Physamajig is a great Windows 8 app for secondary school age students that combines gaming and physics into a fun and engaging package.
The app is free, although you can pay to strip out the ads, and offers students a unique way to understand the core concepts of physics in an interesting and enjoyable way. With a wide selection of built-in sample creations, such as Moon Lander, and, while its not Christmas, Santa Chimney, students can quickly dive into the game and start developing the key fundamentals of physics to apply to other projects and to offer a foundation to start building their own physics orientated games.
Developing your own physics games with Physamajig is where this app really gets interesting and this is where the learning can evolve to the next level. The games that can be created within the app can be as simple, especially in the case of my first effort, or as complex as you wish and users imaginations are the only real limitation to what can be created.
The user friendly interface allows you to easily sketch out an idea and translate that into a realistic physics object. You can then add friction, bounciness and joints etc to create a realistic and fun game.
While the initial black canvas was a little intimidating at first, I found the interface easy to navigate and the excellent online support pages, complete with tutorial videos, got me up and running in no time.
This is great Windows 8 app and judging from the engaged community sitting behind Physamajig, who are also sharing their creations online, this is definitely going to be a platform that I am going to be monitoring closely as both the game and the community mature and evolve over time. Nice job!
The app can be downloaded via the Windows Store for free today.