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Science-based games

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

Games

Physics

Velocity Raptor

Agent Higgs

A slower speed of light

Chromatron

Kerbal Space Program

Delta V

Bond Breaker

Meqanic

Relativity Wars

Quantum Game with Photons

Quantum Moves, Quantum Minds

The Electric Shocktopus

High Frontier

Osmos

Chemistry

Covalence

Ion

Biology

Cytosis

Linkage

Peptide

Virulence

Cellcraft

Meta!Blast

Foldit

  • fold.it
  • protein conformation
  • 3d puzzle
  • citizen science

Evolution: the origin of species

Digestix

Bios: Genesis

Computer science

Turing Game

Spacechem

Colobot

TIS-100

Shenzhen I/O

Robozzle

Human Resource Machine

Hour of Code

  • https://code.org/learn
  • many puzzle games about programming and algorithms
  • some famous licences (e.g., Minecraft, Disney)

Decodoku

Cube Composer

Untrusted —or— the Continuing Adventures of Dr. Eval

Factorio

  • factorio.com
  • simulation building
  • collect resources and design factories
  • automate all aspects of factory production
  • Windows / Mac / Linux

Infinifactory

Health

Lifesaver

Vax!

Mathematics

SET

A game of numbers

HyperRogue

HydraSlayer

Mathbreakers

Euclid the Game

Euclidea

Refractions

Havel-Hakimi

Sociology and economy

Peacemaker

Democracy 3

Parable of the Polygons

  • ncase.me/polygons
  • social diversity, racial segregation (and phase transitions)
  • agent-based simulation

Humanities

philo: socratic games

  • gregkarber.com/philo
  • simple 2d platformers (puzzle, not - action)
  • philosophical concepts, fallacies

Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher

Life experience games

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.

Depression Quest

  • www.depressionquest.com
  • living with depression
  • text-based game (with choices based on energy/motivation - even though other options are visible)
  • web (free), Steam ($)

This War of Mine

SOMA

  • 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)

Bonus

(prototype) Grounded: Circuits

(side note) Vim shortcuts gamified

If it is possible to gamify such seemingly boring things as learning keyboard shortcuts, then the sky's the limit!

Meta

How to contribute

Content

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).

Form

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).

Ideas