First and foremost, Vax! is a game about epidemic prevention. It's also an interactive learning environment designed to visualize a process that strains our imagination: A contagion spreading across a network.
Players are tasked to prepare for an outbreak by vaccinating a network that resembles human social networks. After distributing vaccines, an infectious outbreak begins to spread and the player is tasked to quell the epidemic by quarantining individuals at risk of becoming infected.
Vax! is a puzzle-game infused with chance that was inspired by real-world challenges, infectious disease modeling, and addictively rewarding gameplay.
It was developed by Ellsworth Campbell, a PhD student in the Salathé Group at Penn State University. Graphic design by Isaac Bromley. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
I'm developing an unlock system for new gameplay scenarios. To accompany these scenarios, I've built a database so you can compare your scores!
I also plan to develop more modules, like Herd Immunity, to delve into complex topics related to the spread of infectious diseases.
The goal is advance the public's understanding without the technical jargon and equations.
The best place to start is the (free) online course hosted by Coursera, the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, and Penn State University.
Check out MOOCDEMIC: a location-based simulation game. Playable on any mobile device with a browser, this massive open online epidemic game will engage players to detect, spread, and ultimately control a virtual infectious disease. The game is free and designed to help teach some key concepts about epidemiology.
This is epidemiology jargon that has been obscured by Hollywood. We "isolate" the sick and "quarantine" the healthy that may have been exposed. Check out the CDC's article on the subject.
The code for Vax! is open and available on GitHub. There you can submit a detailed bug report and we'll take a look.
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