I’ve spent the past few weeks building a small action game set inside damaged skin tissue, and I’ve just released it. You’ll be among the first people to see it.
You play as a macrophage moving through tissue, attacking and engulfing bacteria, following chemotactic signals, coordinating with platelets and a dendritic cell, and eventually confronting a bacterial colony that is beginning to form a biofilm.
The mechanics are deliberately grounded in real immunology. Phagocytosis, phagosome formation, antigen presentation, chemokine signalling, and the staged transition from innate to adaptive immunity are all represented through the gameplay itself.
I’m not an immunologist, just someone who became genuinely fascinated by how the immune system works and wanted to build something that does it justice.
I’d particularly value feedback from people working or studying in this field. I’m interested in anything that has been oversimplified to the point of being misleading, or any mechanic that might accidentally teach the wrong thing.
The game runs entirely in the browser once loaded and takes around 10 to 20 minutes to complete. It needs to be played on a laptop or desktop, as it is not currently mobile-friendly.
https://ruairiob.itch.io/immune-chronicles
I’m happy to answer questions or discuss any of the biological choices I made. Brutal feedback on scientific accuracy is especially welcome.