Viral Storm

Game Overview & History

My AI Jam attempt was focussed on an idea I had a while ago about using flocking simulations, notably Boids, as a game mechanic. Though it was kind of tough to find time to do this, given that I was in the middle of running a game jam for my students at Derby University.

So last night (28th March), I sat down and spent around 8-9 hours crunching out this little idea. I don’t think it works terribly well (works better in 2-player mode), but it’s an interesting experiment and I’m glad I did it.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

While the emphasis on Boids is part of the AI Jam, there is another theme being adopted: “passing the torch”. This has resulted in the player only having one ‘safe’ player at any point in time that can repel the flock. You can then swap the torch between players provided there is a line of sight.

All the instructions to play are on the intro screen, but a quick summary:

Release & Industry Impact

BUTTONS: A – Pulse (Charge and Release)

LB/RB – Pass beacon to other player (requires Line of Sight)

CONTROLS:

-1-Player – Left stick for blue cube, right stick for yellow

-2-Player – Left stick for each cube.