Every cell type you'll encounter in Shepherd's Cells — what they look like, how they behave, and what you need to know to keep your colony alive.
Player Cell
The cell you control directly. It's crowned in gold — the only cell in your colony that wears one. Move it with touch or keyboard.
The player cell can never be destroyed or removed from the colony, even if it turns sick or faulty. Its health visuals change to reflect its state, but it stays alive no matter what.
Colony Cell
Every cell that splits from your player cell becomes a secondary colony cell. They drift toward you and generate DNA passively. The more you have, the faster you earn.
Secondary cells can be sick, faulty, or healthy. They die when faulty health reaches zero and are removed from the colony. Game over triggers when all secondary cells are gone after the colony previously grew past 1.
Sick Cell
A cell turns sick (yellow-amber glow) when a faulty cell is within 3 units of it for any length of time. Sickness is not immediately fatal — it's a warning that you need to react.
After 60 continuous seconds of exposure the sick cell rolls a 50/50: it either turns fully faulty, or recovers. If the nearby faulty cell dies or moves away, the sick timer drains at half speed and the cell slowly heals.
Faulty Cell
40% of all newly split cells are born faulty. They glow orange and pulse with an urgent warning. A faulty cell cannot recover — it will die in 120 seconds, but not before spreading disease.
After a 20-second warmup the faulty cell begins infecting healthy cells within 3 units, turning them sick. If you're not careful, a single faulty cell can trigger a cascade that wipes out your entire colony.
Enemy Organism
Orange enemy organisms wander the 78-unit radius world with smooth random movement. They avoid boundaries but otherwise roam freely. The world starts with 12 enemies and replenishes up to 20.
To capture an enemy, move your player cell so the enemy enters your capture ring and stays inside for a continuous 5 seconds. A progress indicator shows on the enemy. If contact breaks, the timer resets. On success the organism joins your colony permanently.
T-Cell
T-Cells are special blue defensive cells produced by the antibody system. They carry a visible shield ring and are tasked with neutralising faulty and virally-infected cells. They are distinguishable by their blue glow and visible circular shield.
With the T-Cell Permeation talent (Tier 2), T-Cells pass through the rest of your colony instead of being blocked by cell separation physics — allowing them to reach targets faster.
When DNA hits the split threshold every cell divides simultaneously, using a staggered 0–2.5 s mitosis animation. The threshold grows ×3 each split: 10 → 30 → 90 → 270 … so growth accelerates then naturally caps.
Spend DNA on permanent passive upgrades once your colony is established:
Sick-to-faulty conversion time doubles — 60 s becomes 120 s. Buys critical reaction time during outbreaks.
T-Cells pass through the colony instead of being blocked by cell separation — reach targets faster.
Antibody learn time multiplier halved — antibodies adapt to new threats twice as quickly.