Microbial Magic

The season of giving will soon be upon us so I thought I this would be a great opportunity to search the web and curate a mini exhibition of the anatomically awesome things that people create! For the first of this series lets start small, with some microbes!

Society6 is one of the sites I joined last year to help promote my work. And through it I have been able to find a variety of fresh yet talented artists:

Microbe 1 by Veronica Martinis

 

Microbe Family by AMOSLIDE

(And I am not quite sure what this is, but I like it too  … )

Microbes are also quite fashionable:

Bacteria – Thousands Of ‘Em (Pink) by Chayground

Histoplasma Capsulatum by Yours Truely 😉 ( Autumn Kulaga )

Retro Amoeba Earrings by LemantulaDesigns

 

Or maybe you know someone that appreciates more tangible objects. You know grown adults searching for “collectables” ( a.k.a desk toys) .

Bacteriophage T7 Model

Shapeways is an amazing site bringing 3D printing and prototyping capability to the masses.

4c9o by Virtox

E-coli Toxin by Anthromod

 

And of course we can’t forget about the more commonly known plush microbes. Cuddly enough for an infant, even the bed bug is adorable!

Bed Bug Plush

 

Alicia Watkins is an Etsy Vendor who will create any one of a variety of microbes by cross stitch:

Microbes cross stitch set by Alicia Watkins

Or perhaps you are crafty enough to try out some of her patterns yourself?!

 

Know of any other microbial wonders? Feel free to share in the comments of this post!

Neutrophil Enemy

A quick preview of one of the game characters!

And a screen shot teaser:

Microbe Immunity

Microbes are Back

This semester I am enrolled in the EVL’s game class.

Microbe Concepts

I am a part of a team of 5 creators ( developers and an artist <– that’s me! ), split between UIC and LSU. The concept that we all agreed upon is that of a microbe infecting its host. In reality the game would include multiple levels, but for the sake of the class we will have one level. 

Immunity Concepts

The level we are creating is ideally the ‘second to last level’. Here the player attempts to replicate and mutate and grow a colony with select-able attributes which prosper in ‘genetics’ and size.  The grid below represents the level. The blood brain barrier is at the top of the map and the green object represent lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are where enemies spawn from. In order to take over the layer the bacteria must take over and destroy the nodes while also collecting nutrients and out competing the immunity.

Capillary Level with Blood Brain Barrier

The diagram above displays how the player may interact with the game and some of the mechanisms it would use to take over the environment.

Below you can see some of the development in process:

Development in Process 1

Development in Process 2

Development in Process 3

I am enjoying creating concept art for the game and trying to think of how to enhance the project. However, I was chosen as the team leader, and I find it difficult to come up with and modify how the game progresses in such a short time span. 8 weeks is not much time to develop a game! But I am definitely please with what we have created thus far.

The website for the game is still under development but can be found here game.encephalostudios.com