The list is essentially about educational based games that nailed entertainment (with a focus on scientific phenomenon). - mettamage on HN
Here is a collaborative notepad with educational/science games, i.e. games that are:
- capturing parts of real scientific phenomena (including social science, medicine, etc),
- actually playable (you can play them for fun, not ones "for classroom only").
So in general, ones that may make you say I played X for its own sake, yet I've learnt how Y works! for Y being advanced enough.
This is a collaborative, public domain (CC0) list, where everyone is welcomed to contribute! See: how to contribute. It was started, and is being maintained, by Piotr Migdał (the author of Quantum Game with Photons).
A mini table of contents: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, Health, Mathematics, Sociology and economy, Humanities
- www.testtubegames.com/velocityraptor.html
- special relativity theory
- contraction, time dilation, Doppler shift
- 2D arcade / puzzle
- free, on web (Flash)
- www.testtubegames.com/higgsflash.html
- elementary particles
- charges, antiparticles, neutrino oscillations, decay
- puzzle (Atomix-like)
- iOS game (2 chapter free, on web (Flash))
- gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light
- special relativity theory
- Doppler shift, geometric distortions
- 3D first person perspective walking
- free, Unity, code on GitHub: github.com/MITGameLab/OpenRelativity
- silverspaceship.com/chromatron
- geometric optics
- puzzle
- warning: a few elements are unreal (most are real, though)
- kerbalspaceprogram.com
- Newtonian physics, space program
- strategy
- deltav.corpsmoderne.net
- Newtonian physics, orbital mechanics
- simulation
- free, on web
- testtubegames.com/bondbreaker.html
- electrostatics, chemistry
- 2d puzzle/action
- www.meqanic.com/app
- quantum computation and quantum information
- puzzle / blocks
- www.fungameco.com/relativity-wars.php
- space arcade / RTS
- some parts of relativity
- quantumgame.io
- quantum mechanics, quantum optics
- puzzle / board / simulator
- source: github.com/stared/quantum-game
- blog post: Quantum mechanics for high-school students
- www.scienceathome.org/games
- adiabatic processes for quantum states
- puzzle / action
- citizen science
- testtubegames.com/shocktopus.html
- electromagnetism
- platformer
- boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172737/high-frontier-3rd-edition
- models space mission logistics
- living game board and rules incorporate actual data as it is discovered
- realistic resource usage and phyisics modeling
- www.osmos-game.com
- gravity and conservation of momentum
- puzzle / action / strategy
- boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157586/linkage-dna-card-game
- molecular genetics
- www.kongregate.com/games/cellcraft/cellcraft
- cell biology
- real-time strategy
- Flash
- metnet-mbl.gdcb.iastate.edu
- plant and cell biology
- flight simulator
- nice descriptions of encountered elements
- fold.it
- protein conformation
- 3d puzzle
- citizen science
- boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71021/evolution-origin-species
- evolution
- card game
- learning.alimentarium.ch/en/games
- digestion
- tower defense
- Android, iOS (soon on web)
- boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/98918/bios-genesis
- players start as organic compounds shortly after Earth's formation
- create autocatalytic life and darwinian life
- Players can play cooperative, competitive, or solitaire.
- turing-game.pl
- Turing tape, programming
- puzzle
- http://www.spacechemthegame.com
- algorithms
- puzzle
- www.ceebot.com/colobot/index-e.php
- programming multiple, possibly interacting, robots
- www.zachtronics.com/tis-100
- programming
- multiple very constrained CPUs + communication
- SpaceChem-style optimization
- www.zachtronics.com/shenzhen-io
- programming
- puzzle
- author of other games: http://www.zachtronics.com/ including SpaceChem
- see also: Lessons Learned from Shenzhen I/O
- http://www.robozzle.com/
- algorithms
- puzzle
- user-generated content
- https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine
- programming
- puzzle
- automation and optimization
- from the designers of Little Inferno and World of Goo
- https://code.org/learn
- many puzzle games about programming and algorithms
- some famous licences (e.g., Minecraft, Disney)
- http://decodoku.com/
- quantum computation
- quantum error correction
- citizen science
- Web / Mac / Windows / Android / iPhone
- see also: Decodoku in 2017
- david-peter.de/cube-composer/
- Functional programming
- puzzle games
- alexnisnevich.github.io/untrusted/
- programming in JavaScript
- roguelike, puzzle
- web (JavaScript)
- repo: github.com/AlexNisnevich/untrusted
- factorio.com
- simulation building
- collect resources and design factories
- automate all aspects of factory production
- Windows / Mac / Linux
- www.zachtronics.com/infinifactory/
- algorithms, optimization
- puzzle
- Like a cross between SpaceChem and Factorio
- Windows / Mac / Linux
- www.life-saver.org.uk
- cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- interactive video story, fast-paced
- vax.herokuapp.com
- epidemic prevention
- vaccination
- network science
- www.setgame.com
- addition in finite field (
Z_3^4) - real-time card game
- Set (game) - Wikipedia and Which popular games are the most mathematical? - MathOverflow
- agameofnumbers.com
- arithmetics
- puzzle/maze
- www.roguetemple.com/z/hyper/
- geometry of hyperbolic plane
- a rogue-like game
- www.roguetemple.com/z/hydra/
- arithmetics, a bit of number theory
- a rogue-like game
- www.mathbreakers.com
- arithmetics
- 3d adventure game
- euclidthegame.com
- planar geometry
- euclidea
- planar geometry
- centerforgamescience.org/blog/portfolio/refraction
- fractions
- puzzle
- paper on optimizing: http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/ordering/
- jacquerie.github.io/hh/
- graph theory
- puzzle
- www.peacemakergame.com
- Israel-Palestine peace process (unfortunately outdated and too optimistic)
- strategy
- www.positech.co.uk/democracy3
- democracy, ruling country
- turn-based economical strategy
- ncase.me/polygons
- social diversity, racial segregation (and phase transitions)
- agent-based simulation
- gregkarber.com/philo
- simple 2d platformers (puzzle, not - action)
- philosophical concepts, fallacies
- Play online on Kongregate or Newsgrounds
- visual novel based on Ace Attorney series
- different concepts of ethics
There are a few games that feel somewhat related (even if not that much science-based). I (@stared) considered putting them in psychology/sociology, but it turned out to be a controversial issue. Again, what is crucial - it's not about only about theme, but game mechanics aligned with experiencing a difficult life siutation.
- www.depressionquest.com
- living with depression
- text-based game (with choices based on energy/motivation - even though other options are visible)
- web (free), Steam ($)
- store.steampowered.com/app/282070/This_War_of_Mine/, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_War_of_Mine
- horrors of being a civilian in a besieged city
- survival RPG
- Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Steam ($)
- somagame.com
- existentialism, transhumanism, mind-uploading
- survival first-person perspective
- PlayStation 4, Windows, OS X, Linux
- Steam ($)
- (this one even more subjective, just one allowing to feel some philosophical problems)
- sjbyrnes.com/1235
- electric circuits
- 'hydrodynamical' simulation
If it is possible to gamify such seemingly boring things as learning keyboard shortcuts, then the sky's the limit!
The easiest way is to edit this file, commit and create a Pull Request.
Remember to include:
- working link (and its nicer version), e.g.
[immunology-fps.edu](https://immunology-fps.edu) - field of science or enginering, e.g.
immunology - type of game
first-person shooter - (optional) technology or system, e.g.
Android, iOS, web - (optional) link to additional materials (e.g. repo, some interesting blog post about this game)
A game needs to fit this category and it needs to have science-based mechanics (not only theme!) as its major part as:
Any sufficiently advanced game is indistinguishable from a science-based game. - PM, HN comment
Also, for games from typical genres, the bar is much higher. It is not enough that "you learn about ancient warfare" or "you explore outer space". As a rule of thumb, mainstream games don't fit here (with the exception of Kerbal Space Program).
If you want to change its form, you are invited as well - but then create your fork (and I would be happy to hear about it!).
All remarks, questions or discussions go to https://github.com/stared/science-based-games-list/issues/ (or @pmigdal Twitter).
- Do it in YAML? (To make it more semantic.)
- Make it more visual? (In the line of https://github.com/EliotAndres/kaggle-past-solutions.)
- Add other fields like release date or dev status?
- Add some standardized (600x400?) screenshots?