Hi everyone I’m John Rogeles, Developer and artist on BioGun

A few years ago, inspired by an episode of Kurzgesagt, I made a free  survival shooter on the Scirra Arcade website.The game was called BioGun Arcade Edition, and in it you play as a vaccine trying to hold back a virus infection as long as possible. BioGun Arcade Edition  still holds a spot on the front page which amazes me to this day! 

A few years later, I felt inspired to flesh out the concept and world of BioGun. What was the microscopic world like? Are the cells citizens? Did they have a culture? Did they have a role? The more I thought about it the more I realized the potential in this setting and world. I talked it over with a friend and he also saw the world’s  potential. A couple of months later we were working on BioGun, a microscopic action packed  adventure.

BioGun is a twin stick, fast paced, metroidvania shooter. You play as Bek the vaccine who is the latest attempt at combating the deadly dooper virus. A rapidly spreading virus that threatens to exterminate all Canines on earth. That’s right. It is your furry best friends who are in danger. Bek is the latest trial and last chance at saving DocX’s dear dog who was infected by the virus and is in critical condition. While exploring the microscopic world inside his dog. you’ll fight your way through a variety of threatening infections, parasites and  bacteria, befriend and aid friendly cells as well as trade, buy and upgrade your gear and equipment with a local AntiBody.

Much of the anatomy  is still a mystery and so exploration is a big part of our design philosophy. The dog’s organs  are  filled with secrets, for those who dare explore them. Ranging from optional fights to mysterious characters and classic power ups.  We want the experience of the game to vary from player to player and reward those who wish to explore further while not slowing down those who enjoy a straight line to the end. 

It took us a long time to decide on the game’s aesthetic, controls and movement style. For the aesthetic we picked Vibrant and colorful hand drawn animation. It is difficult and time consuming but totally worth it. For the movement we decided to emphasize speed. We find speedrunning thrilling and so the player starts the game as a very capable and swift little guy dashing through the body at top speed. We do not hold back basic abilities like dashing for the sake of padding. As for controls we are avid PC and console gamers so we designed the game with both gamepad and keyboard and mouse control in mind. It took a bit of tinkering but we finally landed on a scheme that feels satisfying on both. Of course full keybinding is available from the get go on both settings.

The making of BioGun has so far been a long and arduous journey but it has been a blast. We’re really excited to show this game to the world and we’re hoping you guys enjoy playing it as much as we’re enjoying making it.

The BioGun alpha playtest is open to the public for a limited time. We encourage everyone to try it out and hopefully have a blast.

Check out the trailer:

Wishlist BioGun on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1219240/BioGun/