Nasa mmo?

[MC]

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 plans to let Virtual Heroes, Project Whitecard and Information in Place take the lead in creating a game that emphasizes fun first and foremost. The game community sent in 800 pages worth of responses to NASA's initial outreach on developing an MMO.

"The single biggest point that was pushed forward by the game community was that you have to let game design lead the development," said Daniel Laughlin, project manager for NASA Learning Technologies at the agency's Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center in Maryland. "It's easy to build a game that's no fun. It's hard to build a game that's successful and fun."

A playable demo of the game is slated for release before the end of the year, based on a tech demo that uses Epic's Unreal Engine 3. Players will get to roam around in a multiplayer experience focused on moon base operations, although real astronauts on the International Space Station may have to hold off until they return to Earth.

"We've had to create a new genre of gameplay, creating what we call first person exploration," said Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of Virtual Heroes. He noted that the full game will emphasize player cooperation to master both harsh space environments and complex machinery. Players would take on astronaut roles such as roboticist, rather than becoming a grenadier or sniper in a more combat-oriented game.

Eventually players may get the chance to provide their own user-created content, ranging from scouting out new paths for space exploration to creating and flying their own ships. But unlike other space-themed MMOs such as EVE Online or Star Trek Online, such ships probably won't be toting laser weaponry.

The game developers also hope to have game missions connected with what Heneghan termed the "near-future reality" of space exploration. NASA has already created many concepts of future space tech that the developers plan to incorporate into the game, which has the added advantage of saving on game development costs.

"This model has been proven with America's Army," Heneghan told SPACE.com, pointing to how Virtual Heroes has already worked with the U.S. Department of Defense in developing the Army's free and popular online game. "The difference here is that we're talking about first person exploration, so it's all about exploring the environment, expanding and building things rather than shooting other players."

Each game developer has already amassed considerable experience working with one another on space-related games. Virtual Heroes and Project Whitecard are finishing up a different project for the Canadian Space Agency, while Virtual Heroes is also working with Information in Place on a "Virtual Astronaut" project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Laughlin said that he was pleased to see development of the game moving quickly, at least for NASA. The MMO project first started in 2004, and NASA selected the three developers just after the New Year.

"I'm working with NASA and video games at the same," Laughlin said. "It's the coolest job in the world."

Source: http://www.livescience.com/space/090219-nasa-mmo.html

After a quick Google search to confirm this, I came across this site - http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/mmo/index.html

 

[Tenzo]

lol....

 

[MC]

lol....

Explain why you find this funny.

Personally, I've been waiting for something like this.

 

[Barney]

Let's explore space together.

Yea, that's why it's funny.

 

[Tenzo]

I wouldn't have thought that Nasa would do this....
But it's nice idea,yes.

 

[Dokutayuu]

I've always wanted to be an astronaut.

I don't know how fun it'll be though, most astronauts don't really do anything exciting.

 

[MC]

Source: http://news.bigdownload.com/photos/astronaut-moon-mars-and-beyond/

 

[KarrdeKNR]

I'd totallly play something like this. Assuming it's the kind of thing I could play casually and didn't require real time commitment.

 

[Zeonix]

If it's a learning experience, I'll check it out.

 

[Tenzo]

Looks good.

 

[MC]

New information:

We reported last fall that NASA had selected Virtual Heroes and Project Whitecard to work on its MMO and saw some early information and details last month that also named Information in Place as a partner, but today NASA has officially announced that it would sign an agreement for the proposed Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond.
“‘Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond’ was selected because the three companies involved had a really ideal combination of qualities we were looking for,” Daniel Laughlin of NASA’s Learning Technologies Project Office said in a statement. “They have the right experience, they demonstrated their ability to engage middle school through higher education curricula, and they have extraordinary enthusiasm about working with NASA to make a fun game. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from more than 800 pages of public input, it’s that this game must be fun if it’s going to be of any use for education.”

In the announcement, NASA was careful to point out that the virtual world was being developed without directly tapping in to taxpayer dollars. There was a mild kerfluffle in Spring 2008 after NASA's RFI meeting when some developers assumed that meant NASA was asking them to work pro bono. Instead, NASA is providing assets of its own, including subject matter experts, data, facilities, and more, which will bolster the product and let developers monetize it on their own.

NASA assets will be provided with NASA funding, but the agency says the majority of development costs will be covered by private investments and corporate sponsorships. That fits with the goal of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, which is helping the Learning Technologies Project Office to plan the MMO, of enabling development that benefits NASA in the future and deriving value from its existing assets.

The hope is that Astronaut will both serve as a touchstone for students of higher education in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) as well as encourage younger users, down through middle school, to get involved.

"When they see that they can use these skills to build something – like a space shuttle or a greenhouse – then they understand why it’s important,” said Sonny Kirkley, CEO of Information In Place. “So, ultimately, teachers will find that a gaming environment makes it much easier to engage students in STEM subjects and provides context for the other things they are teaching.”

The teams are in conversation with universities and professors to make sure the MMO is in line with curriculum. The University of North Dakota’s Capstone Program has already agreed to contribute content and curricula for the spaceship aspects through its Master’s program in Spaceship Design.

Source: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/20...t-mmo-working-with-educators-for-content.html