Project Description

Virtual BioChem Lab is a 3D web-based game proposed by Dr. Stone Chen. This game will include multiple labs for the students to complete and will be made with a realistic feel. The goal of this game is to allow students from across the country to be able to complete and learn their labs in a safe environment. They will be able to mess up as much as they want without penalty, as it is part of the learning process. This project will be free and open-source so that other developers can continue working on it once we have completed our part. Our team will only be focusing on the first lab, thus building upon the infrastructure and the foundations of this game. The lab experiment which we will be recreating is titled "Determine Protein Concentration by the Bradford Assay". 

Project Background

This project started due to major frustrations with students being unable to carry out lab experiments when being in the lab, even though the instructions were already presented in the lecture. Another frustration is due to the pandemic, which caused a hit to community colleges and consequently, they are not able to afford the experiments for their students. In the long run, this project will be helpful for community colleges across the country to provide the necessary learning tools for their students.

Tools Used 

To assist with making this project come to life, we have decided to use a popular game engine, Unity. Using it, we can accomplish the 3D game-like feeling that Dr. Chen desires. Unity boasts the ability to create 3D environments for a player, as well as being able to port the completed game online. The code of the game is written in C#, and 3D models can be imported using 3D modelling tools such as Blender or Maya. By using Unity Teams, we can also collaborate with up to five other students under the Unity Student license. 

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