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A Beautiful Maths Game

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Re: A Beautiful Maths Game

#2

Post by John2022 »

I think there's a good idea in there, but it's likely to confuse as is. It seems unhelpful at best to have the task to be to determine a function involving only x and y, but then you to have to click on t, and somehow that implicitly changes x and y values.

They should, in my view, have had y as a function of t, and dropped x. Or another solution that doesn't create confusion.

I also think it's weird that changing the equation changes the shape of the mountain, but the text is about changing the path of the sled.

Re: A Beautiful Maths Game

#3

Post by empath75 »

John2022 wrote: post #2

I think there's a good idea in there, but it's likely to confuse as is. It seems unhelpful at best to have the task to be to determine a function involving only x and y, but then you to have to click on t, and somehow that implicitly changes x and y values. They should, in my view, have had y as a function of t, and dropped x. Or another solution that doesn't create confusion. I also think it's weird that changing th…

There are two separate equations here, one is the slope of the mountain, which is a function of x and a value of y and one is the path of the sled, which is a function of t, with a value of (x,y)

Re: A Beautiful Maths Game

#5

Post by mlyle »

John2022 wrote: post #2

I think there's a good idea in there, but it's likely to confuse as is. It seems unhelpful at best to have the task to be to determine a function involving only x and y, but then you to have to click on t, and somehow that implicitly changes x and y values. They should, in my view, have had y as a function of t, and dropped x. Or another solution that doesn't create confusion. I also think it's weird that changing th…

> They should, in my view, have had y as a function of t, and dropped x.

Then you could have only had a flat floor that moved up and down. If you need shape that changes, you need it to be a function of both x and t.

So e.g. (x-t)^2 / 5 is a parabola shaped "bowl" that moves right at 1 unit per second.

Re: A Beautiful Maths Game

#7

Post by mlyle »

SquibblesRedux wrote: post #4

It looks nice. The movement is smooth and elegant. However, I really don't understand what the essential play loop is supposed to be. Is this about graphs? Calculus? Physics? Am I solving puzzles? Taking quizzes?

You're getting the gist of how to transform functions in a fun way.

Re: A Beautiful Maths Game

#9

Post by nathan_douglas »

I really like this. I'm revisiting math after a couple of decades off, and my son is getting into pre-calculus-ish topics in school, and I'm going to share it with him.

It definitely has a few rough edges, though. The equation in the first screen has the right behavior but is complex enough to probably be concerning for the target audience, and I'm not sure it clearly spells out what the player is going to be doing in the greater game. `y = x` is a great actual starting point and it clicked for me then. I'm not sure how to thread that first-level needle from a design perspective, to be honest.

Again, though, I do really like it. There's some trial-and-error on each level (at least for me) but I think that's part of what could make it an effective learning tool.

Re: A Beautiful Maths Game

#10

Post by Sharlin »

great_wubwub wrote: post #6

This looks pretty but it's very confusing and I have no idea what it wants from me. It says 'click here!' so I did but nothing came of it.

Yep, that's a bit bad UX. You're supposed to click on what the "Click here!" bubble points to, not on the bubble itself.
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