3 ms·

Video game development actually involves a lot of science and engineering and can require advanced 3D math, logic, psychology, etc.

ekianjo 9y ago
I beg to pardon but I highly doubt that the level they will practice at is ever going to touch upon any advanced topic you suggest, and not all games run in 3D either. Science is about observation and deriving insights and rules from what you see, video games is largely more of an engineering problem that typical science/exploration.
- Pica_soO 9y ago
  Every video-game ever made is a system tailored to maximize the fun another system (the player) has while communicating. Optimizing any given system (no matter how mundane) leads, when approached rigorously and for a prolonged time - to a engineering mindset. Finally, im sure you could drop them a "scientific" task, and watch the number o interested persons drop to zero. Science can be horrifically tedious, i remember those experiment/measurement serieses my grandfather let me do when i was enthusiastic about chemistry in my childhood. One afternoon, of unexplained science drudgery, (a repetition of radiactivity measurments) killed my interest for chemistry back then. So horray, for taking people by something they naturally care about at that age (Games) and by that hook interest something that makes them grow.
- tskaiser 9y ago
  Making a game at the very most basic level teaches logic. Making a good game, no matter how basic, involves game design, which touches upon psychology.
  - ekianjo 9y ago
    Psychology as science is still a very debatable sUbject. Ask neuroscientists what they think about it for a laugh.
- throwawayjava 9y ago
  > Science is about observation and deriving insights and rules from what you see Is mathematics a science? How about mathematics within a pre-defined discipline (e.g., doing novel work on group theory without inventing new axioms/structures)? Is that science? If you include mathematics in the sciences, which I think we should, then it's hard to see how video game development is non-scientific. (Besides which, the old trope about AI applies also to science. AI is AI until it becomes useful, then it's no longer AI and becomes some other branch of CS. All of engineering is science until it becomes useful, then it's no longer science but some branch of engineering.) > video games is largely more of an engineering problem that typical science/exploration. For one, video games are a great way to understand the strengths and limitations of simulation in science. And basically all fields of science these days have a corresponding field of computational science focused on using simulations to better understand the underlying science. So, it's important.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Is mathematics a science? No, it's purely analytical, not empirical. Mathematics provides essential tools used in science, but is not science.
    - throwawayjava 9y ago
      Well then ekianjo's argument is even weaker, because "STEM" now clearly includes at least one thing that is unambiguously not "science"... (besides which, there are some obvious problems here -- not least of which is that many sciences rely on mathematical objects in probability and statistics to determine what is and is not true about observations. IMO modern science is inseparable from mathematics, and concrete mathematical objects form most of the philosophical substrate of modern scientific practice... so, if "science" is separated from "mathematics", that's only the case in some primitive high school understanding of how modern science is actually performed in reality. Maybe that's a problem with how science is performed in reality, but AFAICT it seems to be working pretty well in most areas with some notable huge exceptions.)
      - 9y ago
- d0lph 9y ago
  To the contrary, there is a large amount of math to be learned from 2d game development(beginner level). Algebra, geometry, coordinate spaces, physics, perhaps even linear algebra. You are right that it is more engineering, but engineering encourages and facilitates understanding scientific principles.

ekianjo 9y ago

I beg to pardon but I highly doubt that the level they will practice at is ever going to touch upon any advanced topic you suggest, and not all games run in 3D either. Science is about observation and deriving insights and rules from what you see, video games is largely more of an engineering problem that typical science/exploration.

Pica_soO 9y ago
Every video-game ever made is a system tailored to maximize the fun another system (the player) has while communicating. Optimizing any given system (no matter how mundane) leads, when approached rigorously and for a prolonged time - to a engineering mindset. Finally, im sure you could drop them a "scientific" task, and watch the number o interested persons drop to zero. Science can be horrifically tedious, i remember those experiment/measurement serieses my grandfather let me do when i was enthusiastic about chemistry in my childhood. One afternoon, of unexplained science drudgery, (a repetition of radiactivity measurments) killed my interest for chemistry back then. So horray, for taking people by something they naturally care about at that age (Games) and by that hook interest something that makes them grow.
tskaiser 9y ago
Making a game at the very most basic level teaches logic. Making a good game, no matter how basic, involves game design, which touches upon psychology.
- ekianjo 9y ago
  Psychology as science is still a very debatable sUbject. Ask neuroscientists what they think about it for a laugh.
throwawayjava 9y ago
> Science is about observation and deriving insights and rules from what you see Is mathematics a science? How about mathematics within a pre-defined discipline (e.g., doing novel work on group theory without inventing new axioms/structures)? Is that science? If you include mathematics in the sciences, which I think we should, then it's hard to see how video game development is non-scientific. (Besides which, the old trope about AI applies also to science. AI is AI until it becomes useful, then it's no longer AI and becomes some other branch of CS. All of engineering is science until it becomes useful, then it's no longer science but some branch of engineering.) > video games is largely more of an engineering problem that typical science/exploration. For one, video games are a great way to understand the strengths and limitations of simulation in science. And basically all fields of science these days have a corresponding field of computational science focused on using simulations to better understand the underlying science. So, it's important.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Is mathematics a science? No, it's purely analytical, not empirical. Mathematics provides essential tools used in science, but is not science.
  - throwawayjava 9y ago
    Well then ekianjo's argument is even weaker, because "STEM" now clearly includes at least one thing that is unambiguously not "science"... (besides which, there are some obvious problems here -- not least of which is that many sciences rely on mathematical objects in probability and statistics to determine what is and is not true about observations. IMO modern science is inseparable from mathematics, and concrete mathematical objects form most of the philosophical substrate of modern scientific practice... so, if "science" is separated from "mathematics", that's only the case in some primitive high school understanding of how modern science is actually performed in reality. Maybe that's a problem with how science is performed in reality, but AFAICT it seems to be working pretty well in most areas with some notable huge exceptions.)
    - 9y ago
d0lph 9y ago
To the contrary, there is a large amount of math to be learned from 2d game development(beginner level). Algebra, geometry, coordinate spaces, physics, perhaps even linear algebra. You are right that it is more engineering, but engineering encourages and facilitates understanding scientific principles.