So, I wanted to try to make a video game that could teach people about physics. I thought if I could just take a few things in physics one step past common knowledge it would be a success. My original idea would be to show that electrons are more like clouds of probabilities instead of a single ball orbiting the nucleus. I thought I would ask everyone’s opinion on here and see what you thought. I’m planning on making different scenes to teach different things like the electron probability cloud would be it’s own scene. I was curious if you guys had any other ideas on what I could try to include.
Another questions I have is whether or not it’s morally right do something like . I know that sounds weird but if I mistakenly teach the wrong thing it would definitely not be good (i.e. the mass of an object increases as it nears the speed of light is still in a number of college text books but it’s incorrect.)
Also, do you think is realistic at all? Would anyone be interested in a Math Blaster type of education? Thanks in advance for the input!
[QUOTE=sanford87;107516]
So, I wanted to try to make a video game that could teach people about physics. I thought if I could just take a few things in physics one step past common knowledge it would be a success. My original idea would be to show that electrons are more like clouds of probabilities instead of a single ball orbiting the nucleus. I thought I would ask everyone’s opinion on here and see what you thought. I’m planning on making different scenes to teach different things like the electron probability cloud would be it’s own scene. I was curious if you guys had any other ideas on what I could try to include.
Another questions I have is whether or not it’s morally right do something like . I know that sounds weird but if I mistakenly teach the wrong thing it would definitely not be good (i.e. the mass of an object increases as it nears the speed of light is still in a number of college text books but it’s incorrect.)
Also, do you think is realistic at all? Would anyone be interested in a Math Blaster type of education? Thanks in advance for the input!
What about making a game where you are in a futuristic “Science Museum”.
There are different parts:
Physics history
Physics learning
and then you can move around like in a museum, it will have showcases about everything and interactive tutorials etc…?
Wow, that’s a really good idea. I was thinking about all kind of crazy plot lines but they kind of took away from the main point of teaching physics. I really appreciate your input. Now I just need to figure out the lay out.
Sanford87, did you ever see the Unity project “Museum of the Microstar”? It was just a tech demo showing off some material shaders (made by a third party, not by Unity directly.) If you haven’t seen it, you should google it and give it a look. It’s small, and is really just to show off the shaders, but it’s funny and set up like a museum, I just suggest it that if you think 's idea sounds interesting, and you’ve never seen MotM you might get some inspiration from it.
edit: I suggest it because it’s simple (you could easily reproduce something of similar quality) and shows you that you can have something that is both educational (it is set up sort of like a musuem, with exhibits) but also has a good sense of humor and manages to tell a story through the exhibits. It should give you an overall idea of how in a ‘museum’ environment you can be educational (even though in sense it’s educating you on a history that hasn’t happened yet) and also presented humorously.
I would say go for it, but I am really not too sure the museum idea is the best choice. If you are targeting a subset of people that are already interested in, or are already studying physics to begin with then a museum scene might be your best bet - but if you want to reach a larger portion of the population you’re going to have to make a fun game out of it. I would gladly spend all day in museum, but if I were to poll friends and family if they would like to join me all day at a museum then I think you can guess what the results of that poll would be.
If you throw away physics for a moment there is a science in and of itself behind educational games and I would highly recommend book. Be aware that is a big book, but I picked it up last year and I think it’s worth it for the sole fact it made me more aware that you have to be able to quantify, in some way, whether the player of your game is actually learning or only learning to play your game.
Morally right really isn’t something you should struggle with only insofar as to have your game vetted by one or two third parties who can verify validity of the content.
I think all of the suggestions so far in thread are really cool, and I like the idea of going through a museum (or in your case, maybe around a science lab, or maybe in a setting like a particle accelerator, and sort of walk through a series of demonstrations set up all around), but in order to answer better, I thought up a few questions:
What kind of target audience are you going for? for example would be used as a teaching aid for university students? or would be more of something you release as a game? I guess what I mean, how technical are you going for, would the education part be the main focus, or are you going for a game that has educational components?
How much interaction are you planning outside of the experiments, is something where you would have a player walking around, and get the player walk up to a table with an experiment on it? or would you prefer it to be more cinematic, where the camera automatically moves to the next experiment when the player clicks next?
Which platforms would you be aiming for, would you want it on touch devices as well as pc?
Are the experiments going to be interactive, where you can move a particle (an atom for example) on screen towards other particles and have the particles react to each other? or would that instead be demonstrated for them?
Sorry for all the questions, I think it is a great idea though!
Madison, I have seen Museum of the microstar but had completely forgot about it. I’m going to look up those videos right now.
Badsensation, I’ve been looking for a book exactly like that. I’m really glad you saw thread.
, The audience I’m going for would be high schoolers to university students.
I’m going for 100% correct with what we know about physics but I’d like to avoid doing actual math. I’m currently a senior getting a bachelors in physics and I’d like to help people conceptually more so than mathematically. For instance, one way I thought about getting around the math is if you were trying to teach projectile motion you could give the player a cannon he can fire and have the equations presented on a wall or board somewhere. As he moves the variables in the equation change accordingly so he sees the effect but never has to enter a single number into the equation.
I’d like a lot of interaction and free roaming. For instance the player will be able to walk around the museum freely and choose what exhibit he want’s to enter. Depending on the limitation I may call them “levels” and make it necessary to complete a level before you can leave again. For the electron clouds the idea is to present the electron in a different light, a cloud, then I would just tag on a simple game, go collect 10 of these clouds. I know that sounds ridiculously simple but the idea is to simply show electrons in a “more correct” way.
I’d like it to be available on every platform but realistically just PC for now.
The atom is a good point. Another idea I had was to collect the electrons and deposit them around a nucleus and create whatever the appropriate element would be. The only problem is I’d need to figure out a way to add the appropriate amount of neutrons and protons.
I really appreciate all the questions. It’s easy to say “I have an idea” but it takes a lot of questions to actually refine it into something useful.
