CD4 Hunter User Reviews

Drexel University

Top reviews

Most RecentHighest RatedLowest Rated

add gp120 animation?

I think it would be helpful to add a little animation showing how gp120 changes shape after it bonds with CD4, which allows it to bind to coreceptors.

ryanchem115

6 years ago

Response from developer

Hi ryanchem115, yes, adding this animation would be a nice touch. We would like to show more details in future updates of this game. Perhaps you'd like to check out our new game, Malaria Invasion (free download). Many thanks for your review.

Suggestion

In the game, all cells infected with HIV die though in reality that is not always the case. Some cells become “virus producing factories” that keep producing more and more virions. To make the game more realistic and to add another element, once a player collected enough points maybe in a specified amount of time, the player could unlock one of these “factories”, making it easier to produce more virions. This could be another level.

Show less

eep19

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear eep19, this is an excellent suggestion for future game features. Thanks so much for your review. Perhaps you'd like to play our new game, Malaria Invasion (free download).

great game! add more levels!

I found this game very fun and informative, but would love to see potentially another level added about the specifics of transcription (how single stranded RNA is copied to produce double stranded DNA) and then how that becomes integrated into the host cell’s DNA. This could be a great way to learn about base pairing as well as how HIV DNA moves from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and integrates.

Show less

kallen_2

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear kallen_2, we hope to add more levels to the game in the future and these are great suggestions. You might also be interested in checking out our new game, Malaria Invasion (free download).

Tang: Great game! Fun graphics

I would suggest adding a time clock below noting that in real life, the replication of HIV viruses operates on a different timeframe and different scale as the one played in the game. An added observation of HIV proliferation and how it operates in a real life from a dormant to active stage.

Ange12223

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear Ange12223, thank you for your review and your suggestions. We will consider them when we update the app. We are glad that in the meantime you enjoyed playing CD4 Hunter. Perhaps you'd like to check out our new game, Malaria Invasion (free download).

CCR5 evolution to CXCR4

I think a good improvement for this simulation could be to have some kind of progression in the co-receptor infection process. Right now, from level 1 it feels as though CCR5 and CXCR4 co-receptors are being infected at the same rate when, in reality, HIV evolves to recognize CXCR4 cells after originally infecting CCR5 co-receptors. Since this is an important step in the evolution of HIV to AIDS, I think it would be important to include in the simulation.

Show less

fiselmi

6 years ago

Response from developer

Fiselmi, this is an excellent suggestion. Hopefully, we can consider doing this when we update the app. Thanks for your review.

T-Cells Need to Produce more Virions!!!!!🔥🎉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

There are many problems with the model, but here is one improvement I think you should make to improve the accuracy of the game. The T-Cells should depict the production of more HIV, because the game makes it seem like HIV can be easily killed by the immune system, while in fact t-cell’s production of many virions is what makes HIV so deadly.

Show less

Pduke3

6 years ago

Response from developer

Hi Pduke3. Thanks for your review. You bring up an excellent point that we discussed extensively during our mobile game design & development process. We agree that depicting an ever-growing viral population would be more realistic, but in designing the mobile game, we realized that it would be virtually impossible for a player to control such a large population. Since the goal of the game is to play endlessly to achieve your personal best score, succeeding in the game implies that HIV (the player) was successful at evading the immune system. We hope in the future to add a mutation feature to represent the immune evasion mechanism better.

Informative and Fun Game

This game is a great interactive model to show how HIV works to infect T cells. The graphics are good and the tutorial is informational and understandable. To make this game more realistic, perhaps increasing the amount of cells available at a given moment would emphasize how the HIV virion just bumps into cells with a CD4 receptor and binds to them rather than specifically seeking them out.

Show less

limeblue2

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear limeblue2: Thank you for your review. Suggestions like this help us improve our game. You might also be interested in our latest game, Malaria Invasion (free download).

Fusion

Well many components of HIV infection couldn’t properly be shown and still have the game remain usable, I do think it would be relatively easy for you to include the fusion step more explicitly. Instead of making it seem like the virion just pops right into the cell, it would be more accurate to show it slowly fusing into it.

Show less

hajausbejjeeb

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear hajausbejjeeb: Thank you for your review. This was a 6-month project for an undergraduate co-op game design and development student at Drexel University, so we had to adjust our expectations to the amount of time available for the project. We very much want to add fusion to the next iteration of the game. By the way, you might be interested in checking out our latest game, Malaria Invasion (free download).

great interactive model!

i think adding a level or game mode between levels 1 + 2 to make the HIV life cycle more apparent would be both fun and informative. perhaps integration or reverse transcription. overall, this interactive model is helpful in understanding the larger concepts of how HIV infects the cell

WAYNEISMYLIFE

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear WAYNEISMYLIFE: Thank you for your review. We're glad that you enjoyed playing CD4 Hunter. This was a 6-month project for an undergraduate co-op game design and development student at Drexel University, so we had to adjust our expectations to the amount of time available for the project. We agree with you that more details and levels would be ideal, and hope to be able to add them in the future. You might be interested in checking out our latest game Malaria Invasion (free download).

Fun & informative—could be more detailed!

In the game, the extent of the replication process that is shown is pretty minimal— the HIV virus binds, enters the nucleus, and then morphs into more virions. This isn’t inaccurate, but is very simplified. It would be interesting to get a sense of how this replication occurs; namely, reverse transcriptase converts HIV RNA to DNA, and then enters the cell nucleus and combines with the cell’s DNA, etc. the game could show this process, or make the player convert RNA to DNA in some kind of matching game, as a “second level.”

Show less

gccpod

6 years ago

Response from developer

Dear gccpod: Thank you for your review. This was a 6-month project for an undergraduate co-op game design and development student at Drexel University, so we had to adjust our expectations to the amount of time available for the project. We agree with you that more details and levels would be ideal, and hope to be able to add them in the future.