during the game.

2.2 Events

The event system in this work should be strengthened: I think we can add time-limited event missions (side missions) in the game process, through the way of a news broadcast to tell the player the situation in a certain country or region, and the player can adjust the evolution of the virus in a targeted direction according to the news information, and complete the event missions can get many DNA points as a reward.

Example: There is a news item about the Japanese Olympic Games in the game, at which point a continuous stage side mission can be generated with the following objectives.

• Let the virus spread to Japan (limited to 1 month)
• Infect 10,000 people in Japan during the Olympics (limited to 3 months)
• Allowing the virus to spread through Japan to three case-free countries (limited to 3 months)

During these 7 months, because of this event, more planes and ships from various countries will sail to Japan, and more planes and ships from Japan will sail to the world, dramatically increasing the chances of spreading the virus. If players can seize the opportunity to increase the contagiousness of the virus, they can easily spread the virus all over the world and increase the probability of winning the game.

2.3 Audiovisual Optimization

Real-world virus evolution does not have too many trait changes, but the game can be more exaggerated in the evolution of the virus to give players a visual impact. (For example, the virus can constantly shed cell walls, grow synapses, irregular expansion, contraction, etc.)

According to the progress of the game to play different background music and sound effects, the beginning can be a peaceful and quiet light music, with the aggravation of the epidemic music more and more serious tension, and finally a symphony of despair, and when combined with the blurred images of urban ruins to shape the atmosphere of the end.