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The List

Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 3:46 pm
by testtubegames
I figured to seed the discussions here, I'd start off by pulling together a list of games I've featured in the blog.

-Electric Field Hockey, by PhET (http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/electric-hockey)
-Quantum Chess (http://research.cs.queensu.ca/Parallel/ ... Chess.html)
-Untangled (https://untangled.unt.edu/nsfcompetition/play1.php)
-HyperRogue (http://www.roguetemple.com/z/hyper.php)

Hrm, a pretty short and incomplete list! So you tell me, in the rare moment when you're not playing one of my games, what science games are your favs? If you'd like, start a new thread and we can all discuss that particular game.

-Andy

Re: The List

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:04 am
by hamishtodd1
Incredipede ;3 Portal, Braid, Osmos, World of Goo (which I feel tells me something about construction).

I made this game called The Stranger Loop about some topological concepts: http://gamejolt.com/games/other/the-str ... oop/10679/ just a proof-of-concept for the "interactive lecture" format really, but it won't take you too long to play!

Re: The List

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 2:46 pm
by robly18
Antichamber.

Just play it.

I would just like to say, I played your game and I found the cause for the flipping on the corner. It's quite simple really, and the shape remains the same: two mobius strips. Except the corners are... Well,they're on the opposite side. Hold on, I made an image illustrating it:
MobStrip.png
MobStrip.png (29.03 KiB) Viewed 48448 times
As you can see, all that happens is the closer you get to the corner, the closer you get to the original path. If you're headed straight for the corner, you WILL be on the original path! However, how to translate the corner itself into a shape, I cannot tell. However, it does behave like every other part of the playfield. Hope this helped!

Re: The List

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 3:24 pm
by testtubegames
I was bummed that (not having a PC) I couldn't play the Stranger Loop *before*. But now that I see that whacked-out diagram you drew, I'm *really* bummed! Gotta see if I can mooch off a PC-owning friend. Seems brain-tingling.

Re: The List

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 3:38 pm
by robly18
testtubegames wrote:I was bummed that (not having a PC) I couldn't play the Stranger Loop *before*. But now that I see that whacked-out diagram you drew, I'm *really* bummed! Gotta see if I can mooch off a PC-owning friend. Seems brain-tingling.
It's not much of a game, it's more of a toy or proof of concept. All you do is walk around in non-euclidean areas.

Re: The List

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 10:40 am
by testtubegames
Ah, so in some ways like A Slower Speed of Light. That's the MIT game where -- no surprises here -- the speed of light is slowed down. (Somewhat like Velocity Raptor in 3+1 D.) You just walk around and experience the world, and it doesn't really have much in the way of game elements.

As for that Slower Speed of Light game, I hear they recently released their source code so that other people could make relativistic games. I'm curious to see what comes of that, and if anyone ends up making games with it. (I, for one, got a bit nauseous from all the changing colors and the warping world... and I'm the guy who made Velocity Raptor!)

Hamish, that's a nice set of games you listed. In general, I notice they're not ones that *overtly* say they're science or math games. They are simply good games that make you think about the world in interesting ways. I think there's probably a lesson to be had in that.

Re: The List

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:08 pm
by hamishtodd1
^^^ Indeed, a lesson about marketing as much as anything else >:D

@robly18: just after releasing The Stranger Loop I found out about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_projective_plane and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boy_S ... -small.gif which is a "picture" of it. I knew about the "as you get closer to the corner you get closer to coming back upon yourself" argument - that was what I used to persuade myself it wasn't a bug! Here's a cool thing though: on the "projective space", which is what that field was, there is a singularity at the "corners", so you're kinda going to infinity and back.

Also Andy it isn't "just" walking around - there's a narration too and some bare-bones puzzles (tho don't worry robly, I can understand you not registering them). I made that game in about a week; it is indeed mostly a proof of concept. But but but - I may well be expanding on it.

More game suggestions (these are more "good maths" than science):
My First Quantum Translocator
Coil (ed mcmillen)
Mi ( http://www.tapitop.com/mi.htm download at the bottom of the page)
Soul Bubbles (horrible horrible level design but lovely, whimsical physics. Try it for 5 minutes but don't spend too much money on it)
Quantum Conundrum (play it with the sound off and ignore the corridors and it is so awesome)
Moments of Reflection http://www.freeindiegam.es/2012/10/mome ... ve-rockan/
Perspective (digipen)
Distorter http://www.freeindiegam.es/2012/05/distorter-斉藤-綜一くん/

Re: The List

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:37 pm
by A Random Player
I can't believe I forgot about Incredibots. It's basically a 2D physics sandbox where you can build things like cars, cranes, springs, Rube Goldbergs, airplanes, robots, rockets, and by exploiting imperfect physics, even a turbine!

Re: The List

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:38 pm
by robly18
A Random Player wrote:I can't believe I forgot about Incredibots. It's basically a 2D physics sandbox where you can build things like cars, cranes, springs, Rube Goldbergs, airplanes, robots, rockets, and by exploiting imperfect physics, even a turbine!
Oh man, I remember this game. I used to play it a few years ago, but was never capable of making anything good. Then again, I couldn't do algebra back then either. I should give it a try.

Re: The List

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:45 pm
by A Random Player
robly18 wrote:
A Random Player wrote:I can't believe I forgot about Incredibots. It's basically a 2D physics sandbox where you can build things like cars, cranes, springs, Rube Goldbergs, airplanes, robots, rockets, and by exploiting imperfect physics, even a turbine!
Oh man, I remember this game. I used to play it a few years ago, but was never capable of making anything good. Then again, I couldn't do algebra back then either. I should give it a try.
Yeah, and there are lots of new features. Thrusters and cannons no longer require paid accounts, and there's even a third version in public beta! (IB3 is a lot more fun, even if it's incomplete: The world is infinite, so you can have Newtonian relativity!) I can't play it though, my computer doesn't like that game :(