Sections
A guided tour of the organization and of how to contribute
Funding Super Practica needs funding for it to grow at a reasonable pace. Funding options: itch.io (recommended for one-time payments) Patreon (recommended for monthly payments) Liberapay (recommended for anonymous payments) See Funder Benefits for funder benefits. September 1 Goal: $0 / $6,000 Sharing Most people who would be interested in Super Practica don’t know about it yet. Just sharing this website with them helps! Discussion Zulip is used for player, funder, and developer discussion.
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Pages
June 2025
Overview of planning and progress for future releases
Current Release: Initial Player-Facing Demo (v0.8.0) For summaries of current and past releases, see the Changelog. While low on content, the point was to develop functioning core features that could be reused in future content, and to develop infrastructure and backend systems to enable faster and more effective development in the future. Next Major Release: Early Arithmetic Demo (v0.9.0?) Overview The priority is content coverage for a small range of topics in basic arithmetic. This will include more levels, more pims, and new mechanics connecting different pims to each other. This will demonstrate level progression across topics. The continuously expanding tree of levels covering more and more of mathematics will begin growing.
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v0.8.0 Released and Fundraiser Announcement
Initial player-facing demo
Super Practica v0.8.0 is now playable on the Play page! This is the long-awaited “Player-Facing Demo”. My priority for this release has been to make it “presentable” so that it isn’t a “janky mess”. Though it’s still rough to play, this demo demonstrates the reproduction of practical knowledge by a set of generalized methods with very wide applicability. It should be possible for anyone who can count and use a computer to make it to the end of this demo, without teaching or instruction, only by playing. And it should be possible to reuse the same mechanics to produce the same effect for other topics.
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The Defining Cycle of Super Practica
What exactly is this Super Practica thing anyway?
Super Practica is defined by the process of its optimization rather than by any particular design or product. That is why it is both a set of games and a scientific research program. Both are integral parts of a single process. In order to explain this process, it will help to look at the two processes it’s derived from, used in science and engineering. The Cycle of Effective Engineering It’s common knowledge among effective engineers that, if you want to build something good, you should iterate. There’s room for disagreement about which steps should be considered essential in the iterative cycle, but I identify these: 1. Design, 2. Develop, 3. Test. Then redesign, redevelop, retest, and so on.
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Perks for funding the development of this free game.
Super Practica will remain free for everyone forever. No part of the game will be locked behind a paywall. While that is our absolute commitment, we still want to give our funders as many individual benefits as we can without compromising the quality of the game. The following perks are what we came up with. Support Development Without funding, Super Practica cannot be developed. With more funding, it can be developed more quickly and can cover more topics more quickly. Supporting its development so you can play it in a better form is a great reason for funding Super Practica.
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Super Practica is FOSS licensed under the AGPL. What does that mean?
Super Practica is free and open-source software (FOSS) licensed under version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL). So what does that mean? In short, it means that players of Super Practica have guaranteed rights. The Problem It can be hard to appreciate the value of player rights, simply because they are so rarely respected that few have felt their benefits. Game developers regularly abuse and cheat their players, and players have come to expect this as an inevitable condition of playing games. I won’t recount here the myriad ways that players are abused. If you have played computer or video games before, you have experienced them.
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January 2025
Blueprint for a Revolution in the Reproduction of Practical Knowledge
An outline of the philosophy, theory, and design of Super Practica in as brief as I could put it [PDF]
Table of Contents Notices Synopsis Introduction 1 2 1: What Kind of Game is Mathematics? 1.1: Mathematics is a game 1.2: Gameplay 1 – Setup 1.3: Gameplay 2 – Solution 1.4: The nature of insight 1.5: Rules 1 – Actions and states 1.6: Rules 2 – Puzzles and procedures 1.7: Rules 3 - Interconnection 1.8: Goals 1.9: Verification 1 – Reliability 1.10: Verification 2 – Structure 1.11: Verification 3 – Confidence 1.12: The game of mathematics 1.13: Introducing Super Practica A 2: Redesign of Mathematics to be Easy to Play 2.1: Mechanization 1 – Introduction 2.2: Mechanization 2 – Requirements 2.3: Usability 1 2.4: Playability 2 2.5: The pimnet system 2.6: Interaction 2.7: Pims 2.8: Pims together 2.9: Interconnections 1 – Objects 2.10: Interconnections 2 – Symbols 2.11: Interconnections 3 – Translation 2.12: Level-start 2.13: Level-end 2.14: Design problems 2.15: Introducing the theory 3: Fundamentals of Practical Knowledge 3.1: The nature of imagination 3.2: Ecological habituation 3.3: Practical knowledge 3.4: Specification of practical knowledge 3.5: How you learn to play a game 3.6: Contrast with educational theories 1 3.7: Contrast with educational theories 2 3.8: The true value of rules 3.9: Continuous correction 3.10: Suggestive signaling 3.11: Modeling 3.12: The true value of instruction 3.13: Game-plans 3.14: The true value of teaching 3.15: The optimal method 1 – A start 4: Measurement of Practical Knowledge 4.1: The value of measurement 4.2: The true measure of mathematical knowledge 4.3: The optimal test 4.4: How not to well-design a simulation 4.5: Transferability 4.6: How to well-design a simulation 1 4.7: How to well-design a simulation 2 4.8: The sufficiency of simulation 4.9: Introducing Super Practica B 5: Simulation of the Situations of Expert Mathematical Practice 5.1: The nature of application 1 – Problems and solutions 5.2: The nature of application 2 – Sequence 5.3: The nature of application 3 – Complications 5.4: Simulating application 1 – Common mechanics 5.5: Simulating application 2 – Modes 5.6: Simulating application 3 – Similar games 5.7: Simulating application 4 – Initial design 5.8: Time constraint 5.9: Resource constraint 5.10: The practical nature of proof 1 5.11: The practical nature of proof 2 5.12: The social nature of proof 1 – Persuasion 5.13: The social nature of proof 2 – Consensus 5.14: Existing simulation of proof 5.15: Simulating proof 1 – Two games 5.16: Simulating proof 2 – Levels 5.17: Simulating proof 3 – Interface 5.18: Outstanding design problems 6: Reliable Reproduction of Practical Knowledge 6.1: The value of reliable progression 6.2: Existing reliable progression 6.3: The nature of difficulty 6.4: The nature of difficulty spikes 6.5: Playthruability 1 – Measure 6.6: Playthruability 2 – Structure 6.7: The optimal method 2 – Conclusion 6.8: The optimal method 3 – Design 6.9: How to design a playthruable progression 6.10: Quantitative intermediation 6.11: Elemental intermediation 1 – Isolation 6.12: Elemental intermediation 2 – Gradual synthesis 6.13: Elemental intermediation 3 – Variation 6.14: Funnel constraint 6.15: Branching progression 6.16: Introducing Super Practica C 7: Design of a Reliable Level-Progression for Mathematics 7.1: Progress in many dimensions 7.2: Level-selection map 7.3: Decreasing guidance 1 – Soft constraint 7.4: Decreasing guidance 2 – Full progression 7.5: Exploring variations 7.6: Increasing speed 7.7: Composing tasks 7.8: Climbing the verificational structure 7.9: Symbolizing pictures 1 – Relation between symbols and pictures 7.10: Symbolizing pictures 2 – Progression 7.11: Collecting methods 7.12: Progression to simulations 1 – Direction 7.13: Progression to simulations 2 – Unlocking 7.14: Continuous revision 8: The Tree of Super Practica 8.1: The empirical framework 8.2: Empirical design problems 8.3: Growth and coverage 8.4: Begin with arithmetic 8.5: Growth along branches 8.6: Holes in coverage 8.7: Unstoppable growth 8.8: The value of unification 8.9: Beyond mathematics 1 – Suitability 8.10: Beyond mathematics 2 – Topics 8.11: Summary 9: Let’s Develop Super Practica 9.1: Open-source development 1 9.2: Open-source development 2 9.3: Proposition for funding 1 9.4: Proposition for funding 2 9.5: Collaborative design 1 – Logical method 9.6: Collaborative design 2 – Iteration 9.7: Collaborative design 3 – Scientific method 9.8: Collaborative design 4 – Shared premises 9.9: Design for the player 9.10: Respect and affirm the player’s freedom 9.11: Aim for optimal design 9.12: Design for humans universally 9.13: Minimize frustration, do not maximize fun 9.14: Materialism 9.15: Pragmatism/Contextualism 9.16: Contextual materialism 9.17: Conclusion A: Notes on Mathematics A.1: Empirical sources for my analysis of the structure of mathematics A.2: Theoretical influences on my analysis of the structure of mathematics A.3: Corroboration of the social nature of proof A.4: Proof that axiomatic proof is simulation A.5: Mathematical mysticism A.6: Reintroducing self-consciousness B: Notes on Games B.1: Methods of game analysis B.2: Interaction design vocabulary B.3: Gamification, mechanization, and specification B.4: Ambiguity in the word “game” B.5: The nature of virtual worlds B.6: The nature of frustration B.7: Operant conditioning in game design B.8: Methods of abusing players for money C: Notes on Practical Knowledge C.1: Empirical sources for my theory of practical knowledge C.2: Theoretical influences on my theory of practical knowledge C.3: The structure and subject of my theory of practical knowledge C.4: Ambiguity in the word “knowledge” C.5: Epistemic ethics of reproducing practical knowledge C.6: The necessity of voluntary play C.7: You learn to play the game as you play the game C.8: The only method of reproducing practical knowledge C.9: Is all knowledge practical knowledge? D: Notes on Education and Psychology D.1: The antiquity of the idea of teaching mathematics by games D.2: Educational theories versus psychological theories D.3: Contrast with constructivist educational theories D.4: Contrast with behaviorist educational theories D.5: The pseudo-empiricism and obsolescence of schooltesting D.6: The efficiency of optimal design E: Notes on the Development of Super Practica E.1: On confidence and failure E.2: Noticing potential improvements E.3: The place of Super Practica in its simulations E.4: Simulating verification E.5: Problems in decreasing guidance E.6: How to design time constraints E.7: There is no progression for increasing accuracy E.8: Direction of progression between solution-domains and problem-domains E.9: Free software vocabulary E.10: What kind of game is Super Practica? Notices Author: Svetogam
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Including a synopsis and PDF version
The Blueprint has been updated to v1.1! It is now also available as a PDF. Download PDF The most notable difference is the addition of a synopsis which briefly summarizes the main points of each chapter. And now that I have a better idea of what rather belongs on this website and in other documentation, I found a few more bits I could cut to truly say it’s “as brief as I could put it”.
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December 2024
Super Practica v0.7.2 Released
Fun Factor: Exists
Super Practica v0.7.2 is now playable on the Play page! It contains a (mostly) completed topic on “Grid-Counting”, approximating what you can expect to see in a complete release. As you play, you might be surprised to find it’s just a little bit fun. This might be strange because fun is not a priority in Super Practica’s design. Many games are designed to be fun, even to maximize fun, but the aim of Super Practica is only to efficiently reproduce practical knowledge. So why is it just a little bit fun now, and why will it be more fun later?—Because mathematics is inherently fun. By removing frustrations, like removing so much dust or brush, the natural fun of mathematics will shine through more clearly and brightly.
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September 2024
Super Practica v0.7.1 Released
Speed Status: Stalwart Snail
You can now play Super Practica v0.7.1! This release contains a new level set featuring an improved verification system, back after being cut in the last release. According to the theory of the Blueprint, verification is the glue that holds mathematics together: Most mathematical practices are built on top of other mathematical practices, so we can verify the higher practice by the lower. But some mathematical practices are self-sufficient. They include counting, recognizing symmetry in a picture, and noticing the identicality of signs.—These are the foundations of the verificational structure of mathematics.
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July 2024
Super Practica v0.7 Demo Released
First steps on the road to a player-facing demo.
Super Practica v0.7 is now playable on the Play page! The highlights of this release are the redesigned primary interface and level-selection screen. These are finally decent (not thrown together with wild abandon for prototyping purposes) and now approximate what they will look like in the player-facing demo. On the content side, the levels of the previous demo have been cut, and only one small set of simple levels replaces them. This demo doesn’t function as a proof of concept anymore, but these levels represent the first steps on the path to eventually, hopefully, covering the whole rest of mathematics with the optimal method of reproducing practical knowledge. You couldn’t tell just by looking at them though.
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October 2023
Super Practica v0.6 Demo and Blueprint
First public release
This is the first public release of Super Practica! This release consists of a proof-of-concept demo and the “blueprint”, which is kind of like a design document. The demo doesn’t tell the whole story, so it’s necessary to read the blueprint to tell what Super Practica is really about. Super Practica v0.6 Demo Blueprint Video playthrough of the demo The demo is a proof of concept in terms of user interface, game architecture, and progression within and between levels. I call it “v0.6” to reflect the many prototypes and changes of direction I have made up to this point. It’s kind of hard to tell, but it contains the seeds of a revolution. I have explained the idea as briefly as I could in the blueprint. You can also find an explanation of the demo in the description of the demo video.
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