# Microbiology I: Biochemistry

#### Objective: Build a simple and intuitive game loop for microbiology that obeys the following design principles.

### Definitions

Game Loop: An intended sequence of actions a player performs as part of their specific job's work.

Player agency: The player's ability to input controls and interact in the game.

Game Space: A set of distinct and related mechanisms.

### Core Design Principles

#### 1. Player interaction, first and foremost.
Game mechanics must not require players to sit in a room and push buttons to do their job.
*Rule of thumb: For most jobs, about 80% of play time is spent not doing the intended job.*

The pace of microbiology must follow the average pace of gameplay.

Do not design game loops that completely disincentivize player interaction.

Game mechanics must not be designed to reduce player agency without strong justification.

#### 2. Do not make microbiology fundamental to shift progression.
Other jobs must not be dependent upon microbiology to function.

A microbiologist must not be necessary for the crew to deal with microbiology's mechanics.

In the overall code design, provide adequate mechanisms to automatically tweak or bypass microbiology's systems for special circumstances (no microbiologists, low population, player opt-out, etc.).

#### 3. Code and gameplay should be as simple as necessary.
Do not obfuscate game mechanics to separate experienced and new players.

Gameplay should be intuitive such that new players can quickly pick up the mechanics.

Code must be adequately optimized.

Code must give consistent and sufficient feedback to the player.

Admin tools must be sufficient for thorough investigation and manual system manipulation.

#### 4. Do not overstep on other established systems.
Respect the game space that genetics has over human mobs.

Respect the balance between interacting systems.

New ideas may be related to and/or share the same mechanics as an existing system, provided that the implementation is distinguishable.

#### 5. Provide documentation to explain thoughts driving major changes.
Leave effective comments in the code to orient new developers.

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### Biochemistry Design Rules

#### 1. Focus on improving objects, machines, and turfs.
Mob-affecting reagents are acceptable provided that the reagent cannot cause harm, is processed by the mob once, and cannot be smokebombed/foambombed.

#### 2. Precursors must not include chemicals that are secret or otherwise difficult to obtain.
Chemicals that are difficult to obtain may require a limited resource, significant off-station exploration, or other equivalent obstacles.

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## Design Concepts

### Precursors

Precursor reagents are reagents that tell the Synth-o-Matic which kind of biochemical should be produced. Precursor reagents are selected from existing reagents according to relevance/association.

### Biochemicals
Biochemicals can affect a wide variety of objects, machines, and turfs.
The microorganisms in the biochemicals are the basis for their enhancing properties.
These microbes are too weak to infect other living things.
There are no pathogens in biochemicals.

## Game Loop

### Chem Dispenser

Microbiologists use the lab's chem dispenser to make precursor reagents.

### The Synth-o-Matic 6.5.535
The Synthomatic has been repurposed as the special machine used to make biochemicals instead of pathogens, serums, and antibodies.

#### Setup
To make a biochemical, the Synthomatic needs a **blood reservoir**, an **egg reservoir**, and a full vial of precursor reagent. The machine will only accept uncontaminated blood bags and egg beakers.

#### Procedure
On the old HTML screen, the microbiologist will select the vial containing the desired precursor.
If the reagent is valid, the display will give the player the option to create the biochemical.
Creating the biochemical costs money from the department budget, blood, and egg.
The precursor vial is not used up for player convenience.

### Interactions

The game loop requires a supply of blood, eggs, and money.

Some products are useful to anyone: others are only helpful for a specific job group.

The manner in which biochemicals are distributed is for players to choose.

### UI (to be TGUIfied)


## Standing Issues

### 1. Promulgating information
Players will most likely not read into the benefits of this system.
Without awareness, players will not be a pull factor for the microbiologist to make biochemicals.
Players should become acquainted with the system in playtesting in order to ensure its continued use afterward.
A wiki page will also need to be made for biochemistry.

### 2. Player interest
Biochemicals will compete with established chemistry for time and effort.
Because the microbiology lab has been dormant, demonstrations are needed to convince players that the new system is actually fun.
Initial refactoring should be prompt and respect player/admin feedback.
### 3. Balancing
Effects must be significant enough to warrant production, but cannot be overpowered with respect to the affected system.
Ultimately, the lead developers have the final say on balancing

### 4. Stress Testing
This PR needs to be playtested with a group of players so that bugs and runtimes that I failed to catch can be fixed.