I'm back in my microbial genetics or symbiotic systems classes, but this time it's a lot shorter & more entertaining!
Comments
- I really liked the way that we could go back & recompile layers. I thought it was a great way to illustrate how that's the norm for endosymbionts: gradually being reduced / changed over time via gene transfer with host & other organelles.
- If that's intended to be a core mechanic, it would be really nice to be able to save & reload different organelles, cells, etc so we can go back in to re-edit them instead of having to rebuild each from scratch. Possibly starting with a wild type or auto-generated bits?
- Tangentially, is there a way to shrink a membrane if you're not using the full number of ports & internal slots short of dividing again (if upkeep is a factor)? This was the norm as it was more useful for both host & symbiont for diffusion and size considerations. Especially when you look at brown algae or diatoms with secondary encapsulations or photosynthetic dinoflagellates with tertiary even moreso...
- Can you explain how moving back to a previous layer to recompile is done, maybe with a baloon pointer when you transition between layers? Possibly autogenerated wild types or auto-generated bits?
- The transition from Layer 1 to Layer 2 was a little confusing when the host cytosol was encapsulated - I thought I'd picked the wrong path, and didn't realize I could do both.
- I understood why you did that from a mechanics & visual standpoint, but you may want to explain that it's to keep it simpler to rearrange things / less visual noise.
- An indication that you'll be able to build both host & symbiont before you pick might be helpful - I didn't realize it was so extensive!
- Diffusion vs cytoskeletal tracks: instead of making links to indicate diffusion & having to "reinforce" those into tracks, would it be helpful to dump / pull disconnected object endpoints (pumps / organelles / etc) into / from a shared pool (possibly with automatic diffusion lines draw in), with the actual dragging links being the method for reinforcing tracks?
- An economic overview with a breakdown in the tooltip for totals of ATP/NAD producers/consumers might help with the "lipid synthase silently eating all my production" issue.
- I agree that there's a lot of text, but I'd have loved this as a study tool! Maybe instead of losing all that good info, have a 'verbose' checkbox for people who want the full set of info or underlined items that you can hover for a deeper dive?
Overall, this is great fun & good looking game! I'm enjoying it to the point of sending it around to former classmates & colleagues, even people I wouldn't normally talk video games with.