Disclaimer: Epilepsy Warning! (This game features many flashing colors) Also, do not be alarmed by the player death sound effects! Your computer is not having a meltdown.
Click below to play in-browser!
About the Game
Team SID
Mark Pareja, Hao Quach, Lucas Amutan, Ian Tokuyama, Steven Quinanola
(My main roles: art, animation)
Game Concept
Video Transcript: The underlying concept is simple. You travel through cyberspace, dodging the advanced “Firewave” security system. While doing so, you collect bug fragments to exploit and prove that you are the quickest hacker around -- or get derezzed trying. The controls are also pretty simplistic. You use the WASD or arrow keys to move and press the spacebar to boost, or if you are using a controller, then you use the left joystick to move and press the A button to boost. You want to be strategic about how you use your boosts, because if you use three boosts in quick succession, then you’ll activate a cooldown timer, in which you’ll be unable to boost for a few seconds. You can use the walls and pillars around the level to your advantage. However, if the pillar is the same color, then the wave will pass right through it and you could get hit! There are also white pillars that, when hit, will send out a burst of Firewave in all directions, so you’ll have to be careful of those. If you get hit, then you can click “Retry,” press the R key on your keyboard, or the Y button on your controller. There are 8 different levels, each one being a certain degree more difficult than the last. Each level has a name that serves as a hint for what type of level it is, or what you should do in order to progress. Although, the names are kept pretty vague to leave room for player interpretation. The game keeps track of your total time as you play. So once you complete the final level -- if you can complete the final level, that is -- you get to see how long it took you to hack into the mainframe, and that gives you or your friends a goal to beat the next time you play.
Additional Information
This game was created over the course of a weekend during the 2017 Global Game Jam, where the theme of the jam was “waves.” VIRAL.WAV was also presented at the 2017 IEEE GameSig Intercollegiate Computer Game Showcase.