For a few years, I've wondered whether gaming engines might not be a more accessible platform for sharing the insights from agent-based infectious disease models.
I've previously fiddled around with Unity to mock up how the build-up of immunity to the three poliovirus serotypes and its influence on viral shedding is influenced by successive challenge with live-attenuated vaccine combinations.
Recently, I've been intrigued with the simplicity of Core Games as an entry point for multiplayer online games -- making a few of my own along with my underaged test team -- although the Windows-only executable makes it somewhat less transferrable than Unity.
With a new appreciation for the first-person shooter format, I revisited Unity's tutorial series, swapping out adorable ferrets for robots -- with the eventual goal of swapping guns for live-attenuated vaccines in the dynamics!
After sorting out the different animation-state variables and instances of particle-swarm VFX when enemies are hit, here's a minimal web game with attack ferrets: https://play.unity.com/mg/fps/ferret-test-b1
