DNA Island - puzzle action strategy where you breed new monsters

DNA ISLAND CONCEPT: PUZZLE BASED ACTION STRATEGY

You command a whimsical, tropical island that is home to an oddball human civilization that lives among wild and magical animals. Though these human settlers are short, fat and primitive, they have managed to become technologically advanced in one specific area - they have mastered the art of genetic engineering and use it to tame, and morph animals. Using their DNA lab they splice genes into existing genomes, evolve genetic traits, and fuse body parts of unrelated species to breed entirely new, chimera creatures.

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HISTORY OF DNA ISLAND (PART 1):


In the year 2113, a discovery was made that would forever change the course of human history. Scientists working out of a small, remote laboratory in Omsk, Russia discovered a method of DNA splicing that allowed for the the stable extraction and injection of DNA between different species of animals. This new method of DNA splicing allowed these scientists to pinpoint defining genetic characteristics of certain species and inject these specific strains of DNA into other animals, effectively creating a new and more dominant species.

It all started off as a purely academic experiment. The head scientist, Yevhen, brought in his pet crocodile and told his lab assistant, Sasha, to bring in her nephew’s eagle. With the two animals now at the lab, it was time to extract the defining characteristics of each species: the armor-like scales of a reptile and the wings of a bird. They didn’t know it at the time, but this single experiment would change the course of human history. The date was April 13, 2113.

The DNA was extracted from each animal and placed into a machine they created to splice the genetic strains together and grow the new species. Because of the eerie blue glow and crystal-like design of this contraption, they named it the “Crystalon Machine”. The machine was turned on and the DNA splicing process began. Before their eyes, a new animal began to grow, first the size of a pea; the next day, the size of small loaf of bread; the day after that, the size of a refrigerator. Then the unthinkable happened. What awoke was something they had only seen in the video games and television shows they had watched as children. With the scales of a reptile and the wings of a bird, it appeared as if they had just created the world’s first dragon. They named it Dragonius.

The scientists had now created a dragon. As it grew before their eyes and started flying around their laboratory building, they thought “What do we do now?”. The answer was simple in their minds - “Let’s do it again.”. So they created another dragon. Next, they captured a wolf outside their laboratory in Omsk and, of course, immediately extracted its DNA. They spliced the wolf’s DNA first with that of a reptile, and then that of an eagle, effectively creating 2 new species, a Fellhound and a Griffin, respectively. They worked tirelessly creating new species of animals, capturing new animals outside their laboratory and importing in new and exotic animals from around the globe. Soon their secret was impossible to keep. Citizens of Omsk began to notice the constant blue glow from their laboratory and stream of exotic animals being delivered to their facility. It turns out it was not just the citizens of Omsk that began to notice, but also the Kremlin. On June 13th, the scientists were “politely asked” to visit the Kremlin. Upon entering the building, they were whisked away to a heavily guarded facility underneath the structure. To their surprise, it was none other than Sergiev Budinsky, the grandson of Vladimir Budinsky, who met them. They were led to another room, where to their surprise again, they found their Crystalon Machine as well as the various animals they had created, locked behind electrified cages. They didn’t know it at the time, but that day would be the last day they would see the outside world.

This underground facility became known as The Chimera District due to the crossbreeds of species created here through the use of their Crystalon Machine. For the rest of their lives, the scientists would work tirelessly to perfect the DNA splicing process in order to create the strongest and most intelligent animals possible. Through their research, they not only learned how to create incredible strong animal crossbreeds, but they had also learned how to splice genes into live animals to augment that animal’s current attributes - these animals with augmented genetics also were found to produce stronger Chimera crossbreeds. As part of one their first gene splicing experiments, they took the DNA of a T-Rex (“acquired” from the Orlov Museum of Paleontology in Moscow) and spliced it into a gorilla, more than doubling the gorilla’s strength and ferocity.

Moreover, they would work to create a mechanism by which they could control their new creations. The ability to not only create but also control these fiercely intelligent and strong chimera crossbreeds was particularly intriguing to Budinsky who saw them as the next wave of military fighting machine. Animals were bred, weapons were attached to their bodies, and they were sent to war, controlled by simple chips implanted in their cerebral cortex and controlled by a metal headset worn by a human counterpart - world domination was at Budinsky’s fingertips.

Battles were easily won and the Russian empire expanded to once again encompass the former Soviet Bloc countries. These chimera crossbreeds were not only strong and intelligent, but they could be created from nearly thin air in an infinite supply with the utilization of the Crystalon Machine. The other superpowers (China, Turkey, India, Brazil, and the United States (now a second tier world power)) were scrambling to keep up. Each country assembled its best scientists in order to create its own version of the Crystalon Machine. The US, due to its severe lack of real engineering talent, was last to create its own version of the Crystalon Machine (albeit most of the planning and construction was still outsourced to India). Unfortunately, most engineers there were still concentrating on making photo sharing apps.

The other superpowers now had chimeras of their own. Russia now had to do everything in its power to regain its advantage - Budinsky once again turned to Yevhen and Sasha. They needed to create chimeras that were stronger, more intelligent, able to evolve and learn, and able to be produced instantly. They went back to work on a more advanced Crystalon Machine. Despite a nearly unlimited supply of electricity to power the Crystalon Machine, they still could not accomplish what they wanted. They needed to go back to the drawing board.

Electricity wasn’t enough. Nuclear power wasn’t either. They needed to to find an entirely new source to power the machine. A full-scale mining operation was put in place to discover a new element to power the machine. Yevhen and Sasha had a hunch that an element with such power could only be found directly at the core of the planet. They were right. On August 8, 2118, an element, later named Aldezium, was discovered. This element was such an incredible source of power that chimeras produced or treated with even low doses of Aldezium received incredible boosts to their attributes It was another discovery of a lifetime for these two brilliant scientists - it would be their last.

The animals created from now on were smarter and stronger than ever before. Russia was once again in front of the herd. However, what they didn’t realize is that this new breed of chimera would not be so easily controlled by their human counterparts. They also didn’t realize that this drilling at the Earth’s core for Aldezium would have a drastic effect on the Earth’s landscape....

PM or email us if you want find out what happens in History of DNA Island (Part 2)

 

There is a base building component that takes time... but the growing/army-building element is a lot faster than it is in similar games. Within 2-3 weeks of casual play time (where you play 5-10mins/day) you should have access to over 50 unique units that you can build and take to battle. The units that don't die in battle return back to your base, so that you don't have to rebuild them. And for players with serious match-3 skills, there is a healing gem that can heal units mid-battle to really get as much mileage out of them as possible.

Let me know what you think of the above. Happy to clarify more, and brainstorm some other mechanics that speed up the gameplay.

 

@paley - you are correct. The match-3 mechanic triggers different unit's attacks depending on their element.

Would love to hear some of you suggestions for characters. As you can see in the screenshot there is already a lion, a rhino, a polar bear, a wolf and a gorilla. You'd need to beta test to find out the rest, since there are too many cross-breeding combinations to currently list out.