Cellula

About the Game

Cellula is a cell biology simulator disguised as a strategy game. Manage a colony of living cells, build their membranes from individual phospholipid bricks, place organelles, fight viruses, detect cancer, and divide your cells to grow. No tutorials. No lectures. Learn real biology by doing.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Start with a single cell — a ring of phospholipid bricks that self-assembles via physics. Place GLUT1 transporters to import glucose, amino acid transporters for proteins, and lipid transporters for membrane growth. Build mitochondria to produce ATP, ribosomes to synthesize proteins, and lysosomes to clean up waste. Grow your membrane by purchasing phospholipids from the Smooth ER. Ship resources between cells with the Golgi apparatus.

Then things go wrong.

Viruses drift toward your cells and dock on the very transporters you built to feed them. They inject viral DNA, which slithers toward your nucleus. If it reaches it, your cell becomes a virus factory and eventually bursts, releasing more viruses. Cancer can emerge from cell division — a dark, sinister nucleus that grows uncontrollably and spreads. You can summon T-cells to hunt it down, or B-cells to produce antibodies, or trigger apoptosis to sacrifice a dying cell for the good of the colony.

Every lesson is learned through failure. Your cells will die of waste toxicity because you forgot lysosomes. Your colony will collapse because you placed too many transporters and gave viruses easy entry. You'll learn what every organelle does — not because you studied it, but because your cells kept dying without them.

KEY FEATURES

• Real Cell Biology — Every system is based on actual cellular mechanics: surface area-to-volume ratio, membrane transport, metabolic waste, viral entry, immune response, and cancer development

• Physics-Based Membrane — Build your cell wall from individual phospholipid bricks that self-assemble, attract and repel each other, and can be clicked and dragged

• Complete Organelle Economy — Mitochondria (ATP production), Ribosomes (protein synthesis), Smooth ER (phospholipid synthesis), Lysosomes (waste management), Golgi Apparatus (inter-cellular shipping), and more

• Molecular Transport — Glucose, amino acids, and lipid molecules float in the plasma and are pulled toward matching transporters like magnets

• Viral Infection Cascade — Viruses dock on transporters, inject DNA, and turn your cells into virus factories if they reach the nucleus

• Immune System — B-cells patrol and produce antibodies. T-cells hunt cancer. Cytokine storms can destroy everything

• Cell Division — Grow your membrane, split your cells, allocate organelles between daughter cells. Each cell has its own independent economy

• Cancer Mechanic — Every division carries risk. The chance increases with each generation, just like real telomere shortening

• No Tutorials — Learn by doing, failing, and discovering. The game never tells you what to do. The consequences teach you

BUILT BY A DOCTOR WHO LEARNED TO CODE

Cellula was created by Dr. Patrick Gallaway, a former physician with a philosophy degree, who learned C++ in real time using free AI tools. It was built in three weeks with zero budget as proof that educational games don't need big studios or big funding — just accurate simulation and respect for the player's intelligence.

EARLY ACCESS

Cellula is in active development. Your feedback will shape what comes next — new organelle types, hormone signaling, diabetes scenarios, additional virus types, and more. Join the community and help build the future of educational gaming.