English
Gamereactor
articles
Plague Inc: Evolved

Simulating the End of the World: Plague Inc: Evolved

Ndemic Creations' James Vaughan gives us an infectious overview of Plague Inc: Evolved.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

Plague Inc. launched on iOS and Android back in 2012, and it proved a bit of a success (that's putting it somewhat mildly - it has been downloaded more the 25 million times). It's all about making diseases so virulent that they kill everybody on the planet, so it's a nice and gentle game.

We asked Ndemic Creations' James Vaughan to tell us a bit about the simulator, and in the process, explain why he's bringing his game to PC and Xbox One.

"Plague Inc. (called Plague Inc: Evolved on PC) is a simulation / strategy game, in which you create and evolve a pathogen and then try to infect and destroy the entire world," Vaughan explained.

"I started making Plague Inc. as a hobby back in 2011- I've always loved games and I wanted to give myself a creative challenge. A key inspiration for Plague Inc. was the flash game Pandemic 2 from 2008 - I enjoyed the game but I had always thought "it could be so much better!" Eventually, I decided I was going to make a game that I wanted to play so I took my ideas around how the game could be improved and developed (such as creating a powerful narrative, including lots more strategic options, adding new disease types) and got started."

This is an ad:

That game turned out to be a huge success on iOS and Android. It was warmly received by critics and gamers alike. So much so, that Vaughan has decided to bring it to PC, where it currently sits in Early Access on Steam.

"It was a no-brainer to bring Plague Inc. onto PC - I'm a PC gamer and my original designs aimed to bring PC quality to mobile. I decided to recode the game from the ground up for PC in order to really make the most of the platform. E.g. we recently released a Scenario Creator which lets players make their own plague types and worlds, and share these via Steam workshop. We're also pretty deep into development on the multiplayer aspect of the game too, which we're hoping to share more on in the new year."

Plague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: Evolved
HQ
This is an ad:

We then asked the developer to tell us a little bit about his background and how that informed the game's design because as you'll find out, it's very interesting:

"I did Economics at university and originally worked as a management consultant. I had no experience with code or making games prior to Plague Inc. and I didn't come from a technical background so making the game was quite challenging! I was lucky to find a talented programmer called Mario to help me and he handled the development of the game engine," Vaughan told us.

"As for the game design, Plague Inc. is a heavily algorithmic game that uses a number of complex mathematical models to simulate the world, the spread of disease and the human response. My background in Economics definitely helps here and it also helps that I enjoy reading lots of random news articles on the web as it means I pick up little snippets of information that I can build into the game."

When it comes to making games, Vaughan has a few words to share with aspiring developers. "Making a game been one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done - I can't recommend it enough."

"Anyone who is thinking to make a game (or do anything else interesting)- STOP THINKING, GET UP AND START DOING IT! (Warning - only do it as a hobby - don't expect to make money from it otherwise you will almost certainly be disappointed)."

Plague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: Evolved

One of the things that drew our attention to Plague Inc: Evolved was Ndemic's recent fundraising in response to the Ebola crisis. We asked Vaughan about it.

"Plague Inc. obviously attracted a lot of public interest when the Ebola outbreak was in the headlines. Even though Ebola is not in the game, we saw an increase in downloads driven by people wanting to know more about infectious disease and how they spread. (Weekly downloads rose by 52%, and weekly players increased by 1 million to a total of just under 4 million.)"

He continued: "I felt that Plague Inc. could be used as a channel to help raise awareness about the severity of the situation, as well as funds, so we launched a donation page to help direct people to relevant charities in their country. The response has been fantastic and together with the Plague Inc. community - we raised well over $50,000."

(Anyone wanting to donate to the cause can go here, or go directly to www.plagueinc.com/StopEbola and find out more.)

And then, lastly, looking forward to next year. We asked where the studio is with the PC port and the Xbox One version of the game, what's left to do, and what the studio's aspirations are ahead of 2015.

"The last major feature to release for Plague Inc: Evolved is Multiplayer - we're working hard on that as a priority now, hoping to release it early 2015 and leave Early Access!"

"We are also focusing on the Xbox One version of the game, which was announced during Microsoft's show at E3 this year. Beyond that, I want to keep updating Plague Inc. with new disease types and scenarios and infect more people with it. I'm also playing around with various ideas for new games," Vaughan teased at the end.

Plague Inc: Evolved is currently available on PC via Steam Early Access, and will launch fully in 2015. Either that, or you can head to either the App Store or Google Play and start making diseases on your tablet or mobile phone right now.

HQ
Plague Inc: Evolved
Plague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: Evolved
Plague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: Evolved
Plague Inc: EvolvedPlague Inc: Evolved

Related texts



Loading next content