NASA-funded game aims to make science more appealing

[BlindNero]

Last week a curious, free release popped up on Steam: Moonbase Alpha, a NASA-funded game where up to six players can team up in order to save a near-future Lunar base crippled by a meteor strike. The game is just the first release from NASA's Learning Technologies program, which aims to help raise interest in the space program through gaming.

Ars spoke with Daniel Laughlin, project manager of Learning Technologies, to learn more about the game and what we can expect to see in the future.

The game was codeveloped by Army Game Studio and Virtual Heroes, two of the leading developers of "serious games." And according to Laughlin, NASA's decision to move into the game space was influenced a great deal by the success of the studios' previous releases. "The project was inspired in part by America's Army," Laughlin told Ars. "It started as an effort to prove we could create a commercial quality game using NASA content that is fun. NASA was looking for a project at the same time the Army Game Studio was looking to branch out from America’s Army. It helped that Army Game Studio and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are co-located at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Virtual Heroes has a history for with America’s Army so we were excited to see them selected to support the Army Game Studio on the game."

Though development of the game didn't start until last year, Laughlin actually began researching the prospect of using games as an educational tool back in 2004. The main impetus for the project was the decline in interest in STEM education—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—amongst the American population.

"The US is facing a crisis in technical fields," explained Laughlin. "There are not enough students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics to fill our national needs in those areas. NASA literally cannot function without STEM graduates. The big goals for NASA Education are to get more students into STEM fields of study and graduating into STEM careers. It’s also the president’s goal with the Educate to Innovate initiative. Moonbase Alpha was developed in support of those goals."



In addition to funding the game, NASA also had a hand in ensuring that it was as accurate as possible, going so far as to have several engineers and scientists review the game for accuracy. Meanwhile, all of the models for the structures, vehicles and space suits were based on NASA’s lunar architecture plans.

The game itself only takes around 20 minutes to play, and despite its sophisticated 3D visuals—the game utilizes Unreal Engine 3—Moonbase Alpha is really just a proof of concept. NASA has another, much more ambitious project in the works: an MMO tentatively titled Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond.

And, according to Laughlin, the success of Moonbase Alpha could have a big affect on the development of the MMO.

"Summaries of the player feedback from Moonbase Alpha will be going to the design team for Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond," he told Ars. "Even more importantly, Moonbase Alpha has the potential to make or break the MMO project. A big negative reaction would mean revisiting the rationale for the MMO and reconsidering the project. A big positive reaction will give momentum and support to Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond."

Moonbase Alpha is currently available as a free download on Steam.

Source
arstechnica

[rditto48801]

I played it a few times on single player/offline mode after you first posted this news. I tried all three 'maps' with the time limit turn off just to try things out. It is a fairly interesting game, especially when it comes to trying to figure out what should be repaired, and what should be replaced, and what to initially load up on the rover's small cargo bed.

I find it handy to first fix a single solar array and connections, then get to working on the main life support with a remote control robot with a focus on power rather than speed and a manipulator arm, using already available parts to get the life support system up to basic levels, then making a trip to stick up extra parts and a remote controlled robot set more toward speed and equipped with a welder. From there, I get back to working on the remaining solar array(s) and power connections.
I have come close to getting things fixed within the time limit on the 'small' map (1-2 players), but take upward of 45 minutes on the 'largest' map (meant for 5-6 players).

My recommendation to NASA (which they would probably do if not needing to worry about budget cuts). Store sufficient backup life support systems (CO2 filters, O2 candles, batteries, etc), in the habitation module(s), so there will be more than just 20 minutes to get everything back up and running before there is a need for burials on the Moon. (there seems to be a lot of 'react' and little 'act' these days...)

This game does make me think of another space game.
Space Station Sim, which was developed in collaboration with NASA.
It has been out a few years, with having to build and run an 'international space station' of the player's design, hopefully with out the astronauts abandoning the station (poor conditions, supplies gone, station about to re-enter, etc), or making some critical mistake in module placement that prevents a proper solar panel array supporting trusses being set up right.

It is fairly solid, but still a little buggy. The developers apparently got sidetracked with other projects, but Space Station Sim is more or less stable, aside from minor bugs and annoyances. Such as a scientist apparently getting tired faster than normal when doing research, or a Russian airlock for space walks with Russian space suits seems to not work. There is a 'large' module (Trans Hab, iirc) they put in that was not fully completed to give players a basic idea of its shape, but did not finish the module in the end leaving it a big eating area (came with food storage/prep area) with lots of unused space that apparently was meant for habitation (such as the apparent 'sleeping areas'), and no in game description.