Back in my day, if a player wanted an interesting learning experience from video games they’d play something like The Oregon Trail or Math Blasters. Times have changed a lot since then it seems. Now there are upcoming titles like DAVinCI Flight which teach components of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) while still looking quite cool. This game is being created to allow players to design their own in-game planes, use them to complete missions, and finally use a 3D printer to bring those user-generated designs into the real world.
It appears that there are a whole host of unique tools to help players craft their best planes for every situation. The campaign suggests everyone, not just rocket scientists, can enjoy it but things do look fairly complex! After adjusting the many components of your plane (or simply tweaking a base model), it can be used to complete missions and gain badges. A multiplayer component was mentioned a few times. The hope is for both online multiplayer competitions and cooperative plane design mode.
A proof of concept prototype of DAVinCI Flight was made thanks to a National Science Foundation Grant which means many fundamental systems have already been developed. This campaign is to further improve where the game is still lacking, such as with an improved interface and more 3D printing functionality. Perhaps the most exciting non-game aspect is that printed planes will have the same flight properties of their in-game creations. Basically, if a design flies in game it can fly in real life too. There are some big goals DAVinCI Flight is aiming for but hopefully their $50,000 goal will glide them to completion.
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