Learn the elements by feeding your growing glob monster in this playful educational VR experience.
With complex compounds of elements and molecules coming together to form the very fabric of our existence, there are very few scientific disciplines more daunting than that of chemistry. This goes double for kids being introduced to the complicated subject for the first time.
Tablecraft is out to squash those nasty preconceived notions by making the memorization of the periodic table a fun and engaging experience. Developed by a team of US-based Fulbright Scholars, Tablecraft takes advantage of VR’s immersive capabilities to deliver a unique educational experience in which users not only learn the various different elements, but their attributes as well.
Placed in a playful laboratory setting, users can combine tangible versions of each element to create new objects and view the result of their hard work in real-time. A handy guide is available at all times to show exactly which household objects can be created using which elements. This allows users to not only learn the many different components that form an object, but their purpose and properties as well.
To further demonstrate the effects of these newly-discovered elements, users are also given access to a handful of experimental “blob” creatures to use as adorable test subjects. For example, once you’ve discovered Helium, toss its cube into your new pal to watch it start floating. Got your hands on some Radium? That’ll give you a blob that glows in the dark, but could also make your other blobs sick due to radiation poisoning.
By providing a light-hearted environment that ditches boring beakers for experimental blob creatures, the team hopes to deliver a fun experience in which users don’t even realize they’re actively learning. Tablecraft’s decision to show the effects of chemical combinations rather than simply tell could bring a new level of interest to the discipline.
Tablecraft is still undergoing development, but feel free to stay up to date via the games official Discord server.
Image Credit: Tablecraft
