Can You Hear Me Now?

Human missions to Mars are moving from the realm of science fiction to science fact. Your challenge is to design an interactive application to explore the challenge of communicating with astronauts on Mars from Earth.

No Reverse

Summary

We idealize to build an Online Multiplayer game, to present the difficulties on comunication of astronauts based on the resources provided by NASA. This idea reached to us when we realized that presenting this data is a great opportunity to change the misconceptions young people have about astronaut career. Our game will have three different levels, 4-5 Players, it will be fun and full of historical easter eggs about space exploration. Players will be more rewarded when they choose right decisions. Our goal is to show real difficulties astronauts face nowadays and will face during Mars colonization. Problems must be shared because it’s only sharing problems that we find solution.

How We Addressed This Challenge

We developed a game idea that will have three levels. The first one is going to begin with a quiz about space. The crew of 4-5 players will have to decide between 6 different astronaut careers, those who best performed on quiz will choose careers first. Players will have only 2 minutes to find useful tools or items to bring with them in the spaceship. These objects will have descriptions about their usage but players will never know if it's going to be used on the trip. Players will have to be aware of the max load limit, how much food and fuel to bring as well as the time of flight. After that, choose the best Rocket for their purpose.

On the second level, each crew member will receive a random list of tasks to perform on the ship. During tasks players will discover if the objects they chose are going to be useful. The second level, as well as the third, will have tasks only inspired by the “Can You Hear Me Now” challenge.

The last Level will be placed on the surface of Mars and show the challenges men will face down there. The crew will have to deal with Geological, Athismosferical, Social and Mechanical problems such as sand storms which affect vision, communication and sanity.

The game will be fun and full of historical easter eggs about space exploration. Players will be rewarded when they choose right decisions. Our goal is to show real difficulties astronauts face nowadays and will face during a possible Mars trip, but present these facts as simple as a casual game, to make it fun and educational. This way we make a better future because knowledge must be shared, problems most of all, because it’s only sharing problems that we find solutions.

How We Developed This Project

During our research, we have learned about many problems, but the one we found about difficulties for communication to Mars was the one that inspired us for doing the game, after a Long discussion we had the idea formulated. The fact that we like to play video games only helped in our desire to keep going with this idea. We pretended to create a game that shares and demystifies information about the experience of being an astronaut, based on the provided NASA data.

For the mockup, we decided to use Figma, an online interactive vector design tool. With this tool we were capable of building an interactive demo with the overall idea of the look the final product will have. For the Art Design we used Krita and Adobe Illustrator, using references of already existing games that have the same feeling we would like to reach. Our idea was to make a angaiging game, besides being informative and with real problems.

How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project

While reading the “Can You Hear Me Now” challenge, we saw the opportunity to develop this idea, based on NASA`s data, we decided to make levels that use real information, this way we can make the game more immersive and realistic. Even Though the most important topic of our game is about communication on Mars expeditions we managed to incorporate many other problems astronauts face before launching, during the space trip and then finally when they reach the red planet. This problems were found in the NASA Space Apps website and incorporated on the concept of the game.

Project Demo

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12I-TcO5jgivqfTxQy_-fvEpZX1-Bu-jV-UKT_hCkFqo/edit?usp=sharing

Data & Resources

NASA (org.). MARS Exploration Program. Disponível em: https://mars.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/facts/. Acesso em: 04 out. 2020.


NASA (org.). NASA Solar System Exploration. Disponível em: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/. Acesso em: 04 out. 2020.


NASA (org.). On a Mission. Disponível em: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-a-mission/id1439209054?mt=2. Acesso em: 04 out. 2020


 NASA (org.). NASA Web Design System. Disponível em: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/. Acesso em: 04 out. 2020.

Tags
#Mars #VideoGame #Game #Multiplayer #Online #cooperative
Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Judging process.