I just saw this posted today on NPR's web site and thought I would pass it along. There is a new computer game out this week that is called Crayon Physics deluxe. Here is a quote from the article:
The game is Crayon Physics Deluxe. It's a simple, mesmerizing game created by a 25-year-old independent games designer from Finland named Petri Purho.
"It's a game where your crayon drawings come to life," Purho tells NPR's Melissa Block. "You draw stuff and your drawings behave physically correctly.
"As soon as you release the last button, the laws of physics are applied to your drawing."
Here is a web site where you can watch the creator playing the game. It looks like a combination of Crazy Machines and Fantastic Contraptions, except that you get to "draw" your own objects yourself in order to satisfy the goal. If you need to have an object fall from the sky in order to bump your ball towards the goal, then you get to draw it in. You can also draw in levers, cars, etc to meet your goal. I would love to know if the program was sophisticated enough that you could draw springs, pendulums, and other fun physics toys as well.
http://www.crayonphysics.com/It also looks like there is only a PC version, no MAC at this point, so we are currently out of luck. It also means that I am passing it along untested. Someone else will have to respond with comments after they have tinkered with it for a while. Here is a link for a free demo version (I think?):
http://www.kloonigames.com/blog/crayonphysics/crayon-physics-deluxe-demo-and-faqEnjoy! Oh, and the game is priced fairly inexpensively: $20.
