Is it even a game? It seems to me like a very interesting simulation but I don't see game design there...
A Slower Speed of Light
21–30 of 108 posts
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#22Also of interest: Velocity Raptor http://www.testtubegames.com/srel101.html
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#23Is it even a game? It seems to me like a very interesting simulation but I don't see game design there...
> Is it even a game?
Technically, yes: It has a goal (collect orbs) a challenge (navigate environment) and a difficulty curve (increased distortion).
But it's really a tech demo, though.
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#24It's Motion Sickness Simulator 2012! No, seriously, I've never had motion sickness from FPS games but this one made me feel pretty uncomfortable. Those who do get motion sickness should consider themselves warned. That aside... it's not the first game/toy about illustrating relativistic effects that I've seen before, for instance there's http://lightspeed.sourceforge.net/ and a funny little Flash game that I've tried…
There was a relativistic version of asteroids: http://playthisthing.com/relativistic-asteroids
Looks like the site it was hosted in is gone, though.
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#25Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#26It's Motion Sickness Simulator 2012! No, seriously, I've never had motion sickness from FPS games but this one made me feel pretty uncomfortable. Those who do get motion sickness should consider themselves warned. That aside... it's not the first game/toy about illustrating relativistic effects that I've seen before, for instance there's http://lightspeed.sourceforge.net/ and a funny little Flash game that I've tried…
Hans Moravec created a relativistic version of SpaceWar! in 1971:
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#27I may be off-base here, but isn't the length contraction backward? Things should appear closer as you approach the speed of light, not farther away. And, it should not matter if you move backward or forward to observe that effect, yet it does (try moving backwards). Also, relativistic motion doesn't appear to affect the movements of the other actors, though it's kind of hard to tell for certain.
There are two separate effects at relativistic speeds.
One is that the actual size of things changes. That's length contraction.
But the other is that, because you are moving at such high speeds, how you observe objects is also affected. That's what StavrosK discusses in the adjacent post.
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#28Is it even a game? It seems to me like a very interesting simulation but I don't see game design there...
The best definition I've seen for what constitutes a game is this: A game is an experience created by rules.
That captures what distinguishes a game (as an artform) from other media. You could throw in some qualifiers to perhaps narrow it down (is paying your taxes a a game?) but it's not really necessary.
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#29Shouldn't mass be increasing as light slows down?
Re: A Slower Speed of Light
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
With 0x10c around and discussions on space combat realism I was thinking about some form of semi-realistic space "naval battle"/wargame. So the first thing I thought was, well low-scale speed of light giving wonky graphics is both cool and help getting the feel of relativity, but what about some Homeworld or a Master of Orion type of game with relativity ingrained inside the game rules and mechanics? Probably the mus…
I imagine it would be quite difficult to have working multiplayer relativistic mechanics. So far, I can only see single player mechanics working, which would restrict the appeal of such a game.
Yeah, multiplayer without a unified sense of "time" doesn't seem to work very well...