The Academy

Eight pieces about how the world actually works — written for the game Enspinors, and published here in full, free, read aloud if you would rather listen.

Every instrument in the game is a real one. The compass reads a true bearing, the shortwave band behaves the way a shortwave band behaves, and the time signal is modelled on a station that is broadcasting right now. These are the lessons that explain why — and one of them, What Is Real in Enspinors, is an honest accounting of which parts of the game are true and which are invented.

Why a Needle Knows North Magnetism, from the Earth's core to the compass in your hand 4 parts · narrated The Sky as a Mirror How shortwave radio reaches the far side of the world 4 parts · narrated The Station That Only Says the Time Atomic clocks, WWV, and why precise time runs everything 4 parts · narrated Why a Violin Isn't a Flute Harmonics, timbre, and taking a signal apart 3 parts · narrated Coming or Going The Doppler effect, from ambulances to the expanding universe 3 parts · narrated One Family of Waves The electromagnetic spectrum, end to end 3 parts · narrated A Light, and a Heartbeat How a watch measures a pulse, and what the spacing between beats means 4 parts · narrated What Is Real in Enspinors An honest accounting, from the people who made it 4 parts · narrated

The game they came from

An unidentified object has entered your area. You have a compass, a shortwave receiver, and ten minutes. Enspinors is a hunt built out of real instruments — no artwork, no samples: every graphic is drawn by the phone as you watch and every sound is generated a sample at a time.

Enspinors on the App Store · $4.99 · iPhone · no ads, no in-app purchases, no tracking