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Hi guys, this isn't MTM2 in the least, just I have been posting this around various places and realised it could fly here too

Those who know me know I am a postgrad research student and my research topic is on computer games for teaching physics. Specifically I am focusing on games technology for portraying Einstein's Theory of Relativity in an interactive game environment, and whether such a game can help people to learn the concepts of relativity.

I have concocted a simple game (based on the classic 'Asteroids' arcade game) that shows some of the differences between classical and relativistic models of mechanics. I've put this game on the following website where it can be freely downloaded and played:

http://athene.riv.csu.edu.au/~dcarr/

The website also links to a voluntary online questionnaire to gather data on how well this approach works. The questionnaire will ask you to rate aspects of the game (if you chose to play it) and test your knowledge of relativity. Basically I want to find out if it's fun, and if you learn anything from it. It would really help me to get as many responses as possible so I hope you'll check it out and pass it on

I'll test it out, have a couple of others that will too and will pass it along for you.

Good luck with your further research.

<center><img src="http://mtm2.com/~forum/images/einsteinstheoryofasteroids.gif" width="500" height="119"></center>

direct X version 9

Mal's version of the dll did the trick.

<center><img src="http://mtm2.com/~forum/images/relasteroids1.gif" width="500" height="434"></center>

Dunno what I'm doing but it worked.

Glad to see you got it working then.

The DLLs have been a bit of a vexing problem. Even though non-Vista DirectX is frozen at version 9.0c, Microsoft still seem to be releasing incremental updates to the non-API parts of the SDK and runtime library, and there's now a whole raft of different numbered D3DX (Direct3D eXtensions) DLL libraries. You'll get that error message if your system is missing one or more of the DLLs (because your installation of DirectX is a bit older). Fortunately the DLLs are portable and can be added-in manually if you don't feel like updating your entire DirectX installation.

I've updated my web pages and added an additional download for d3dx_27.dll. Thanks guys for looking at it

I scored 12170. Does that make me a space cadet? I've played the game a few times but I'm not sure I feel like einstein yet. I don't think I'm getting the point.

Well the stuff I put into the game is intended to demonstrate the effects that are described by relativity (Lorentz contraction and so on). If you were learning this stuff from a textbook and/or instructor you might find it gives you more context for theoretical knowledge (and indeed I will be running a study with a class of schoolkids who are being taught by a teacher as well). I am also interested in how appealing and how much it conveys to a casual player as well, although most of the 'serious games' research space acknowledges that learning games and edutainment can't totally replace instruction.

BTW, the test section of my survey has been designed with questions of roughly ascending difficulty and the last few should be well out of the domain of what is actually in the game. So even if you play it, there are some questions you shouldn't be able to answer based on the game's content. This will be another measure that allows me to say whether it works or not

I'm a 16 year old high school student. I am studying Physics in year 12 but I haven't actually studied the theory of relativity yet (space topic is yet to be covered). I'm afraid I didn't understand the whole concept from this game. Of course I'm not sure who this was aimed at but I didn't even understand how the game actually related to the concept.
However, it was fun and with a few more graphics I'm sure it would be great.

Mel

Been a long time since I even thought about that stuff.
I have played the game at different levels and I can't help cause I cant quite grasp the relationship there either, sorry D2S wish I could help more but to answer the questions again would not help, I would still get the same answers I gave the first time.

In 2 / R pure "slow light" relativistic mode, if you crank up the aftreburners (shift+arrow) then the ship compresses without appearing to accelerate. In the other two modes the ship hauls butt across the screen. I'm not too keen on what the point is though... I know little about the theory (what I learned in sixth grade lol) and science is not one of my strongest of subjects although it is intriguing at times.

nice job on the game, now educate us Dr. D2S :)

Okay.


That's fine; I wouldn't expect you to possibly grasp all there is about relativity from this (there's only so much I can show with a triangle after all!). This game is actually aimed at HSC students like yourself (although technically I only created this as a prototype and exercise, and it's been appropriated for this use now). When you do undertake the Space 4 module of the syllabus, you should be introduced to the system of equations called the "Lorentz transformation" which deal with calculating (transforming) measurements of length, time and mass between inertial frames. Those transforms are entirely what the game is about so once you have been exposed to those equations it should become apparent how it relates. I do plan to run focus group(s) with high school students here to see how it sits with their classroom learning, but putting it on the web was another way to get a wider and more general audience.

I agree that if you don't have course materials to draw on, it is lacking a bit of context for what it's about, but at the least if it gets you thinking you can go and read up further. Possibly I need something like this physics edu-game (actually very similar template but only focused on classical mechanics): Waste of Space. This has a somewhat lengthy tutorial introduction at the start that explains the concepts (Newton's laws etc), although IMO it doesn't work so well to reinforce understanding the concepts in the actual game, but possibly something like that in the future game I make would help to situate what it's about.


No. That will still help, because it gives me before and after comparison. Even if the "played game" and "not played game" results show that there's no benefit and I need to rethink my design and approach, it is still good science
Also when you go through the survey and indicate that you have played the game, that opens up an additional section to rate the game so you can indicate what works or what's failing.


Right, that's something you should notice that relates to the "speed limit" effect of light. The thing about light speed is it's so stupendously huge that we can't possibly approach it or observe the effects in day-to-day activities, that's why classical mechanics remains accurate in daily settings (and relativity reduces to classical physics at the limit of relatively slow speeds). Artificially reducing the speed of light makes it accessible in these settings (changing the light speed is a scaling and doesn't affect the physics). In the "2 / R" mode I have just set the light speed low enough that you hit that wall pretty quickly, so it enters into the game play quite readily. In the "Challenge" mode (F1 key) it has some levels with very high light speed that you should see play identically to the classical mechanics.

Did anyone go read the Mr Tompkins story I have linked on the page? You might find that gives some good reference, as it's the same idea



Have I inflicted enough upon you yet?

[ Whoops, I just noticed I had cookies enabled on the survey that prevents it being taken more than once on the same computer - a slip-up as ideally I wanted people to do it twice (before and after playing)! I've turned it off, so if it locked you out before please try again. ]

Nope lol, will go back and read again and re try questions as you said it will help