Inertia City
Unleash Your Inner Physicist
Advised by Doctor Julia C. Lee and Louisa Rosenheck
For my Master's Thesis, I developed a novel game world using Unity Engine where users, literally, explore the world of physics. Given the positive responses from user tests and promising market validation, I have decided to continue pursuing this venture.
When users first enter the world, they encounter specialized physics experts called Myopicals, who live siloed off in their separate domains surrounding an uninhabited wasteland. The domains are governed by inspirational female role models: real-life physicists from past and present, who need the user’s help to show the myopicals how to work together in order to build Inertia City.
Inertia City not only sparks interest, builds confidence, and changes inner perceptions surrounding women in physics, but it also validates the importance of breaking down barriers between specialized fields in order to work together to improve the world--because just like the Myopicals, we are stronger together.
OVERVIEW
Users complete minigames that require creative ingenuity and that build physics skills in order to progress through each domain (electromagnetism, classical mechanics, etc.), progressively mastering that field of physics. Once mastered, the user has enough tools and knowledge to build a bridge to a nearby domain, creating a new settlement that combines both fields, creating new innovations and growing Inertia City.
The more bridges they create the more innovative, sustainable, interconnected, and beautiful Inertia City becomes:
Please watch the introductory video to learn more about the specific game mechanics and MVP demo.
Background
Note: though statistics available and user testing pool currently only has access to those with she/her/hers pronouns and, for comparitive studies, he/him/his pronouns, Inertia City aims to support those in all areas of the gender spectrum, primarily those underrepresented in physics.
Lit Review
Fewer than 25% of bachelor's degrees in physics are earned by women despite rise in equality in most other academic fields. Studies show this is likely due to lack of representation of women in the field, and thus lack of role models, lack of peer & educator support and general lack of societal encouragement.* In addition, girls' confidence levels drop far below boys' at the age of 12 including confidence in academia.*
*See presentation (below) for citations
Intervention
Inertia City acts as an intervention for children experiencing this confidence drop around the age of 12 through the age of 17 or when they might choose a college major. This aims to change their inner perceptions about their own analytical abilities, gaining enough Impetus in the form of confidence to blast through social barriers by the time they choose a college major.
Design Goals
The early design goals for Inertia City are based on proven successful interventions for encouraging girls in physics and for engaging the targeted age group. Inertia City incorparates each of these aspects while utilizing colors, game mechanics, learning styles and extrinsic motivators shown to engage girls this age, with many iterations improved based on playtesting results. Please see presentation below to see literary sources cited.
Subject Specific, Platform & Learning Styles
Gamification & Styles
Market Research
Predected Market Growth
Precedents
Learning Physics Online
Interactive Physics
Popular Gamified Learning & Games
While resources to learn physics online or via smartphone/tablet exist, none combine gamified elements to engage young learners, interactive/sandbox-style learning opportunities, and clear representation of learning progress. This is key to a successful platform as it combines intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to spark and maintain interest, thus encouraging regular, prolonged use of this platform.
The only successful resource that achieves this is, but for a different topic, is Duolingo, which generated $250 million in revenue in 2021, a 55% year-on-year increase (source). Duolingo also has 500 million registered users, 37 million are active once a month, and shows no signs of slowing down growth. Most of their revenue comes from their subscription option, but it draws in users through their free option.
Inertia City would thus use a similar subscription option: unlimited use without ads with an affordable subscription, but offer the ability to use for free limited by incorrect answers and with necessary interaction with ads.
Promise for Impetus City
Market Opportunity
Surveys distributed to students ages 12-18 as well as educators show promise for early success. Shown an introductory video (see above), 98% of 216 students from 4 high schools answered that they would be interested in trying the game with 85% saying they believe they would enjoy using Inertia City regularly.
Achieving Design Goals, Focus Group
Learning: For focus group studies with 18 students ages 14-17 (half identifying as female) using an early version of Inertia City playable, results showed that female-identifying participants answered 100% of relevant physics questions correctly after using Inertia City compared to averaging 25% correct before use, while male-identifying participants showed no change at 50% correct.
Engagement: Surprisingly, 100% of students in focus group study (not just female-identifying) answered that they wanted to keep playing and exploring, and in the free response stated which domains they hoped would be available next.
Perception Change: 100% of students used gender-inclusive or female-specific words to describe what a physicist might look like after using Inertia City, whereas 61% (including those of both gender identities) used male features to describe before playing. This finding shows the power this tool could have not only to build confidence in female-identifying students, but also to redefine the perceptions of their male peers and shape the next generation to be more inclusive.
Next Steps
Keys to maximize initial profitability
Charging ~$5/mo or ~$50/year for subscription benefits, but offering a limited free version with ads to grow the user pool
Advertising to high school math and physics teachers to encourage their students to use game
Longterm--charge school districts for a school-wide subscription model
Connecting with social media influencers
Gaining endorsement from relevant educational organizations, such as universities seeking to close the gender gap in their physics departments
Use analytics and AI to determine the best ways to improve and expand the world
Longterm growth possibilities
Can expland world to include other STEM topics, growing Math Moon and Chem Caves into their own worlds, adding a Bio Basin, etc.
Create accredited alternative to physics standardized test
Adding multiplayer locations in Inertia City (rather than just leaderboards) that can be unlocked
Merchendise
Earlier prototype demo: