Topology is the study of geometry / the (outlines ?) properties of shapes. How about games where you interact with shapes. Maybe a game where you have a "sword" that can cut through shapes, ie. cutting a circle into two hemispheres. I'm not sure what kind of game could be made like this, but I am reckon there must be some fun possibilities. Maybe a puzzle game like pentominoes, but where you can are allowed to bissect/ change some of the shapes. Some shapes could be made in materials that you can't cut. Or a game based on asteroids, where you the shape is cut by the bullet.. but the remaining bits shrink? Instead of chopping shapes up, there is also the possibility of 'sticking' them together (with glue?) Or of magically combining them together. A final, and rather odd idea.. is to have a (strategic?) game where the character is made of "shapes", this would allow the designer to implement a variety of tactical decisions, such as choosing weapons based on depth of penetration (the shapes could have 'neucleus' that need to be hit). Or you could stick extra shapes to the character.. need to get over a big wall.. then just find some "stilts" (ie. big bricks). This would be something like lego. [edited by - Ketchaval on June 1, 2003 5:24:48 PM]

I suppose a lot of puzzle games are based around manipulating space and objects.

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Original post by Ketchaval
Topology is the study of geometry / the (outlines ?) properties of shapes.

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Uh, no. Geometry is the study of the properties and relationships of shapes. Trigonometry is a subset of geometry that deals with triangles and circular functions (because of the relationship between triangles and circles).

I think you''ve seen no responses here because you present a premise but no objective, and without an objective there''s no gameplay. Why would the gamer be chopping up or sticking together pieces? To accomplish what?

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Uh, no. Geometry is the study of the properties and relationships of shapes. Trigonometry is a subset of geometry that deals with triangles and circular functions (because of the relationship between triangles and circles).

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I believe the OP ment topology, not trigonometry. see, topology is spelled t-o-p-o-l-o-g-y, but trigonometry is spelled t-r-i-g-o-n-o-m-e-t-r-y (a whole 4 letters longer).

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I remember reading about topology in an article on Mo(e)bius (sic?) strips, either way the science? of topology isn''t too important to the post.

The reader can think of a goal that would fit the gameplay. Then post it so it becomes public domain .

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Original post by brassfish89
I believe the OP ment topology , not trigonometry. see, topology is spelled t-o-p-o-l-o-g-y, but trigonometry is spelled t-r-i-g-o-n-o-m-e-t-r-y (a whole 4 letters longer).

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I knew that, dumbass. Apparently, you don''t know what topology is. Topology is the field of math concerned with spaces or dimensionality, not shapes (which is geometry, of which trig is a subset, which is the relationship I pointed out above). The terms is also used to describe anything related to a "spatial" interpretation of elements, thus network topology and geographical topology (the lay of the land).

Twit.

Subjects in mathematical topology include matrices, tensors, and n-dimensional spaces. That matrices are also used as transformations in 3d graphics is actually a direct consequence. Matrices are also used in solving linear sets of equations. Are we satisfied that I know what topology is yet?

Yes, Ketchaval, Mobius strips (1-dimensional entities - a strip that has only one side) and Klein bottles (entites that are inside themselves) are studied in topology. But there isn''t much you can do with them interactively (even in real life).

I still can''t think of any objectives, but I do think that you may be able to find something based on geometry that could be interesting.

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Original post by Ketchaval
Topology is the study of geometry / the (outlines ?) properties of shapes.

How about games where you interact with shapes.
Maybe a game where you have a "sword" that can cut through shapes, ie. cutting a circle into two hemispheres.

I''m not sure what kind of game could be made like this, but I am reckon there must be some fun possibilities. Maybe a puzzle game like pentominoes, but where you can are allowed to bissect/ change some of the shapes. Some shapes could be made in materials that you can''t cut.

Or a game based on asteroids, where you the shape is cut by the bullet.. but the remaining bits shrink?

Instead of chopping shapes up, there is also the possibility of ''sticking'' them together (with glue?) Or of magically combining them together.

A final, and rather odd idea.. is to have a (strategic?) game where the character is made of "shapes", this would allow the designer to implement a variety of tactical decisions, such as choosing weapons based on depth of penetration (the shapes could have ''neucleus'' that need to be hit). Or you could stick extra shapes to the character.. need to get over a big wall.. then just find some "stilts" (ie. big bricks). This would be something like lego.



[edited by - Ketchaval on June 1, 2003 5:24:48 PM]

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Nah, sounds pretty escapist.

I thought of making a game with a non-standard topological space. Most 2D games have topologies like:
regular 2D: every position is a unique x,y pair
regular wraparound: go off the left and appear on the right
torus: wraps around in two dimensions
I was thinking of using something weird like
Moebius strip: go off one side, and when you come around, everything''s upside down.
Klein bottle: go off the top and appear normally on the bottom. Go off the left, and appear on the right with everything upside-down.
That would be fun, but I''ve got plenty of other things to try and implement, like the dynamic changing of split-screen/non-SS.

Oluseyi : actually, you can do something fun with a Moebius strip in real life. Simply take a length of paper, and twist it once before pasting one end onto the other : that''s a Moebius strip, right. Then cut this strip in two in its length... I think it''s a pretty fun trick.

Another fun experiment is a real life L-system : take a rather long piece of paper, and fold it in two, and again, and again, and again. Due to the limits of paper, you cant do it to many times, but anyway. Once you cant do it anymore, unfold the paper, making sure that any crease becomes a 90 degrees angle.
There you have it, a real life L-system. (Fractals are a topological oddity, as they apparently dont fit exactly in their supposed own dimension. A 1-dimensional entity like the Koch snowflake is actually somewhere between the 1 and 2 dimensions because of how dense it becomes... there is a link

It certainly *is* an interesting topic, but I am not so sure about the gameplay aspect.
Maybe you can find something more there ?

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