Making Games to Teach Physics and Mechanics

This survey paper introduces engineering educators to a subfield of computer graphics called physically-based animation (PBA) to advocate for collaboration in creating courses to improve student learning in STEM fields, especially in engineering. Engineering students may not realize the degree to which they can leverage their education to enter the entertainment and simulation industries. The central hypothesis of the paper is that introductory physics can be taught via PBA. The paper provides case studies that demonstrate early promise. The paper gives an overview of how “game engineers” leverage theoretical physics and mathematical concepts merged with design aesthetics to portray realistic and fun experiences, manifesting as game physics. As computing power has increased, the convergence of real and fake physics presents an opportunity to teach physics to non-game students. The field of PBA shows promise for enhancing physics education, but much work remains to determine how it may happen and the place in a college curriculum

Design of networked multiplayer snake and ladder educational game based on hash map and vector data structure

Computer games have been used as educational media or popularly named as educational games. However, most educational computer games that have been created can be played by one player. This study aims to build a multiplayer ladder and snake educational game focused on the server program as a moderator that handles players, player groups, and data traffic during the game is running. The game is built on Java socket programming and local area network (LAN) as a data communication medium between players. Whereas to handle the username and socket address of the whole player, the hash map data structure is used. A vector data structure is also used to manage data package sending for each player group. The experiment shows that the system works properly where the computer server’s performance is influenced by the specifications, especially the processor and random-access memory (RAM)