The research game – Part 2

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This is the second part of the „The research game“ article. This time, I start to offer first thoughts on how the game could look like and how the gameplay challenges could be realized.

„Research as a creative work“ and „progress through successful experiments“ were the two main research game parts mentioned in the first part of „The research game“. These two elements might sound a bit complex and thus not very entertaining. However, the Mars exploration simulation Take On Mars[1] (TOM) has already demonstrated that explorative research can be quite entertaining. Players of TOM take control over Mars landers and Mars rovers. The first part of each mission is to bring the own vessel to the right area. Once arrived at the right spot, the players can use different scientific tools to analyse the environment. Furthermore, players can even assemble their own spacecrafts and equip them with the tools needed to perform all the experiments of a mission. Unfortunately, this does not really challenge the creativity of the players, because every objective has only one appropriate tool. In this case, the players are not required to think about the way how they can achieve a certain data set. Moreover, the gathered data does not play a significant role. It is more about bringing the vessel to the right spot and using the right tool to complete a mission.

Another interesting example for combining creativity and research is Kerbal Space Program[2]. KSP is all about spaceflight and designing own spacecrafts in order to explore distant worlds. In this process, the players are challenged in a creative way to think about every phase of the upcoming mission. Unfortunately, the available experiments in KSP are also only generic ones. The players just need to bring the right science tool to the right area in order to perform an experiment. Moreover, the gathered data is directly converted into science points without any additional analysis being required.

In the end, the resulting game could be some kind of an advanced KSP or an advanced TOM. Aside from assembling the launch vessel, it should be also important to construct the right scientific tools.
The challenge for this process should be given by the environment and the type of data needed to be collected. From this point on, the players should be challenged to think about a good combination of different tools to be able to collect the right data. Depending on the quality of the construction, the players would receive a certain amount of useful data in the specific branch of their measurement tools.

Aside from the tools and the potential issues caused by the environment, the virtual world itself needs to host a ton of different data that can be accessed during the virtual experiments. Additionally, the world needs to be separated into different biomes to increase the variety of the possible research that can be done. Moreover, If each biome would require different tools in order to gain access to the data, it would also increase the challenge in constructing good measurement tools.

A small lake could result in 4 different biomes: The soil around the lake, the air above the lake, the water and the surface of the lake. Each biome can host different life forms and also allow different analysis. Taking a sample of the air would require different tools than taking a sample of the lake’s surface. Catching a living sample of a life form would be even more challenging, because the players would be required to build a habitable cage in order to observe the behavior of the creature, too.

Finally, the experiment was performed and the data was gathered. At this point, the game should offer an engaging way to explore the data sets. It should be rewarding to look through the data and/or to discover an important correlation with other data sets collected in a previous mission. A good option would be to reward the discovery of noticeable correlations or eye-catching peaks in the data. However, the analysis should also reflect possible influences caused by the environment or problems during the experiment. The vessel could freeze if it is operating without a heat source in a very cold environment. In this case, the stream of data should suddenly stop and give some feedback about the problem. Aside from these negative influences, the collected data should also reflect a good outcome and allow the player to understand what was found during the experiment.

The resulting game can be on the one hand very useful to increase the creativity in solving problems. The players will train to analyze a certain situation and to think about how they can combine different parts to assemble a functional experiment. On the other hand, this game can also inspire the players to learn more about real-world science and even inspire them to perform own experiments. When the players get interested in finding new things and thinking about how to approach an experiment, it might be even more fascinating to discover how complex but also colorful real science can be.