Chicken nuggets

Kaohsiung | Build a Space Biology Superhero

Chicken Nuggets-- a game for genetic control and cosmic survival

High-Level Project Summary

This is a game in which players make the right choices and produce their own biological space superheroes. Players get to choose the skills they want to add to their organism, each contributing to making it the ultimate galactic animal. When we humans continue exploring outer space, one of the first obstacles we face is survival. Knowing how different biological functions affect organisms’ survival abilities is thus of utmost importance. We crave stepping deeper into the unknown, and before we do so, we should bring the planet’s knowledge and biological advantages with us. With this game, players join our crusade of sending the upgraded animal into the boundaries we have yet to unleash.

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zR2MqHSyCTw8l97NaCMC24ruik1stj2p/view?usp=sharing

Link to Project "Demo"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UGWvgP37BV1qPUKYrctJlXrQHM2fFfkt/view?usp=sharing

Detailed Project Description

We have developed a game in which players have full control of the organism they are building. Players have up to 11 skill choices, each contributing to a component of the biological strength. Either it is hydration, which, as some would like to put it, is the fountain of life, or nutrition, which organisms would not live without. Not to say radiation, as in universal transport we are often exposed to. With the determination to survive the harsh environment of the universe, players would have to produce the best combination in order to live for at least 210 days in order to reach Mars, the final destination.

With our project, we wish to raise awareness of how galactic exploration could be difficult and how breaking through the boundaries it brings could require a high level of multi-angle critical thinking.

In our project, we used Unreal Engine 5 for the animation design, user interface, and coding structure. Our project is also factual; we extensively explored the fields of cosmic environment and how certain biological advantages can counter these difficulties.

Space Agency Data

We used a lot of information from the research done by NASA. They provided us a base for us to set our numbers, including the rate of hydration/nutrition depletion, radiation exposure, and how each function of the organisms lets them defend themself. We were easily fascinated by how different organisms created miracles to protect themselves from the dangers of the environment. In this game, we seek to combine the advantages of the organisms of our planet and use them to keep organisms alive in space.

Hackathon Journey

Our development can be divided into several aspects. Let us start from the most direct aspect. The development–we used Unreal Engine 5 to power our project. Throughout our journey, we gained lots of knowledge on how to develop a game from scratch. Another aspect is visual design. Choosing pixelated art as our style, we had less of a problem designing our components, but the balance between look and realism is something we learned as well. Being factual, we also got to do extensive research, with regard to the reliability of our source. We also learned a lot going through tons and tons of information while filtering unreliable sources. We have always sought to obtain an understanding of galactic traveling, and the obstacle we often face is the survival of organisms when going into the unknown. Bearing this in mind, we chose this challenge, seizing the chance to thoroughly cut through this issue. In our path of exploration, we face several difficulties, including the often crashes with bugs. However, with online tutorials and multiple trial-and-error, we finally broke through our difficulties.