NASA Creating Online Multiplayer Video Game

[Spookie Monster]

Space explorers, ready your virtual engines -- three game developers have signed on to create NASA's massively multiplayer online video game (MMO), called "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond."

NASA Creating Online Multiplayer Video Game

Darn: Couldn't they have called it World of Spacecraft?  Oh, well...

Spel

Commencing countdown...

[The Overlord]

Darn: Couldn't they have called it World of Spacecraft?  Oh, well...

Spel

Alright Jones, let's light this candle and do this....LEEEEEEEROOOYYY JEEEEEEEEEEEENKINS!!!!   :D


Seriously though...looks like a very interesting concept. Let's hope the lunar landers don't have laser guns, they should rightly make this a full-blown sim.


Just leave astronaut Jenkins at home and call Buzz instead; NASA likes players that can stick to the plan and get the ship home in one piece.  :)

[Lithos]

If they keep it challenging and needing actual teamwork, the concept is pretty damn exciting.

Just hope it wont turn to just another space war sim, the feeling of real exploration would be nice.

[zekestone]

Sounds boring, anything with endorsed by NASA will be diluted down for school kids or be incredibly safe with alot of wholesomeness, no space aliens to kill or anything like that. Levelling up will probably be go and collect 40 rock samples from Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Nectaris and examine them in your microscope. This simply does not seem like it will appeal to many people other than science types. Unless they include alien races and laser weapons etc to make it interesting which is pretty much done by "eve online" i don't see it being sucessful.

[Lithos]

I am quite happy with sample taking, if it takes actual skill and effort to get to take them. If they make it difficult enough, and keep it realistic without weird weapons or aliens, and give rewards for actual exploration and research, then they might actually succeed in getting people to appreciate space exploration more cause of the research, not just cause big rockets are cool.

[Oniya]

Puzzle-type games can be terribly addictive.  Puzzles that require a team effort maybe?

[RubySlippers]

Forget aliens I want this to be more like Firefly just humans, it might be fun seeing corporate interests and pirate guilds forming to loot claims.

As long as it doesn't piss away too much of my tax dollars and has some educational value.

[Transgirlenstein]

Only if Companion is a class.



What?

[Apple of Eris]

Uh.. according to the description its about exploration and cooperative play.

So I doubt theres gonna be aliens and whatnot.

[Lithos]

I still do not get why the hell you would need aliens in it. Trust me, space flight and such will have enough challenge without any aliens if it is made realistic enough. Only unrealistic thing they need to do is to give more freedom about controlling the craft to pilots instead of ground control.

[Apple of Eris]

Don't ask me, I didn't demand aliens and stuff. I just want to drive a lunar rover around and do like stunts on the moon.

[Lithos]

*Grins* we need to be able to just jump around there, doing 50 ft leaps should be fun :P

[Caeli]

This sounds so cool. xD

[Mindhazingsquid]

This is actually pretty old.  Atleast a year.

One (the one in the picture) you play as either the people guys or the robot guys and you have to drive around and save people while stopping at energy/air points around the map and you have to save the guys before the other team saves them.
There's one where you explore mars and you have to controle your little rover around and avoid twisters.
The games are pretty simple (graphic wise and gameplay wise) but pretty fun.

Unless it was another one I played...

[Ket]

Only if Companion is a class.

<3

[The Overlord]

Sounds boring, anything with endorsed by NASA will be diluted down for school kids or be incredibly safe with alot of wholesomeness, no space aliens to kill or anything like that. Levelling up will probably be go and collect 40 rock samples from Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Nectaris and examine them in your microscope. This simply does not seem like it will appeal to many people other than science types. Unless they include alien races and laser weapons etc to make it interesting which is pretty much done by "eve online" i don't see it being sucessful.

You might be surprised. I've made remarks in other threads that there's really dumb kids out there, and they're worse than ever these days, but the flipside is the kids that would get into this are going to be the real adept sort.

It does seem the types that are playing GTA are not going to do NASA, but in my view there's no way to do this right without applying at least part of it to a niche market. Unless you're doing to do the simulation in level; the basic players can enjoy the takeoffs and landings, and the buffs can go full tilt for real-time events and experiments, etc. I have a feeling with no less than three developers plugging into NASA, this is going be a very interesting game.

[Oniya]

You'd be surprised how entertaining kids can find science, if you catch them young enough, and kids are getting very active online these days.  There are sites with educational games all over the place, sites with elementary-school-appropriate experiments that your average seven year old (and quite a few older kids and parents) will find 'cool'.

Things like this:  http://www.reekoscience.com/index.aspx

And this:  http://www.funbrain.com/

The teachers actually send these links home to parents to encourage self-study, and as a parent, I've watched how engaging they can be.

[Spookie Monster]

Levelling up will probably be go and collect 40 rock samples from Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Nectaris and examine them in your microscope.

It's funny, because when I read that I thought, "You know, this game could be pretty cool after all!"  Different strokes, I guess, heh!

This is actually pretty old.  Atleast a year.

One (the one in the picture) you play as either the people guys or the robot guys and you have to drive around and save people while stopping at energy/air points around the map and you have to save the guys before the other team saves them.
There's one where you explore mars and you have to controle your little rover around and avoid twisters.
The games are pretty simple (graphic wise and gameplay wise) but pretty fun.

Unless it was another one I played...

Is that right, Mindhazingsquid?  Honestly I don't know.  The article that I linked to, which appears on SPACE.com -- a site that should know what it's talking about, for what that's worth -- is dated February 19th, 2009 and states that a demo for the game "is slated for release before the end of the year."  This article (which features screenshots!) is also dated February 19th, 2009 and states that the game "will ship next year."  Is it possible that it was indeed a different game?

By the way, Oniya: Great stuff, as always!  Thanks!

Spel

Engines on...

[Oniya]

"The core of the gameplay is going to be people building up their characters and as you move forward, you will have more options unlock with new places to go, new equipment to use and new things to do," explained Heneghan. "We are not so much focused on interstellar flight and all that entails... the gameplay is actually about being in a habitat on a planetary surface and doing things like mining Helium-3 for fuel, operating a hydroponics facility to grow plants and create oxygen and operating robots and vehicles"

One of the story arcs that will take place over the course of the game's first year is the very real threat of global warming.

"There is a component for the space station that needs to be built to combat the environmental concerns around an impending event that is happening," explained Heneghan. "People are actually cooperating together to mitigate this crises. There is a sense of urgency about the gameplay in which players will want to get better and not let their team down. It's pretty exciting stuff."

Looks like a cooperative version of Civilization and/or Sims.

[Taymynx]

I am actually surprised this wasn't on the table long ago.
Wonder if that means the military hasn't gotten to an MMO similar to the purpose of Ender's Game?
:P

[Spookie Monster]

I am actually surprised this wasn't on the table long ago.
Wonder if that means the military hasn't gotten to an MMO similar to the purpose of Ender's Game?
:P

Some might suggest that America's Army is a step in that direction...

Spel

Are we fighting for the right to be right?