''A Slower Speed of Light'' is a

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...

video game developed by

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Game Lab that demonstrates the effects of

special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The laws ...

by gradually slowing down the

speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit ...

to a walking pace. The game runs on the

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

using its open-source OpenRelativity toolkit."A Slower Speed of Light." ''MIT Game Lab''. MIT, n.d. Web. 24 Dec. 2013. http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/MITGameLab/OpenRelativity: An open source framework to add the effects of traveling at relativistic speeds to visualizations or games.
on

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Gameplay

In ''A Slower Speed of Light'', the player controls the ghost of a young child who was killed in an unspecified accident. The child wants to "become one with light", but the speed of light is too fast for the child. This is solved through the use of magic orbs which, as each are collected, slow down the speed of light, until by the end it is at walking speed. These orbs are spread throughout the level. At the beginning of the game, walking around and collecting these orbs is easy; however, as the game progresses, the effects of special relativity become apparent. This gradually increases the difficulty of the game. After collecting all 100 orbs, a portal (as seen in the poster) appears. Entering the portal will open a tab explaining the effects of

Special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The laws ...

, and will also show the time the game was finished in.

Effects of special relativity

As the game progresses, the light becomes slower, and therefore the effects of special relativity start to become more apparent, increasing the difficulty of the game. These effects include the Doppler Effect (red/blue-shifting of visible light and the shifting of ultraviolet and infrared into the visible spectrum), the Searchlight Effect (increased brightness in the direction of travel),

Time Dilation In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...

(difference between the passage of time perceived by the player and the outside world),

Length Contraction Length contraction is the phenomenon that a moving object's length is measured to be shorter than its proper length, which is the length as measured in the object's own rest frame. It is also known as Lorentz contraction or Lorentz–FitzGerald ...

and Terrell Rotation (the perceived warping of the environment at near-light speeds), and the runtime effect (seeing objects in the past because of the speed of light).

OpenRelativity

OpenRelativity is a toolkit designed for use with the proprietary Unity game engine. It was developed by MIT Game Lab during the development of ''A Slower Speed of Light''. The toolkit allows for the accurate simulation of a 3D environment when light is slowed down."OpenRelativity." ''MIT Game Lab''. MIT, n.d. Web. 24 Dec. 2013. http://gamelab.mit.edu/research/openrelativity/ It is hosted on

and has been published under the

permissive {{about, , the 1970 British film, Permissive (film), the grammatical mode, Permissive mood, the flavor of software license, permissive free software licence A permissive cell or host is one that allows a virus to circumvent its defenses and replica ...

MIT license The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license comp ...

Use in education

''A Slower Speed of Light'' was developed in hopes of being used as an educational tool to explain special relativity in an easy-to-understand fashion. The game is meant to be used as an interactive learning tool for those interested in physics.

References

External links