Factsheet

Developer:
TestTubeGames
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Founding date:
2011

Website:
testtubegames.com

Press / Business contact:
andy@testtubegames.com

Social:
twitter.com/TestTubeGames
facebook.com/TestTubeGames

Releases:
Agent Higgs 2
The Electric Shocktopus
Swing
Gravity Simulator
Velocity Raptor
Agent Higgs
Bond Breaker

Phone:
COMPANY_PHONE

Description

TestTubeGames is an independent games studio based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Andy Hall founded the studio in 2011 with the mission of bringing theoretical physics to games. He works from the ground up, trying to find the fun, interesting puzzles in a subject. Then he adds in cute animals, slaps in several dozen puns, and goes into a cave for several months of devoted meditation to come up with the titles.

History

Early history

Andy Hall was working at the Museum of Science in Boston when he decided he really wanted to teach abstract, complex physics using hands-on activities. We've all had those moments. There's a small problem with this, though. Theoretical physics is generally concerned with things we cannot see or feel. It described a tiny world, or gigantic galaxies and multiverses. It involves incredibly high speeds or strange, invisible force fields. So how could he make a hands on experience about things like that? Technology, of course! Thus began his first game, Velocity Raptor, an adventure in 2+1 dimensions where you are a dinosaur running the speed of light.

After that

He's since moved on from Special Relativity to make games about a whole slew of topics. Agent Higgs, for instance, is a puzzle game about particle physics (electrons, quarks, neutrinos). His Gravity Simulator lets you create solar systems and change the laws of physics to whatever you'd like. The Electric Shocktopus is a game where you need to use electromagnetic forces to navigate a dangerous sandcastle. Simply put, don't expect any non-science titles any time soon. He likes the science.

Projects


Videos

Shocktopus Trailer YouTube

Parallel Wires and Relativity YouTube

Bond Breaker Trailer YouTube

Agent Higgs Trailer YouTube


Images

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There are far more images available for TestTubeGames, but these are the ones we felt would be most useful to you. If you have specific requests, please do contact us!


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Awards & Recognition

  • "Honorable Mention in NSF Competition for Science Visualization, for Velocity Raptor" - 2012
  • "Winner of the iGamer Festival" - 2016

Selected Articles

  • "Remarkably easy to play, and you don’t need a physics PhD to do so."
    - Jennifer Ouellette, Discovery News
  • "If the topic isn’t interesting to you or the scenario and animation don’t make you smile, then surely the name will get a chuckle"
    - Lisa Moore, EDF.org
  • "Man, I wish these games were around back in my day."
    - Zombie Einstein,

Forums!
Learn all you want to know and more in the TestTubeGames forums testtubegames.com.


Team & Repeating Collaborator

Andy Hall
Thought Experimentalist, Designer, Programmer, Artist


presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks