eeLearn through doing with these great Engineering games from over the last few decades. They are great for passing on to students or just diving in yourself!
This is Part 2 of this series of blog posts. Check out Part 1 here.
Some of these games sparked an interest in Engineering in me. The rest helped me learn during my career. They fostered my passion to create things and taught me about the process of design. They also helped me put new-found knowledge straight into practice – a key tenant of learning.
But my favourite aspect is that these games are deep, full of details and the challenges they pose. Sometimes the learning curve is steep, but these games teach you about the real world.
Take On Mars
Following a short tutorial, the mission goes bad, fast.
Take On Mars is somewhat similar to Kerbal Space Program: you have control of a space program, you can explore the surface of Mars, and you’ll need to take into account real-world issues like wind and darkness. But that’s where the similarity end.
Dan’s tip #3: Take On Mars has some fun elements, but it may only appeal to a certain set of people. The simulation is much more rigorous, and hence the pace can be slow. Play this game if you are happy to wait for a long term payback. I should also mention that the game has a few bugs that will never be resolved, as the developers stopped working on the game some years ago. More on this later.
There are two separate gameplay streams in Take On Mars. In the first, you command a solely-robotic exploration of Mars. Starting out with a few components and a small amount of capital, start by sending basic probes to a few locations on Mars. No moving parts, just a camera and few sensors to take some readings for the mission. The probes can’t even move around on the surface. By successfully completing the mission objectives you earn a few dollars to put toward the next mission.
By choosing a suitable research path, you can discover new parts for use in each mission – robotic frames, better cameras, more advanced sensors, even solar panels so you aren’t relying on batteries. Working constructively in this way, you can complete more complicated missions for more money, feeding your enterprise.
The game locations in Take On Mars are based off real Mars locations, so it wasn’t long before I had a rover crawling around Victoria Crater, analysing soil samples, and trying not to get stuck on a rock. It was pretty enjoyable to design a robot within the limitations of the robotic frame, to complete as many missions as possible in one hit.
But after a while, I wanted to get into the second part of the game – the manned missions. Following a short tutorial, the mission goes bad, fast.
Spoiler Alert regarding the book and movie The Martian by Andy Weir! Skip to the next section if you don’t want to know what happens!
The manned missions were inspired by The Martian by Andy Weir (also very good!). After a spectacular crash on entry to Mars, you find yourself the only survivor of the mission, with only a few minutes of oxygen and no shelter. You have to spend your first minutes carefully digging through the debris to find some more oxygen canisters, a replacement helmet for your leaky, cracked one, and a pop-up emergency tent. Then at least you have some time to figure out what to do next.
The remainder of the game is spent trying to get home in a series of steps, each building on the last. First, collect some food and a communications device. Then find the parts for the modular truck and assemble it. Call for the orbital supply drop, then drive to each location to pick up the resource processing equipment (allowing you to make more supplies!). The first stage finally culminate in a massive, wheeled Mobile Lab that you can use to get to the back-up base and return ship some miles away. Then you can finally get down to growing some potatoes!
The resource fabrication part was quite fun for me. There was something that I enjoyed about collecting and hauling canisters of resources to feed into the fabricator. I could build something from essentially nothing, starting with martian rock and sand, and ending up with more equipment for my mission.
I loved Take On Mars, but it did cause me frustration at times. In the robotic missions, the rover was quite slow. I know the game rover speed was about 100 times faster than actual rover speeds, but it was still slow for me. I’m at a stage of life now where I can’t spend much time playing games, so any time I do spend has to be efficient! I can’t spend twenty minutes driving from one location to another. In the manned missions, the walking speed isn’t much better, especially with the bigger space suits.
I also found the mission screen and organisation of the robotic missions a bit complex. Sometimes it was hard to determine what was part of the current mission, which were the optional parts, and which were from other missions. This often meant more wasted time and limited resources.
Also, the game gets really dark. I’m not talking about dark themes. I’m taking about the sun going down. Don’t make the mistake of landing your robot in the middle of the night – you won’t get anything done. It’s just pitch black. And you can’t recharge your batteries with solar panels if there’s no sun, so the rover will simply grind to a halt. The manned missions have the same darkness problem, but at least the space suit has a passable night-vision function.
Lastly, the game tended to crash a fair bit, and this is what stopped me playing. There was a certain part at the second landing site during the construction of a 3D printer that would not let me pass. I was so close to getting home and the game wouldn’t let me finish! I was pretty disheartened after that.
I highly recommend giving Take On Mars a go, but be prepared for a few hiccups along the way.
Special Mention: Gizmos and Gadgets
It sounds light-hearted, but remaining true to the style of games from this era, it’s actually pretty tough.
I have fond memories of Gizmos and Gadgets, if a little hazy. Published in 1993 by The Learning Company, it’s been a quarter of a century since I last played it. Until today! You can play Gizmos and Gadgets over at Classic Reload!
The object is to win a bunch of races with road and flying machines you build yourself. To collect the best parts, players must travel through a series of warehouses completing physics puzzles along the way.
The puzzles are varied across balance, electricity, energy, force, gears, magnetism and machines, and increase in difficulty as you go. I remember wiring up circuits and building gear trains to get past each level.
There is also a challenge mode where you can play against a team of robotic monkeys that steal your parts and generally cause mayhem. It sounds light-hearted, but remaining true to the style of games from this era, it’s actually pretty tough.
The Learning Company also produced a number of other games, my favourites being Operation Neptune and Ancient Empires. Try them out!
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Daniel is passionate about sharing his enjoyment and experiences of engineering with everyone, regardless of where they are in the world. Based in Sydney, Australia, Daniel has over 10 years of engineering experience: on site, in the workshop, and in the lab.
Engineering All Sorts exists to help you as an educator to become more confident in engineering concepts and thinking, and to help you grow your STEM strengths.