1 decade ago by nholbert
Particles! is a platforming game I've been designing in ImpactJS for a while now. The game itself is part of a larger research study I've been conducting into how kids make sense of and reason with science-related representations embedded in video games. That's the short explanation of my work anyway...
A major goal of Particles! was to build a game where the player could change and build the level as they played through it. This is done by letting players design "blocks" that they use to move through the level. Players design these blocks by creating and rearranging the atomic-like structures that make up the blocks which leads to blocks with various emergent physical properties.
The game can be found here: http://rigd.ccl.northwestern.edu/Particles and has been optimized to be played on an iPad though it works plenty well with a keyboard and mouse as well.
Note: data about the kind of blocks you make, etc is recorded though no identifying info is saved. If you really truly don't want your data saved, enter in a silly age, like 999.
Some caveats about the game...
- Because this game is designed for research purposes, it's not as polished as I would like it to be. In other words, no music yet, terribly derivative artwork, only three levels, etc.
- The mechanics of the game are somewhat complex. For various reasons I have not really built in a smooth tutorial. However, you should be able to figure out how to play using the "just-in-time" info given during the game or by using the help menu on the right of the screen (marked by a "?").
- I expect there are still some bugs and I know the algorithm that determines block properties still needs some refinement.
That said, I'd love some feedback! Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions, run into any bugs, etc!
Thanks to Dominic for hooking me up with this fantastic engine!
A major goal of Particles! was to build a game where the player could change and build the level as they played through it. This is done by letting players design "blocks" that they use to move through the level. Players design these blocks by creating and rearranging the atomic-like structures that make up the blocks which leads to blocks with various emergent physical properties.
The game can be found here: http://rigd.ccl.northwestern.edu/Particles and has been optimized to be played on an iPad though it works plenty well with a keyboard and mouse as well.
Note: data about the kind of blocks you make, etc is recorded though no identifying info is saved. If you really truly don't want your data saved, enter in a silly age, like 999.
Some caveats about the game...
- Because this game is designed for research purposes, it's not as polished as I would like it to be. In other words, no music yet, terribly derivative artwork, only three levels, etc.
- The mechanics of the game are somewhat complex. For various reasons I have not really built in a smooth tutorial. However, you should be able to figure out how to play using the "just-in-time" info given during the game or by using the help menu on the right of the screen (marked by a "?").
- I expect there are still some bugs and I know the algorithm that determines block properties still needs some refinement.
That said, I'd love some feedback! Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions, run into any bugs, etc!
Thanks to Dominic for hooking me up with this fantastic engine!