How a Summer Genetics Internship Sparked My Karyotyping Puzzle Game

Hey reader! I'm Arpan (aka chaatmasaalaa), and I’m building a karyotyping puzzle game - a chill, educational biology game where you arrange chromosomes by size, morphology, and banding patterns, just like a real cytogeneticist, but on your phone!

The game’s still in the works, and I’ll be posting updates, design insights, and sharing the entire dev journey here as things progress, so stick around!

How it all started

It all started when I was interning at the Institute of Human Genetics (IHG) during the hot summer of Ahmedabad last year ("Wo amdavad wali dopahar ki dhoop, Bolte bapor ka tadka; Paseena tapakta kya chamdi jalta; Gujarat ka registaan idhar kuch nai oogta" as Dhanji puts it in his 'Album Of The Year (Freestyle)')

We had just extracted out our blood, cultured it, and put it for incubation. We were waiting for our dividing cells to reach that "sweet spot" of development when most of them would reach the Metaphase. The plan was to extract the DNA from these cells, and perform G-banding on our own chromosomes...

I was SO EXCITED at the idea of doing that!! Looking and prodding at your own chromosomes, and studying them, half expecting to discover an undiagnosed genetic anomaly you'd been unknowingly carrying with you all your life! FUN!! >‿<

So while we were waiting for the cells to be ready, the scientists in charge of us interns printed out different pictures of chromosome spreads, and proceeded to cut them up. We watched, amused, wondering what they were up to. When they were done, we were left with piles of chromosome cutouts.

They divided us into pairs and gave each group a pile for us to try and "arrange" them... They brought out what seemed to me like an "ancient bible of chromosomes", which contained detailed information on the landmark bands of each chromosome that made them unique. Learning about all these TINY intricacies in the molecular structures of DNA inside EVERY *MICROSCOPIC* cell was beyond mesmerizing. Yesss, EVERY CELL has 23 pairs of these tiny chromosomes! Are you kidding me?? It's crazy how our bodies work.

And that's how I was first introduced to the concept of karyotyping. Over the next 2 days, as our WBCs incubated, we practiced, group by group, until we thought we were basically experts (we weren't!). It was weirdly relaxing, like solving a jigsaw puzzle, but with chromosomes! Finally, we were given the images of our own chromosome spreads, that we had G-banded in the cytogenetics lab on our own. And believe me, it was SO REWARDING!

We also got to see the chief cytogenetics technician "solve" a spread in SECONDS! She was VERY experienced, and it showed. We also saw how the process was being digitalized using computer enabled karyotyping - fascinating tech, but it still had a long way to go before it could do it as accurately as our chief technician.

The Initial Idea

This experience planted the initial seed of a digital puzzle game in my head, where one would essentially "solve it" by arranging the chromosomes in their correct sequence, based on their size, morphology and banding, much like how we had done it at IHG.

The more I thought about it, the more exciting the idea of developing it seemed. I started trying to figure out how each game mechanic would work. The chromosomes would be "drag and drop", like chess pieces in the Windows chess game. I imagined the game to have simplified and flat, 2D aesthetics, similar to the graphics of Dumb Ways to Die, Alto's Adventure, Kurzgesagt, and Duolingo. The chromosomes would be pastel-coloured, rounded rectangles, essentially. I want to go for a friendly, non threatening vibe that seems to have worked for all of these forms of media.

Who's it for?

But the next obvious question was: Who's even gonna use this? It obviously isn't for your average gamer, most people haven't even heard of karyotyping!...

I didn't have an answer back then, but I think I kind of do now... It's, primarily, for me. You could call it a creative outlet, an answer to the urge to put something out there. Developing this game is my attempt to try and scratch that itch. Also, I'm a sucker for that LinkedIn cred and the resumé profile boost. Call it cringey self-validation, but it's what drives me... (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

I can imagine this could be a good tool for educators, like those that taught me. It could be used to introduce the concept of chromosome arrangement interactively, teach the intricate features of each chromosome, and even diagnose a disease or two based on the karyotype. And it could be for all those curious biology students and genetics enthusiasts like me, who would enjoy the idea of a nice, chill afternoon arranging multicoloured chromosomes.

Stay tuned to find out how this venture turns out...

I'll be talking about how I started, planned all the steps - the design and the mechanics, the challenges I faced along the way, and how it's going.

Maybe it'll inspire you to go out and create a niche game yourself, who knows!

Until then, take care.

chaatmasaalaa :)