Schnittkraftmeister vs Blackbox

Today buildings, structures and machines are almost always designed by computer-generated diagrams of internal forces. One of the skills required by an engineer is to verify the results of an analysis and to spot internal force diagrams that can not be right. This is why the "Schnittkraftmeister" was conceived: Students get an idea of internal force diagrams by playful learning. Given is a structure under a static external load. Three different solutions for the diagram of internal forces are shown, but only one is correct. The faster the correct answer is chosen the more points are given. Be careful, when choosing a wrong solution, the game is over and all points for the current level are lost! This serious game is for persons, who have a basic knowledge in structural analysis and of external and internal forces in structures. The target audience are aspiring civil or mechanical engineers.

So you think you understand this thing you’re holding? Think again. Stop tapping. Stop swiping. In fact, stop touching the screen at all. To crack Blackbox’s puzzles you’ll need to find solitude and stillness, climb mountains, call on friends, get in tune with the cosmos, and think outside the box. Minimalistic visual clues make for incredibly satisfying “Aha!” moments, while sonic interfaces provide an extra level of guidance and nuance that makes Blackbox accessible with or without vision. Thoughtful haptic feedback, Easter eggs on Easter eggs, and solutions that can’t be found beneath the glass of your screen redefine what a puzzle can be. You’ll never see your device the same way again. Think you’re clever? Prove it. (Blackbox is a living game under active development by Ryan McLeod. When not eating burritos or drinking coffee, he’s busy designing and developing new Blackbox challenges.) ■