|
DoomEd is a single-player FPS learning game that combines science and history with FPS action, taking players through the horror of bio-terrorism and WWII chemical experimentation gone wrong. It's a learning and games research project from DESQ and University of Wolverhampton School of Education. The backstory mixes factual content (the WW2 experiments at Porton Down, Chemical Defence Experimental Station, ‘urban exploration’ in disused London underground stations) with fiction and fantasy (a lost labyrinth populated with human mutants and military personnel who believe the war is still going on). The action is set in the labyrinth of lost London underground stations and tunnels that have not been in operation for over fifty years. The game follows the conventions of FPS gameplay - interweaving between orientation/exploration and action/warfare with mutants but replacing puzzles with science-based problems and puzzles, drawing on appropriate aspects of the KS4 science curriculum.
You are Maxine Squire, an undergrad scientist and part-time urban explorer. You are on the tube home after a night out in the West End. It’s late, you’re alone in the carriage, passing from station to station, dark to light, when unexpectedly, the train stops - at Down Street. You’ve never heard of Down Street. The doors open. A second’s pause. You can’t resist - you step onto the platform. The doors close with a slam and the train moves off, disappearing from sight. As you look around you see old posters and signs: ‘Dig for Victory’ and ‘Return Fare 2d’. Bemused, but deadly curious, you walk into the only open tunnel. In the distance you hear a tortured scream. |
