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Author Topic: A creative take on a post-apocalyptic world (I think)  (Read 1691 times)
TammiDev
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« on: July 31, 2015, 11:34:59 AM »

Hey all, I just wanted to share this idea with you.

Post-apocalyptic environments are pretty popular clarifications for survival mechanics in games. I wanted to share a post-apocalyptic excuse of an idea inspired by a TED talk from Maryn McKenna.

https://www.ted.com/talks/maryn_mckenna_what_do_we_do_when_antibiotics_don_t_work_any_more

In the beginning of the talk she explains how we are headed to the post-antibiotic world. In the middle she explains the devastating effects: '1 in 6 people would die'. For me the following is an interesting quote:

Quote
If we lost antibiotics, here's what else we'd lose: First, any protection for people with weakened immune systems -- cancer patients, AIDS patients, transplant recipients, premature babies.

Next, any treatment that installs foreign objects in the body: stents for stroke, pumps for diabetes, dialysis, joint replacements. How many athletic baby boomers need new hips and knees? A recent study estimates that without antibiotics, one out of ever six would die.

Next, we'd probably lose surgery. Many operations are preceded by prophylactic doses of antibiotics. Without that protection, we'd lose the ability to open the hidden spaces of the body. So no heart operations, no prostate biopsies, no Cesarean sections. We'd have to learn to fear infections that now seem minor. Strep throat used to cause heart failure. Skin infections led to amputations. Giving birth killed, in the cleanest hospitals, almost one woman out of every 100. Pneumonia took three children out of every 10.

So add a bit more drama to it and you have your perfect post-apocalyptic world set in 2050. Any thoughts? Smiley
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Ninety
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« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2015, 07:52:46 PM »

It's an interesting concept because it's grounded in real issues that people are starting to become aware of instead of just repeating the same old "we had a big nuclear war and everything is bad now" storyline that everyone's sick of. Also it introduces world elements that are more unusual in post-apocalyptic worlds, like emphasis on quarantine, or illness being a death sentence.

I like this idea.
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Seiseki
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« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2015, 09:50:59 PM »

Although interesting, losing anti-biotics is not really an apocalyptic event.
Sure it sets back health care a hundred years, but people still worked and lived like usual 100 years ago.
Society as it is now would still exist, it wouldn't affect everyday life as much as a major virus outbreak, radiation, loss of electricity, zombies, etc.

Also, wouldn't anti-biotics be gone in most post-apoc scenarios anyways? Assuming they expire like most medicine.

« Last Edit: August 01, 2015, 09:58:40 PM by Seiseki » Logged

TammiDev
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« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2015, 03:43:26 AM »

@Ninety: Yea I was thinking about how the items in your survivor inventory now would have a different focus instead of 'I need guns to shoot zombies'.

@Seiseki: You are correct hence where I said 'Add a bit more drama to it'. So instead of 1/6 people died say something along the lines like only the genetically strongest lines survived. Or maybe because in the talk she said most people didn't live long enough to develop things like cancer, she gave an example of people dying around their 30s. Suddenly we'd lose all people out of management functions. That could derail society a lot as well.

"Also, wouldn't anti-biotics be gone in most post-apoc scenarios anyways? Assuming they expire like most medicine."
Doesn't have to be and also not the point of my thread. The point was to have a different reason than usual for a post-apocalyptic world not to have a world without antibiotics per se. I agree that a post-antibiotic world isn't the ideal scenario but it might a breath of fresh air. Not a game I can make with my experience yet but maybe someone else would like to run along with the idea Smiley
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Jordgubben
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« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2015, 08:16:00 AM »

I see potential here. The nice thing with anti-biotics, or any other scarcity oriented apocalypse, is that unlike a nuclear war, zombie-epidemic or alien invasion is that the change of society is very gradual. A game like this should probably not depict a specific point in time, but instead take place over a longer period of time. At least 3-4 generations will be a minimum because a new society can not fully establish it self the generations remembering the old way are still around.

One scenario would be to follow a family over the generations. The first playable character would be last person in the world saved by antibiotics before they become completely useless. The last playable could then be one of the the great-great-grandchildren of the first character finding an old journal and trying to make sense of the pre-apocalypse world.
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Jordgubben
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« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2015, 08:19:48 AM »

Almost forgot..

Not a game I can make with my experience yet but maybe someone else would like to run along with the idea Smiley

Do it anyway! I you "don't know enough programming to make a AAA video game" then make a card game using hand written index cards. Once it's balanced you can rewrite the cards in LibreOffice Writer and distribute the game as a PDF.

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Seiseki
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« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2015, 05:04:54 AM »

Apocalyptic is still too strong of a term for this.
Anti-biotics didn't exist in the 19th century and people were mostly fine.
Besides, we'd still have vaccines and other medical advances. We're also much cleaner, so the amounts of infections would still be lower than during the 19th century. We don't live as cramped and we have chemicals that help sterilize.

Or maybe I'm missing something here?
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ProgramGamer
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« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2015, 05:35:55 AM »

Apocalyptic is still too strong of a term for this.
Anti-biotics didn't exist in the 19th century and people were mostly fine.
Besides, we'd still have vaccines and other medical advances. We're also much cleaner, so the amounts of infections would still be lower than during the 19th century. We don't live as cramped and we have chemicals that help sterilize.

Or maybe I'm missing something here?


The higher you get, the harder you fall. Not having antibiotics way back when was not an issue because people were used to dealing with death and disease. If our modern society suddenly became unable to treat minor diseases that derail into severe diseases and maybe even death, chaos would surely ensue. It's not that far of a stretch.

Plus, it kind of obeys the law of a dystopia as well. To have a dystopia, you must first have a utopia that went wrong, which is pretty much that.
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Jordgubben
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« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2015, 08:28:04 AM »

I'm not entirely convinced that diseases would be the first big issue.

Most (non-eco-green-super-anthroposophy-hippie) meat is produced with the the help of antibiotics to some way. It may be for keeping animals healthy (thereby allowing for more cost effective living conditions) or just to improve growth rate. Lets say we somehow are forced to ban these practices internationally (and the UN actually manages to do it), then the price of meat (and all other products made from animals) would suddenly double. When an average family has to spend more of their available income on food, then more "luxury consumption" (electronics, gym-card, travel) would decline. Unemployment rates would go up, destabilizing financial markets and causing a fall in house prices. Then the dominoes just keep falling from there.

So make a habit of eating vegetarian more often than not! It's good for you! Hand Money LeftWell, hello there!Hand Money Right (<- The green stuff is salad)
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ProgramGamer
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« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2015, 08:32:10 AM »

...
So make a habit of eating vegetarian more often than not! It's good for you! Hand Money LeftWell, hello there!Hand Money Right (<- The green stuff is salad)

I'm going to politely decline based on your profile picture.
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TammiDev
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« Reply #10 on: August 07, 2015, 10:28:07 AM »

...
So make a habit of eating vegetarian more often than not! It's good for you! Hand Money LeftWell, hello there!Hand Money Right (<- The green stuff is salad)

I'm going to politely decline based on your profile picture.
Hahaha, ok that was really funny.

Though say anti-biotics don't work anymore we will also have a food problem because neither will it work on the animals, the fooc might become tainted or not enough. Like I said you don't have to be convinced that it'll work (the way zombies are depicted are very unrealistic as well). Add enough drama to it and you can make it work.

@Jordgubben: Thanks for the enthusiasm. I really just wanted to share the idea and I might work on it later. Right now I'm more focused on learning Game Programming Patterns and applying them to Turn-Based Strategy games. I just liked the idea so much that I wanted to give others the opportunity to hop in on it and take away what they think is cool/ inspiring Smiley
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Jordgubben
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« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2015, 09:57:15 AM »

@Jordgubben: Thanks for the enthusiasm. I really just wanted to share the idea and I might work on it later. Right now I'm more focused on learning Game Programming Patterns and applying them to Turn-Based Strategy games. I just liked the idea so much that I wanted to give others the opportunity to hop in on it and take away what they think is cool/ inspiring Smiley

No problem. I've actually started tinkering with an antibiotic resistance card game. Judging by the first solo test run it looks like it could be one of those games that are fun to play, but always results in the turning of best friends into worst enemies (sort of like Risk or Monopoly).
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