Quantum Minecraft?

There are fun science games out there. Right?
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testtubegames
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Quantum Minecraft?

Post by testtubegames »

I'm really intrigued by this new Minecraft mod: QCraft. It aims to add quantum mechanical rules to Minecraft. (http://qcraft.org/)

Whoa.

I haven't gotten the chance to play around with it yet -- still figuring out how to get the mod installed -- but I figured this would be right up our collective alley. It might be well done, it might be poorly done, but regardless it should be interesting. I'll report back when I've successfully installed the mod!
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robly18
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by robly18 »

I saw this on your tweets. It looks interesting, but it doesn't "feel" quantic. I get that it was made for teaching and is made to be more intuitive, but I was expecting something more like... I don't know, exactly, but certainly not "look at this from this angle, now look at it from this one".
Anyway, if you need help installing it, feel free to ask me! Been playing since alpha. 2010. Yeah.
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A Random Player
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by A Random Player »

I saw it on tweets as well. I don't think it's actually quantum though. I was imagining more like this:
"It's a quantum block: It fluctuates between stone and diamond. Lemme mine it; Oh, it's stone! :("
or "This platform [ie. cat state] may or may not be a platform. You can observe it by standing on it. Oops, looks like this time it's an air block. *falls into lava* Noones standing on it: It might be a platform this time!'

To me the qcraft looks and acts just like a hidden switch, but depending on the player's direction instead of actions.
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testtubegames
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by testtubegames »

Yeah, it's interesting to break down what they've done -- especially since I'd love to make a *good* quantum game some day. In the midst of trying to load the mod, I came across a couple pretty exhaustive videos of it (http://wiki.qcraft.org/).

Seems to indeed rely *very* heavily on analogies. Perhaps too heavily (for my taste at least). Like you say, robly and random, the result doesn't feel that quantum anymore. To paraphrase, there are:

1. Directional blocks - that change to a certain state (100% chance!) depending on the angle you look at them.
2. Chancey-Directional Blocks -- they change to one of two states (50% chance!), also depending on the angle you look at them.
3. Superposition -- some blocks are linked so they'll always be the same.

The first one doesn't feel quantum at all -- since the chance of a given thing happening is 100%. Whar the quantum?

The second gets us closer, at least, though the existence of that "depends on the angle" piece makes it feel strange still. The angle of measurement in QM can be important (say, spin measurements), but it feels artificial here. And, of course, the 50-50 chance is no different from a coin toss. So while it is, yes, like Schrodinger's Cat in the random-chance way, it's not noticeably different from classical situations we're used to. So again, whar the quantum?

Anyway, it got me thinking about how the mod (or any quantum game) could improve upon what they've got. What lessons could we learn?

One, for me, I think, is to base the mechanics on something concrete. So the pieces are photons with a certain polarization and phase. Or they are electrons with a spin state. And then build a game around that. And insert any analogies way at the end (the electrons are spinning baseballs! or whatever). That way you'll avoid ending up with something that really doesn't feel quantum. *AND* you'll get the added benefit of having some really advanced content. So maybe you'd get something rad like Quantum Teleportation or Bell's Inequality to just exist in the game inherently. Kinda like how in Velocity Raptor, we get the twin paradox for free.

What do you think? What lesson should we learn from this mod?
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robly18
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by robly18 »

What we learned from this mod is that quantum mechanics don't fit with minecraft.

Seriously, neither of us can actually think of a way to make it fit, can we?

Still, the electron baseball thing, that was a good idea. Maybe you should make a game based around that? :D
The main problem with quantum games would be that they have to be in a very small scale, and at that scale there isn't really much to do. And even then, the whole (drinking game: have a shot every time I say the word mechanics) mechanics of quantum mechanics require randomness, which doesn't make for good game mechanics.
Then again, there could be ways to adapt it to the game, as to make it so that the randomness doesn't affect the outcome much. Or use quantum superposition.
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A Random Player
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by A Random Player »

robly18 wrote:What we learned from this mod is that quantum mechanics don't fit with minecraft.

Seriously, neither of us can actually think of a way to make it fit, can we?

Still, the electron baseball thing, that was a good idea. Maybe you should make a game based around that? :D
Photons are baseballs, polarizations are directions of spin. Some blocks (throwing machines?) output a redstone signal when hit by a specific baseball or change a baseball's polarization. Some reactions generate baseballs with opposite polarizations. Hidden baseballs are in a superposition, etc. Seems like it'll work, except for probabilities in wave-particle duality and double slit experiment, but then again, MC doesn't work or things like that.;

Edit: Or perhaps electrons by default aren't observed, and you hit them to observe them. This has the added benefit of automatically showing collapses.
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minilyaa
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by minilyaa »

Minecraft path variable help? in visdual basic im trying to make a button to open minecraft but what is the path to minecraft to make it open up like there is a path to everythingg but where can i find the path to minecraft the actual game to open.
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testtubegames
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Re: Quantum Minecraft?

Post by testtubegames »

Hey minilyaa! Welcome to the forums!

I don't know much about Visual Basic, I'm afraid, though someone here might. And I was able to find Minecraft on my Mac without any problem by searching for it, but I imagine you've tried the equivalent thing. (I did learn, though, that Minecraft still lives in my Downloads folder... whoops! Good thing I don't clean that folder out often, apparently.)
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