Dr. Impossible
Game Information
Role
Art, Handwork, Mechanic Design, Programmer
Platform
Unity, Arduino
Genre
Horror, QTE
You will take on the role of an unscrupulous surgeon in this independent game, tasked with extracting as many organs as possible from patients to maximize profits. Precision is key as you navigate through the surgical procedures, ensuring that the patients don't meet an untimely demise to avoid unnecessary complications. In this world of medical black market dealings, you'll confront moral dilemmas and engage in high-risk operations. Are you prepared to push the boundaries of medical ethics and navigate the challenges of this dark and unconventional medical underworld?
Learning In New Domains
During the collaborative project, our gameplay design included elements related to maintaining a patient's vital signs, such as administering blood transfusions using a syringe. It was during this project's research I realized the crucial role of an anesthetist in a surgical operation.
"Surgeons treat diseases, anesthetists save lives."
Anesthetists need to keep the patient's vital signs stable, ensuring the patient survives the surgery, and they even have the authority to halt ongoing surgical procedures. I hope to incorporate the role of an anesthetist into the gameplay, emphasizing the importance of maintaining vital signs.
Dissemination
I've always enjoyed delving into unfamiliar fields when developing a new game, as it allows me to absorb new knowledge during development. Additionally, I aspire to pass on the knowledge I acquire through games. Therefore, I aim to create a medical education game to teach players basic medical knowledge related to anatomy and medical anesthesia.
My Objectives
1. Learn Arduino.
2. Familiarize myself with Unity and C#.
3. Highlight the significance of anesthetists.
4. Design an educational game
Background Setting: Organ Trafficking
In Asia, traveling to Cambodia and Myanmar can be quite dangerous, especially in northern Myanmar, which is essentially a 'stay away from strangers' situation.
(Article Title: "Your Value in Northern Myanmar")
The film 'Andhadhun' was also part of my inspiration, and I liked the metaphorical expression of the liver-shaped tree at the end of the film.
Research
Study of Key Variables in Human Life Signs
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HR: Heart Rate
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SPO2: Oxygen Saturation
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NIBP: Non-Invasive Blood Pressure
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IBP: Invasive Blood Pressure
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TEMP: Temperature
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These five values are the most common metrics used to assess a patient's vital signs. Therefore, I use these five variables as reference baseline values for designing my game system.
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Heart Rate: Typically beats 60 to 100 times per minute.
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Oxygen Saturation: Measures the oxygen content in the blood, with a maximum of 100, typically at 95 or higher. Below 90 indicates insufficient oxygen.
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Temperature: Normal body temperature is generally considered to be 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius).
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NIBP and IBP, generally, IBP take precedence because the latter involves direct vascular measurement, providing more precise readings.
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Blood Pressure: Number 1 (Systolic Pressure) should range between 100 and 130, while number 2 (Diastolic Pressure) should range between 60 and 80.
Human Organ Market Circulation Investigation (Black Market)
Price fluctuation of human organs on the black market from 2020 to 2022 (kidney for a pair)
Proportions and Range of Variation in Human Organ Sizes
Gameplay
Goal
Players need to remove all the organs from the patient's body while still keeping the patient alive.
This curve is the overall difficulty trend, but in fact, the proportion of each organ is different. I used the black-market value of organs in my research to distinguish their contribution to difficulty.
Perform Surgery
Core Gameplay
The middle Handler will move left and right, seize the opportunity, and poke the organ with a scalpel to remove the operation.
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10 Mediocre successes = 5 Great successes = Stolen successes
Secondary Gameplay
1. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Help patients increase their heart rate by pressing their hands on the heart multiple times (QTE play)
2. Needle Transfusion
Blood transfusions to raise the character's blood pressure
3. Body Temperature = Time Pressure
A drop in central body temperature can have a number of negative effects, such as increasing infection rates and weakening blood clotting. My core gameplay is QTE, and the form of gameplay itself emphasizes time pressure participation, so I use body temperature as a time variable to apply pressure to the player.
Wooden Structure and Organ Specimen Iteration
From Paper Box to Acrylic Sheet
In the previous iterations of the Makey Makey project, I had this optimization idea, but due to the limited project timeline, I couldn't attempt it. So, this time, I tried the feasibility of this approach myself.
1. Paper boxes are relatively fragile. I iterated them into multiple superimposed acrylic sheets. The advantage of this is that it provides a consistent visual appearance, similar to organ tissue slices. It is not easily damaged, and it also has a high level of aesthetics, making it suitable for display.
2. After successfully creating this component, it also serves an educational purpose. It helps players understand organ structure.
First Structure Design & Testing
Load-bearing area casing
Layered heart organ
Spring-supported load-bearing platform
Pressure sensing sensor
Initially, the structure I designed treats the organ specimen as a button. When the specimen is pressed, the base platform will depress, and then a protruding column in the center of the base's bottom surface will make contact with the sensing area of the pressure-sensitive sensor below.
Second Design & Testing
What's different from the first test is that I adjusted the size proportion of the heart to be consistent with the actual heart size, and as a result, I scaled up the entire base proportionally as well.
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In addition, based on the feedback from the first version, I designed the base to have a certain degree of internal depression in its default state, in order to align the specimen's position with the inner grid of the casing and prevent displacement.
Third Design & Testing
In the second round of testing, it was observed that when the specimen is too large, the required force for pressing it as a button becomes excessive, and a lighter touch is preferable for a better feel.
Additionally, I made some adjustments to the spacing between the slices to test the visual effect and spatial perspective.
Final Version
Final Physical Structure Production Process
Initial Concept: Design surgical knives as keys, a total of 4 surgical knives, with unique blade shapes, each of which can only be used on specific organs.
However, upon careful consideration later on, given that the core gaming experience involves Quick Time Events (QTE) with a fast-paced rhythm, introducing the need to find keys and make the organ locks too small or specific could easily disrupt the gameplay experience.
Laser Engraving Blueprint Iteration and Form Establishment
Acrylic Sheet Cutting Blueprint
Basswood Board Cutting Blueprint
Scalpel Poke Opening Position Illustration
Basswood Board Finished Product
Acrylic Sheet Finished Product
Production
