Dear All
I work as the Communications Officer at the VALIDATE Network, a community of researchers working on vaccines for tuberculosis (TB), leishmaniasis, melioidosis, and leprosy. As part of our activities marking the 100th anniversary of the BCG Vaccine which protects against, we want to produce some simple educational computer/video games.
BCG Adventures Computer Game - send in your quotes
Our hope is that ‘BCG Adventures’ will be a series of simple, browser-based, retro 2D and 3D computer games that aim to raise interest and awareness of vaccine development in general and TB and BCG in particular. Each game will use a different playing style and can only be completed by the player if they pass a final quiz. They will be made available online but will also be a useful tool for researchers who take part in science festivals and careers fairs.
- Each game will last between 5 and 10 minutes
- They will be aimed at the 11 - 14 year old age group (but fun for everyone)
- VALIDATE has more than 400 vaccine researchers worldwide who will be on hand to provide the science content. We will arrange collaboration video conferences.
- Delivery - Mid June 2021
We hope to develop 4 games:
- Albert and Camille’s Little Lille Adventure: An exploration and adventure game, viewed from above, where you navigate characters around a map of occupied Lille in World War I. Players chose to be either Albert Calmette or Camille Guérin and explore war-time Lille in order to obtain the necessary equipment and resources for their important vaccine research. As the player collects each item, they will learn about the methods used to create BCG, and how vaccines work.
- (A bit like the ZX Spectrum game Rescue from 1987)
- Welcome to Your Immune System: An asteroids type game in which the player controls different elements of the immune system in order to fight against a TB Infection. As they advance the player learns how the immune system can get overwhelmed and how a boost from the BCG vaccine can help the immune system fight against this deadly disease. They will also learn about the limitations of BCG and how it might be improved.
- Something like Starship Alliance
- The World vs TB: A text/map-based strategy game where the player has to decide how to deploy responses to fight TB around the world. The player will learn how factors like poverty, education, vaccine hesitancy, and politics play a role in the deployment of vaccination programmes.
- Something like PE Noire
- Vaccine Delivery Adventure: A side-scrolling, Mario style action game where a healthcare worker has to overcome the challenges of delivering vaccines in Lower and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Each game will be preceded by a short anonymous questionnaire asking the player about their knowledge and attitudes about vaccines. A similar questionnaire will be included in the final quiz as a way of recording changes in attitudes. We will also produce and print an 8-page, a5 size companion booklet to be sent to teachers on request. The guide will provide advice on how to use the games in a classroom environment.
The suggestions are just that, suggestions, and if you have any ideas about format please get in touch.
Our hope is to get a different designer for each game. If you are interested in getting involved, please email me (blakeley.nixon@ndm.ox.ac.uk) with some of the following details
- Cost estimates
- Delivery time estimates
- Which game you would like to work on
- Examples of your previous work
Please get in touch if you have any questions.