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Unreal Engine 3 Game Technology Fuels NASA MMO Game

Moon Base Alpha is the first entry into the new NASA MMO subscription game
Article | 07.02.10 | By John Gaudiosi

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina – Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 technology is fueling a major new government and commercial partnership that will send gamers to the moon, Mars and Beyond. Virtual Heroes has partnered with serious game developers Motion in Place and Project Whitecard to develop a new massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game with the help and resources of NASA. This new subscription-based game, Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond, which will launch in phases beginning with a playable demo on July 6 through Valve’s Steam network called Moon Base Alpha.

 
 
“Unreal Engine 3 is simply one of the best, state-of-the art game engines available,” said Daniel Laughlin, Ph.D., project manager for the game at the NASA Learning Technologies office. “The Learning Technologies office will be deeply involved in the project along with the development team and will be coordinating involvement by NASA subject matter experts and external education experts on the project. We expect this to be a full partnership.”
 
Virtual Heroes work on another government project, the Department of Defense’s America’s Army free online game, served as a concrete example of what Epic’s game technology could do.
 
“I played America’s Army the month it was released and I’ve been following their development story ever since,” said Laughlin. “Institutionally speaking, I believe the existence of America’s Army has made it easier for NASA as a government agency, to consider and accept the idea of a NASA-based game.” 
 
All of the serious games Virtual Heroes is involved with use the Unreal Engine technology, which enables the team to focus on the task at hand.
 
“We’re using Unreal Engine 3 for the new NASA MMO game, which will allow us to focus on gameplay and realism and not worry about things like multi-threaded rendering problems or issues with rigid body physics or network programming,” said Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of Virtual Heroes.
 
Heneghan said one of the main reasons he and his partners on the NASA MMO game project chose Unreal Engine 3 was because of their plans to open the MMO game up to its players. Like Epic Games has done with the Unreal Engine 3 Editor, which is available with PC versions of games like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3, the goal is to allow gamers to create their own content, including missions and spacecraft, and then share that with others online.
 
“We want anybody that can go pick up a copy of Unreal Tournament for probably $19 at the store now to be able to get content that could be submitted for inclusion in the game,” said Heneghan.
 
The development team is crafting a series of events and missions that will start with the impact of global warming on the environment and expand to offer other reality-based challenges to gamers over time. While the subject matter might sound dry to those who dreaded high school science class, the team promises that the gameplay will be exciting.
 
“We have access to all of the digital assets from NASA that do not compromise national security concerns,” said Heneghan. “I was blown away by the creativity, the coolness factor, and just the sheer excitement of seeing some of the systems that are being researched, prototyped and created in terms of how parts and pieces fit together and how equipment will work with redundant mission critical systems for robustness and survivability.”
 
Rather than having to spend time and money conceptualizing the futuristic technology being portrayed in the game, Heneghan said the team will make good use of the assets being provided by NASA.
 
“This game is going to be a fresh look at the future circa about 2035,” said Heneghan. “This is a huge opportunity for us as a development team to leverage the work of brilliant NASA scientists who are creating the technology, systems and procedures of tomorrow and really pump up the cool factor so that game players can experience something that hasn’t been possible before.”
 
Taking a page from “America’s Army,” a free online game that Virtual Heroes has worked on, Heneghan said the NASA MMO game will be released in modular parts. This fall will see the first playable demo of the game and then next year the first episodic installment of the game will launch.
 
“Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond” will be a first-person exploration game that will also include traditional role-playing game (RPG) elements for both single-player and team-based space exploration, but with a realistic twist. Everything in the game will be crafted based on real NASA technology, as well as on prototypes from esteemed academic institutions for the next generation of robotics, spacecraft, spacesuits and space habitation.
 
“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”
 
Heneghan said the game transports players to space, but doesn’t focus on blowing things up. Players will face challenges like man versus nature, man versus technology, team efficiency against a series of challenges and then comparative team performance against challenges. 
 
Khal Shariff, CEO of Project Whitecard, used the following example as a challenge gamers might face on the moon.
 
“What do you do when someone is injured in space out on the surface of the moon?” asked Shariff. “One answer is a rover that can be used as an ambulance. Players will have all of these different components, like a LEGO or Erector set, to build an ambulance that would work on the moon. The idea is you don’t want the patient if they are injured bouncing all over the back of this thing as you tumble across the moon. You have to create as smooth of a ride as possible.”
 
Sonny Kirkley, Ph.D., CEO of Information in Place and adjunct assistant professor, School of Informatics, Indiana University, said there will be a very strong community element to the game. Players will be able to colonize planets and even run for mayor of Mars.
 
“We’re giving players the ability to create and populate their own outposts and bases, fabricate and manufacture their own equipment, get vehicle spacecraft and robotic accreditation,” said Kirkley. “As players progress on their career paths and accrue more skills, they’ll earn the ability to use advanced personal gear like exoskeleton suits.”
 
The multiplayer aspect of the gameplay will facilitate clusters of 30 to 50 players at a time to work together on various activities, all connected to the same back end database which will track player state, statistics and zones.  Special gameplay areas will be set up to facilitate much larger numbers of concurrent players ( outpost common areas, L-5 space colonies). Heneghan said players will have the freedom to do what they want within this game.
 
“Players will be driven by the opportunity to earn skill and experience points, level up their characters and unlock new things to see and do… We’ll have challenging individual and team missions integrated into the gameplay said Heneghan. We intend to encourage exploration through gorgeous immersive, highly interactive environments that will portray the many challenges awaiting us in the future robotic and human exploration of space.
 
This game will also offer players the chance to interact with real NASA scientists and astronauts. Once a gamer has moved up to a certain level of accreditation, they will be able to work directly with real NASA aeronautical engineers and roboticists.
 
“Players will learn what someone does who works with hydroponics or geology and they can actually interact with that person as a real live mentor, much the same way there was the Real Heroes program in America’s Army so that young people can be inspired and educated to want to have a career like that someday,” said Heneghan. “This game will especially be great for young people in underserved populations that might not really be exposed to that opportunity or not know that it is available to them.”
 
Heneghan reinforced the notion that Unreal Engine 3 is perfect for this game because it easily allows players to build their own creations, including robots, spacecraft and space habitats. This game will also offer gamers a look back at the history of NASA. The team is working on historical missions that will allow gamers to relive things like the Apollo missions from a first-person perspective – something no Hollywood film or Discovery Channel documentary can compete with.
 
“When we asked for input on how NASA could use an MMO to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, the overwhelming message we got back was that NASA had to be committed to the MMO being fun,” said Laughlin. “Basically, good game designed has to guide this project in order to attract players.”  
 
Good game design and Epic’s proven game technology will soon be blasting kids, students and adults into outer space, where they will be able to experience first-hand what astronauts of the future will be doing on the moon, on Mars and beyond.

 

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