What's New?

First off, I will start with what will not be changing much. The core gameplay mechanic where one clicks to reveal tiles with the "eye con" and scans for info points of interest will be largely the same. I don't want to mess with a winning formula, but I do want to expand upon it. What has changed is the planned number of layers you can view, as well as how many info points there are. I am trying to expand this vastly. New layers, new discoveries. I plan on some layers having sublayers. Mostly this would be the case where a straight 2d image fails to reveal all the details. For instance, the "ORGANIC" layer lets us see organ systems, but maybe we want to look at the digestive system rather than the respiratory system. For each subject it will vary, depending on their condition and what is relevant. I want each new subject to follow a similar pattern of inquiry (discovering, scanning, reading, learning) but each new subject to have its own original spin on just what is available to scan.

What Else Is New?

In addition to having regular info points where you can read and learn stuff, there are points where you can do a "Deep Scan". These are points of interest which allow you to take a closer look at what is going on. This all happens in another, larger pane in the new scanner that is located to the view of the subject's full body (I would post a thorough layout of what goes where regarding the screen space, but I'm too early on in development to have all that fully finalized). The Deep Scan will allow for a pseudo 3D examination of a particular part/organ/sample/cell of the subject. The Deep Scan will also allow for some degree of activity. Say for instance, one does a deep scan of a subject's brain. You'd get a full look at it divorced from its context within the subject's body. It would look something like the image below.

So again, much closer up, more in detail, elaborating on the original infopoint it was scanned from. But that's not all! I plan on making this where interactivity with the subject begins to take place. Say you want to put in a brain shunt. (Or not. It's all part of the learning process!) You can make a call with the deep scan and command the computer to perform the operation. This might just have an impact on how the rest of the procedure goes. Or not. What's important is you are learning.

Who is Dr. Morrison?

Dr. Morrison is your guide to the world of Discover Our Bodies. He is a helpful AI (who used to be a person) that you can call on whenever you need assistance, or are just feeling lonely (he loves to chat!). So now in addition to talking to the patient who you are performing your procedures on (giving that they are able to talk at all) you can have a third point-of-view.  As you can see, calling upon Dr. Morrison will bring his chipper floating head onto your screen, and you can ply him with a series of context-based questions about what is currently happening in the procedure and in the game. He is the John Madden of Discover Our Bodies.

So that's what I have been working on and what I am continuing to work on. Once I have the layout looking more pretty I'm probably going to try and make a video explaining my further plans for things, as well as launch a Patreon. Hope everyone is hanging in there. These are strange times, but we ought to all try and make the best of them, if possible. 

If you have anymore questions about the game or anything else, hit me up on curiouscat or twitter or wherever. I've got lots of time and would love to talk.

-Yames