I am very interested in using games to improve the teaching of astrophysics
at high-school and university levels. Here is one recent experiment - using text
adventure games to teach the theory of the Big Bang. It was trialed in 2004, in a course
called "The Big Questions".
For more of my games, click here.
An Experiment
One of the goals of "The Big Questions" course is to try out experimental teaching methods. This course pioneered the use of such innovations as
an on-line bulletin board, WebCT and many other things at the ANU.
This year is no exception - you are about to be guinea pigs in the trial of
a very different teaching technique.
In the last two weeks of this course, instead of using lectures, we're going
to let you run a computer game. This game is designed to teach you about how
the universe began. But instead of being told about this in a lecture, or
reading notes, you'll work it out for yourselves as you play the game.
This is an experiment - we hope you will enjoy the experience and learn a lot
from it, but nothing like this game has ever been tried before. So please help
us - tell us when things go wrong, and we will fix them. Tell us what you like
about it, and we will expand these bits. And please be patient, as there are
almost certainly lots of bugs in the game which will need to be ironed out.
The Game
Imagine that you are a bright young astronomer, newly appointed to the prestigious Mt Stromlo Observatory. Your job is to figure out how the universe
began. This is the role you will play in the game.
It is a text adventure game. You type commands (eg "ask dr winkle about the telescope") and the computer will answer. You will wander around Mt Stromlo, make observations with its telescopes, analyse the data, chat with other staff
members over morning tea, read books in the Stromlo library and attend
seminars. Slowly you will accumulate the clues which will allow you to solve
the mystery and win the game.
The game is set in Mt Stromlo as it will be a few years from now, when the
post-fire rebuilding is complete. The science is all real science (slightly
simplified) and the conclusions you will draw are true ones.
Lectures
This game is designed to replace lectures and/or reading notes. On Tuesday 19th
October I will introduce the game in person in the usual lecture theatre. You are welcome to skip this if these notes are sufficient. I will also closely
monitor the bulletin board and help with any queries about running the game.
I will also give a lecture on 28th October to debrief you on the game and
answer questions about the real science of the beginning of our universe.
How to Play
You will need to download the game onto some computer to play it. It runs on
pretty well every known form of computer (ie. Windows, Macs, Linux, even Palm Pilots). The game is much too big to run in one sitting - I estimate that it will take several hours playing for anyone to win this game. You may choose to
run it on a computer at home (it should work on even very slow and elderly computers) or on an ANU computer. You can even move it from one to another - starting playing on one machine and moving the half-played game to another.
The game was written using the TADS language.
To run it, you will need to download two (small) files:
- The game file, called stromlo.gam. This file can be found here. This file is the same regardless of which
type of computer you run the game on.
- A program that runs TADS games (also known as a TADS executable). You should install this on the computer, and start it up when you want to run the game. It will prompt you for a game file - select stromlo.gam. On some systems,
you may only need to click on stromlo.gam and it will launch the game automatically.
Here are the programs you need to run stromlo.gam (the game file).
- Apple Mac version. May well install itself automatically when you download it. Otherwise just double click on it to install.
- PC version. Put it somewhere on your computer and then double-click on it to install.
- For other operating systems, you will find the programs you need to run TADS games linked from here.
The game produces a log file (stromlo_log.txt) and also, whenever you stop
playing for a bit, you save your current location to a file, so you do not
need to go all the way back to the start next time you play. To move the
game to another computer, you'll need to take this save file and the log file, along with the game. Then it should run fine anywhere.
The game is quite challenging, so share hints/ideas with each other on
the bulletin board.
If you really have trouble installing the game on a computer, you can play it on-line without installing anything. This on-line version has a few shortcomings, but should run easily on any computer with a web browser. Click on the title or here to run this on-line version.
The Manual
Here is the manual describing this game and how to play it, once it's installed.
The Manual
You will probably need to take notes while you play, to remember all the
clues and details you find while exploring Mt Stromlo.
Assessment
There will be no quizzes for the weeks of 18-29th October. Instead, you should
submit the log file that this game produces (stromlo_log.txt). This file will
be used as evidence that you actually used the game, and will tell us how much
progress you made. Roughly speaking, the score you achieve (out of 40 points) in
the game will be the mark you get. Submit it through the WebCT assignment submission system.
You should submit it twice. Submit the incomplete log file (whatever you've done by then) on or before 24th October, and the complete one on
31st October. This is to make sure that you don't leave playing this rather
complex game 'till the last moment.
We'd also love your comments on this experiment. There wll be a special quiz at the end of these two weeks which simply asks for your feedback on this game. This will tell us if it was an experiment worth repeating, and how to improve it.
Last Modified: 11th March 2005
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