DOCTORS KEEP SPIRITS YOUNG BY CREATING COMPUTER GAME.

Byline: P.J. Huffstutter Daily News Staff Writer

By day, Dr. Greg Zeschuk helps youngsters feel better. But at night, the 27-year-old doctor and CD-ROM developer taps into his own inner child to create his action-packed computer games.

``I think we like to play games more than the kids,'' said Zeschuk, 27, a physician who practices family medicine in Edmonton, Canada. ``I could probably make more money in medicine, but I'm a devoted gamer. I grew up on Pong and have played games ever since.''

Zeschuck and his partners, Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Augustine Yip, met while attending medical school at the University of Alberta. Between anatomy classes and chemistry exams, the trio would amuse themselves by playing the latest computer games on the market.

Once finished with a game, the students would cut into the program's coding to learn how it operated.

``None of us could program very well, but we decided to try to make our own game anyway,'' Zeschuck said. ``We knew what we liked to play. So why shouldn't we make something we know we'll enjoy?''

So the three launched their own game company, BioWare, in February 1995. Soon after, the medical doctors assembled a team of 30 writers, computer programmers, graphic designers and renderers to help develop their first game, Shattered Steel.

Set in 2132, Shattered Steel is a fast-paced adventure that follows the Doom and Quake school of shoot-'em-up games. The game allows a network of 16 people to play simultaneously, and the developers hope to offer Internet users access to on-line game tournaments sometime next year.

``They needed a distributor for their game, and we fell in love with the concept behind Shattered Steel,'' said Trish Wright, vice president of marketing for Interplay Productions, the Irvine-based firm that will distribute the BioWare title. ``We liked them so much, we signed the company up for more titles.''

Now, the Canadian doctors work two days a week in clinics and hospitals, and they work the rest of the week at computer screens.

``All three of us love being physicians, but also love making these computer games,'' Zeschuck said. ``In my mind, building a great game is worth any sacrifice.''

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Photo: (Color) Three young Canadian physicians - from left, Ray Muzyka, Augustine Yip and Greg Zeschuk - are leading dual lives as clinical and hospital doctors and as developers of a computer game.