Contagion CE

Download Contagion CE!

Introduction
For the past few months (non-continuously) I’ve been collaborating with EverydayCode to create a Plague, Inc. port for the TI-84 Plus CE and TI-83 Premium CE calculators, with the inspiration being the current situation of the world. In this game, you will be tasked with spreading a virus with the intention of infecting the entire world. You’ll be able to choose the initial location to start the virus, and mutate the virus to suit your strategy. The world will work against you, attempting to create a cure for your disease and closing off ports to limit contact between different world regions.

Progress
Here’s what we have done so far:
-virus spreading
-world map
-virus placement (infection based on cursor)
-game state tracking (total infections and deaths per region, percentage infected throughout the world, human cure progress)
-news system based on current game events (infections, deaths, cure progress, etc.)
-saving/loading
-basic main menu

Project Work Plan
-finish human cure progress 50%
-ports and transportation between regions 70%
-virus mutations 0%
-game start (initial placement of virus) 70%

Screenshots
Original game mockup:


Here are some screenshots from the actual game:



Conclusion
That’s all for now. Keep checking the thread for updates as we continue this project, and please post any feedback or suggestions you have as well.

Cool! I look forward to seeing more progress, and an official release! In case you are looking suggestions, here are a few:
1. You could unlock more powerful virus mutating abilities after each time you thoroughly infect the world
2. Difficulty levels of human AI against virus

Wow it looks great so far! I was wondering if anyone was going to have a crack at this, considering current events.

Can't wait to see more progress .

The program looks nice.. Almost skyNet takeover humans aka terminator. As sugestions leave room for cure events , one dice / randomizer to select region

Contagion CE - July 8th Update

Change Log
-added new naming gui
-added transportation view: shows travel between regional ports - [mode] key
-added world cure progress based on time

Screenshots
New Naming GUI


Transportation View


Ports automatically close based on infection percentage


Your Feedback
We’ve listened to all of your feedback and have made decisions on a few of them.

fghsgh: it seems as if the "countries" are continents? that is kind of a turn-off, but I don't have a CE anyway

Storing the continent sprites heavily impacts the game’s file size. Individual sprites would not only be harder to place on the map, but would also slow down the game’s update function. We decided that adding individual countries would not change gameplay enough to justify adding them in.

LogicalJoe: It [news] shouldn't scroll for text that already fits on the screen.

We have decided to keep scrolling just in case there is more than one news event or there is overflow. We will keep tweaking it to fit our needs, so more feedback on the news tab is appreciated.



We will definitely add random cure/virus events in the future. In the human vs. virus mode of the game (not currently available), the virus will start in a random region. We also added in ports which have a random chance of spreading infection through travel. These ports close after a certain infection threshold.

What’s next?
In the next update, we plan on adding more random events, fine-tuning the GUI, and adding DNA points to emulate the real game.

If you have any other suggestions, reply to this thread or reach out to us on Discord Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

Wow! This is so cool! The ports idea is great, and I actually do prefer the scrolling "ticker" style text better. The new name input is also a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the old one. Keep it up!

Looks really good - this is something that could keep people engaged for hours!

Contagion CE - July 20th Mini-Update

Change Log
-added mutations (speed, resistance, civil unrest)
-added dna points
-removed outlined continent sprites
-fixed string overflow bug
-fixed OPTIX library menu bug
-added custom virus name to news feed

Screenshots
Mutation Menu (WIP)


Entering Beta
The virus vs. world gameplay is finished, and the graphic routines have been rewritten. So, after months of planning, we are almost ready to release the first version of this game!

I will be making a video on the behind the scenes, so keep an eye out for when it is released.

What's Next?
We still need to add a game over screen and continue working on the GUI to make the game more engaging. Adding mutations has been a step in the right direction, but there's still a long way to go. I think that random events could spice it up, but that may not be enough.

If you have any features that you think will make the game more exciting, let us know!

Contagion CE - August 10th Update

It's been a while since the last update, but we want to get this project done before back-to-school time, so here's another one. Let us know what you think, and if you have any suggestions for future updates.

Changelog
[added] new mutation menu
[added] new viewing mode, which only shows the map
[added] lethality mutation, allowing players to control when the virus kills, and how much
[added] ports can reopen if there is enough unrest
[added] help text to tell what the mutations do
[added] timer, tells how long the game has been running
[improved] virus spread through transportation is now based mostly on unrest and transmission speed (so you'll have to mutate to spread it well)
[improved] debugging x/y print removed in the initial virus placement screen
[improved] new selection box design in the Overview view mode
[improved] general balancing and improvements
[improved] reworked OPTIX colors to better match the theme of the rest of the program
[improved] in the virus naming screen, numbers can now be entered without the use of the special characters menu (accessed by pressing [+])
[fixed] an island in Oceania could not be infected with the virus through transportation
[fixed] DNA points could be awarded too often when the world infection reaches certain numbers (0, 5, 10...)

Screenshot
Here's a screenshot showing most of the new changes:

Another screenshot, showing the power of mutations:


Behind the Scenes Video
EverydayCode published a YouTube video about the creation of this project up until a few weeks ago, so be sure to check that out if you haven't already:


Conclusion
That's all for this update, but make sure to keep an eye out on this thread for more updates, as the program is likely to be released within the next few weeks. In the meantime, please ask any questions you have here, or post feedback and suggestions if you have any.

Contagion CE - August 21st Mini-Update

Change Log
-added statistics page
-added end game screen
-added prompt that prevents restart on completed came
-improved continent selection box in general view
-improved cure/virus progression
-improved virus bar (includes percent killed)
-improved main menu
-fixed virus renaming causing game crash
-fixed loading save causing game crash

Screenshots
Scrolling Main Menu


Statistics Menu


Difficulty Selection and Game Timer


Conclusion
Contagion is very close to release. The contact page, about page, and logo still have to be implemented.

Keep an eye out for Contagion in the August POTM!

1.0.0

Download Contagion CE!

The version 1.0.0 release of Contagion CE was completed and uploaded today! Once it's accepted into the archives, I'll add a link to download. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback on this project, it was a great experience working on it.

Changelog
-[added] about page
-[added] connect page
-[improved] added a logo to the main menu
-[fixed] a lot of game-breaking bugs

Screenshots
General overview:

Crash (now fixed):

Statistics page:

Main menu:


Challenge
A new challenge: post your best time completing the game! I'd like to see if there's any strategy that could lead to faster completion of the game on the various difficulty settings.

Conclusion
Thanks for reading and supporting this project. Please post any feedback or feature requests you have here, as well as bug reports. There's a QR code in the Connect section that you can use to quickly get to this forum. Finally, please vote for Contagion CE in the August POTM.

It looks pretty great indeed, congratulations for publishing a release

Nice crash output, too. I once unwittingly generated fake barcodes (though I certainly hit a bug of the TI-68k toolchain versions of the 2001 era, which I learnt about later), but over time, I did also make other screen-corrupting blunders not caused by toolchain bugs ^^

My best time so far is Normal mode 17 minutes 13 seconds. I'd show a pic but my RAM cleared after that and deleted the time.

Was this a crash related to the game, or something else? And if so, what were the steps you took to get the game to crash?

No, the crash was not related to the game. I was running Tiboy CE and that is what caused the RAM clear, I just didn't think of taking a picture of the Statistics page till after the crash.

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/imfa2i/my_friend_and_i_coded_plague_inc_for_a_ti84/
Good stuff

So I noticed some issues in it that sometimes make it not fun:

Firstly, the infection is kinda broken, a few squares can just stick around and not get infected for the entire game, even when surrounded by infected squares.

Second, the cure progress feels broken, and feels like it should start to slow and then shut down as people die, instead of going faster and faster.

Third, I'm pretty sure connections are broken, and don't work as they are supposed to, I'll not even be near a port and cause an infection through it. And sometimes, I'll have the whole world infected except for Madagascar and it never gets infected (all ports were open too). Speaking of ports, it's kinda hard to see what's going on with them in the ports view, and should get a revamp.

Fourth, and this one is just me being picky, but Alaska is definitely not shaped right, and also it should be connected to Asia through Russia, but once again, that's me just being picky (even Plague Inc. didn't have that connection)

Fifth, and this one is more of a suggestion than a complaint, but a way to fast forward would be nice.

Lastly, the win condition is unclear, I infected 100% and killed 91% and won, but infected 99% and killed everyone in the world except for a few and lost?

Even with some issues, it's amazing what you've managed to create. Good on you.