DIELECTRIC RUNNER

An Electrostatics Game

SOUND SYSTEM

Concept: Eric B. Lindgren Universidade Federal Fluminense
ericlindgren@id.uff.br
https://github.com/ericblindgren/dielectric-runner
v. 1.1

GAME OVER

COLLISION DETECTED

FINAL SCORE: 0

GLOBAL RANKING

#PILOTSCORE

CONNECTING TO DATABASE...

MISSION BRIEFING / ABOUT

How to Play

Controls: Use [UP] and [DOWN] arrows to hover vertically.
Objective: Navigate the tunnel without touching the walls. Distance traveled equals your score.
The Trap: Watch the wall color. Cyan indicates a positively charged wall and red indicates a negatively charged wall. WHITE indicates an "Attraction Trap".

Background Theory: Like-Charge Attraction

In classical electrostatics, two particles with the same charge sign repel each other according to Coulomb's Law. However, for finite-sized dielectric particles, the physics is far more complex.

When charged dielectric particles approach, they induce surface charges on one another (polarization). If there is an asymmetry in the system, such as one particle being more highly charged or smaller than the other, the dominant particle exerts a strong polarizing influence. This induces a region of opposite charge on its neighbor.

For like-charged particles, this geometry-dependent effect creates a short-range attractive force that can overcome the inherent Coulombic repulsion in some instances. In this game, getting too close to a positive wall with a high enough charge can trigger like-charge attraction, pulling your ship in right when you expect repulsion. Beware! If a cyan wall turns WHITE, the interaction regime changes: repulsion becomes attraction.

Reference:
Lindgren, E. B. (2025). Charge-Induced Polarization in Dielectric Particle Systems: A Geometry-Dependent Effect. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 21, 6135–6150.

License

GNU General Public License v3 (full text)

Source Code

The complete corresponding source code for this game is available at:
https://github.com/ericblindgren/dielectric-runner

Third-Party Components

This game uses external libraries and fonts provided under their own licenses. These components are not covered by the GNU General Public License applied to this game.