As a computer science major, I actually dreaded math, I personally just wanted to get to my classes where i could code and do things that I felt would pertain to my major. Math wasn’t difficult by any means, but I didn’t put forth effort due to the fact that I was simply bored and uninterested. I know many people get low grades in math classes due to difficulty, but not me. I simply squandered my talents, and didn’t put my best foot forward due to boredom. I could have easily walked out of all my math classes with an A, but instead I earned B’s and C’s. To be honest, if we were required to play something like Variant: Limits rather than use Pearson's MyMathLab.
Very rarely do teachers and students agree on the same things, this is why this game gives me hope. It bring me joy to see students and professors excited about the same things, and I wish to see games like these all over campuses in America. I probably would have learned everything I needed to know if I had access to video games like this, simply because I am a gamer. I have logged over 20,000 hours of online games which may sound impossible, but I've done it.
Variant is a game where you play as Equa, a young girl who lost her memory. Equa currently is stranded on a planet that’s at risk of being destroyed by a cataclysmic solar storm. The terrestrial life forms, called the Manthan, whom inhabited evacuated.
You can use the slider at the bottom to change the input, and drag it across the screen. Your goal in this puzzle is to create a doorway using these two semi-circular objects.
Progression through the game requires solving calculus problems, much like how puzzles work in many other games. The puzzles result in bridges,doors, and teleporters being broken. As they are complex machines, you apply your calculus to fix them and advance. As a player you must approach and interact the energy limits with energy limiters, which emit beams of energy.
The first puzzles you’ll do pertain to graphs. In these puzzles, you have to place orbs correctly on the points of interest. These orbs represent limits and their directions.
Do you see that graph and the points on it? I had to place those orbs on those points in the correct way in order to power the door so I could progress to the next area.
Here’s a key for what each orb symbol means. At a certain point, you’ll have to make your own orbs and plot them on the graph.
As you progress through the game the problems you will be asked to solve increase in complexity, otherwise players wouldn’t learn anything new and would most likely become bored. Some puzzles require that you select an input on the graph that will align your emitter beam to the node.
If you’re familiar with calculus, don’t worry. You can progress through the entire game easily without error, Should you remember your Calculus 1, as I have passed Calculus 2. However, this game was created for people to learn calculus. I genuinely feel that you definitely would have to know calculus, or learn it while playing. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself stuck or severely slowed if you’re just randomly guessing, which seems to be the point of not allowing you to proceed without learning.
See those streaks of blue in the sky? Those are supposed to be solar storms, which are threatening the safety of your world.
The story is very enjoyable, and I, myself, am more of a fan of cartoon styled games. The need for fully realistic looking games irks me, unless it’s historical. Since it is a puzzle game getting stuck may happen, but unlike some games I play solely for fun - I have gotten to the point where I’d gotten fed up with it mostly due to some unforgiving penalty for a mistake. Finding that steady medium in which students and professors can both feel good about may change the way we learn completely.
Triseum, the company, recently launched a public online store. If you’re looking for an interesting way to learn calculus or your art history, try checking them out.
