Portal news is always a blast for everyone involved. This week, Gamasutra, offers up it's second piece in their "Games Demystified" series by breaking down the science of Portal.
Just a word of warning to those who hate technical jargon and all things science related, this article won't be for you.
Just a word of warning to those who hate technical jargon and all things science related, this article won't be for you.
Like gravity, Einstein-Rosen Bridges are mostly a mystery. Perhaps someday through imagination and cool video games we'll gain a proper understanding. Until then, we've got a nice pseudo-laboratory in Portal to experiment with these mechanics.If you understood what was said here, I urge you to read the rest of the article. It only touches upon the science behind Portal, but it's still extremely interesting.
Just playing the game is a mind-trip. Exactly how can we simulate a tunnel or wormhole through the fabric of space-time? How do we do speedy-in, speedy-out, momentum redirection — or "flinging", as Valve calls it?
Physics are still hard at work inside the frictionless tube. Instead of simply repositioning an object from point A to point B, the player enters point A with full velocity and exits point B with the same speed, but moving in a new direction.