Author Topic: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)  (Read 22366 times)

Offline collectSPACE

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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #1 on: 06/17/2010 05:22 pm »
Oooooh! That looks pretty cool!
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Offline mike robel

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #2 on: 06/17/2010 05:55 pm »
I actually played this at a the recent GameTech conference in Orlando.  I was underwhelmed.  The "game" places you in a moon base that had been hit my a meteor strom and several components have been destroyed and there are some radiation hazards.

The game consists of getting the repair parts out of the shed, going to the damage, and repairing it.

Sometimes you are supposed to use a robot to carry supplies/make repairs.

I discovered several probelms.  Sometimes a part (hose) would start to flail uncontrollably and you could not connect it.  you frequently have to be in a certain orientatin to connect the part.  There was no penalty for zipping though the radiation area.  You can only care one part at a time, so you may have to make several trips to the stockage shed to get the parts/tools you need.

It was not particulary entertaining, inspiring, or even interesting.  we played in teams of 5.

Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #3 on: 06/17/2010 06:27 pm »
Sounds like it needs moar lightsabers :P
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Offline KelvinZero

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #4 on: 06/18/2010 09:40 am »
It looks great!

.. and yet now I feel strangely depressed ..



Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #5 on: 06/18/2010 01:30 pm »
It looks cool, but I'm sad to say that playing this game is probably the closest anybody is going to get to the Moon for a long time. :(

It would be ironic if this game actually took off, and NASA created a vast public interest in a Human Moon exploration program that doesn't exist anymore! ;)
« Last Edit: 06/18/2010 01:32 pm by Space Pete »
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Offline arenean

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #6 on: 06/18/2010 09:44 pm »
Moonbase Alpha, eh?

All it needs is a cocky Australian Chief Pilot, some 1970's style uniforms, a shape changer called Maya, and an inexhaustible supply of Eagles......


Offline Downix

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #7 on: 06/18/2010 10:04 pm »
Ok, I'm in.  Sign me up!
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Offline neilh

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #8 on: 06/18/2010 10:49 pm »
I actually played this at a the recent GameTech conference in Orlando.  I was underwhelmed.  The "game" places you in a moon base that had been hit my a meteor strom and several components have been destroyed and there are some radiation hazards.

The game consists of getting the repair parts out of the shed, going to the damage, and repairing it.

Sometimes you are supposed to use a robot to carry supplies/make repairs.

I discovered several probelms.  Sometimes a part (hose) would start to flail uncontrollably and you could not connect it.  you frequently have to be in a certain orientatin to connect the part.  There was no penalty for zipping though the radiation area.  You can only care one part at a time, so you may have to make several trips to the stockage shed to get the parts/tools you need.

It was not particulary entertaining, inspiring, or even interesting.  we played in teams of 5.

Hmm, that's unfortunate to hear. I wonder if there's anything they could do (within reason) to make it more engaging.
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Offline mike robel

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #9 on: 06/19/2010 03:27 pm »
Well, in fairness, there was only one scenario.  Perhaps more are underdevelopment... And I, at 55 and a professional game player/developer, am not exactly the target audience.

Offline KelvinZero

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #10 on: 06/20/2010 03:35 am »
If the basic format works, they can keep adding content.

A pity NASA is too PC to produce a dune2/starcraft style game, you know those ones where you expand your base, capture resources as quickly as possible and then bomb the *** out of your adversaries with your tanks.

..although NASA did come up with LCROSS.. :)
« Last Edit: 06/20/2010 03:59 am by KelvinZero »

Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #11 on: 06/20/2010 09:28 am »
Imo this isn't exactly good RTS material. Perhaps they could turn it into a survival horror where you're being chased by some weird entity on the Moon. Doesn't have to be an identifiable foe, just some presence that's out to get ya and uses the environment against you. You get sent in after they lose contact with the dozen bases on the surface (yes, more than one). You land and soon after you get off the lander and start investigating, the lander gets destroyed and the fun begins :)
Running along from base to base, trying to survive and looking for a way to return to Earth by fixing things, finding fuel and parts etc. is a bit generic, but it would be interesting.
« Last Edit: 06/20/2010 10:37 am by Cog_in_the_machine »
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Offline KelvinZero

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #12 on: 06/20/2010 11:06 am »
I would love to play that game, but I dont think nasa could make it unfortunately. I wonder if instead of having a "nasa" game, they could have something like a cash incentive for any game that puts the moon back into our imagination.. and perhaps a "The technology depicted in this game has the nasa seal of approval" sticker.

But I think VSO is a greate match for an RTS, apart from the fact that nasa can probably not put its name on something where americans, chinese and indians duke it out on the moon :)

I mean, look at the elements: you start with a base, you explore and find resources such as ice fields. you build solar power farms and ice miners. You begin smelting and manufacturing your own rovers. you order new items to be delivered from earth.. it is almost exactly dune2. :)

Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #13 on: 06/20/2010 12:20 pm »
But I think VSO is a greate match for an RTS, apart from the fact that nasa can probably not put its name on something where americans, chinese and indians duke it out on the moon :)

That's why I'm not sure it could work as an RTS. Sure the base building and resourcing could work very well. But things will get really surreal when you start having landers deliver small arms, explosives and armed rovers. I'd hate to be the guy that has to come up with a plot to justify turning the Moon into a battlefield. Kinda sends the wrong message about why NASA is trying to return to the Moon :)
I chose survival horror, because to be successful in such a genre it doesn't matter how little you have to work with in terms of plot, as long as you pull off the atmosphere and immersion. It probably could be done with what they already have in terms of graphics and physics engine, though the sound effects and music will likely have to be overhauled extensively.
Biggest issue will be the environment. The bases will likely be small and most of the time will be spent outside in transit. Turning a big gray desert from boring to scary is going to be hard. Perhaps during this time some sort of hallucination mechanic could be added that distorts reality and keeps the player alert. Blocking out the sun to immerse the terrain in darkness, cracks that appear out of nowhere and if you fall in you freeze, mist appearing out of nowhere, being pulled into some craters and freezing if you stand in them too long, shadows moving, hearing voices, lights that flicker in the shadows and other weird stuff.
I think it's not above their ability, but they're likely targeting a younger demographic with Moonbase Alpha (below 10 years old is my guess), so you're probably right that they won't do what I propose. We all know games aren't supposed to be fun, they're supposed to be realistic and scientifically accurate first and foremost :P

P.S. I wish Stanley Kubrick was alive. He'd probably have some interesting ideas.
« Last Edit: 06/20/2010 01:09 pm by Cog_in_the_machine »
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Offline neilh

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #14 on: 06/20/2010 04:37 pm »
I think it's not above their ability, but they're likely targeting a younger demographic with Moonbase Alpha (below 10 years old is my guess), so you're probably right that they won't do what I propose. We all know games aren't supposed to be fun, they're supposed to be realistic and scientifically accurate first and foremost :P

I actually think it'd be quite interesting to have a browser-based simulation game somewhat like those ever-popular FarmVille games, with a semi-realistic simulation of a Moon/Mars colony or space station instead of a farm. I've been pondering developing something like that as a weekend leisure programming project.
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Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #15 on: 06/20/2010 05:39 pm »
I actually think it'd be quite interesting to have a browser-based simulation game somewhat like those ever-popular FarmVille games, with a semi-realistic simulation of a Moon/Mars colony or space station instead of a farm. I've been pondering developing something like that as a weekend leisure programming project.

Something like Farmville...
It'll be good for a leisure programming project, but I was thinking about how NASA could make it into something that would appeal to more dedicated gamers, not just casual ones.

Here's a flash "Moon base/chat" game. You run around, jump ridiculously high in the air with a jetpack and talk to other people playing the game (imo it's lame, but to each his own) - http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/moonbase.shtml

It's not exactly farmville, but maybe you could get some ideas from it.
« Last Edit: 06/20/2010 05:40 pm by Cog_in_the_machine »
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Offline Cinder

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #16 on: 06/21/2010 12:51 am »
But things will get really surreal when you start having landers deliver small arms, explosives and armed rovers. I'd hate to be the guy that has to come up with a plot to justify turning the Moon into a battlefield.
There's a semi-realistic shooter game set in space, including one area based on the ISS.  "Shattered Horizon".  It seems to be a moderate success, propped up by the novelty and good execution of the realistic space vacuum setting, but hamstrung by some gameplay issues.  Someone who plays it told me it's badly paced.  So an authentic space setting does seem like a good selling point for mainstream games, nothing to disqualify it from being an AAA game's setting.

Buggy races on the Moon might be fun, especially if it's made so realistic as to suspend people's belief and give them a real sense of being there.  Nothing else can compare, so in their minds (whether it hooks them on space or not) space would gain some unique value instead of being "just another place".
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Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #17 on: 06/21/2010 06:51 am »
There's a semi-realistic shooter game set in space, including one area based on the ISS.  "Shattered Horizon".

Hadn't heard of that one. Looks interesting. Although it appears it doesn't have a single player campaign. Like I said, I'd hate to be the guy that has to come up with a plot to turn the Moon into a battlefield and the developers of this apparently thought the same :)

Quote
It seems to be a moderate success, propped up by the novelty and good execution of the realistic space vacuum setting, but hamstrung by some gameplay issues.  Someone who plays it told me it's badly paced.  So an authentic space setting does seem like a good selling point for mainstream games, nothing to disqualify it from being an AAA game's setting.

I'm not saying space can't be the setting for a good/popular game, but NASA might have a problem with putting it's name on something like this:



Quote
Buggy races on the Moon might be fun, especially if it's made so realistic as to suspend people's belief and give them a real sense of being there.  Nothing else can compare, so in their minds (whether it hooks them on space or not) space would gain some unique value instead of being "just another place".

This is a good idea. Maybe they could add a race track on the Moon for Moonbase Alpha as a bonus feature.
« Last Edit: 06/21/2010 10:25 am by Cog_in_the_machine »
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Offline KelvinZero

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #18 on: 06/21/2010 08:25 am »
I dont know Farmville.. I assume it is a bit like sim city or railroad tycoon?

That seems quite workable and far more PC :)

To this you could add
* A good immersive 3d environment. I think modern cards could do an excellent moon simulation. HDR. Lens flares, blinding sun if you dont use your shade. Moon buggy physics. tires that throw up dust and leave tracks.
* connected to up to date information about the moon, eg google moon.
* Reasonably plausible advances in technology. First goal could be ISRU of water, later He3 could become a commodity. Mass drivers are eventally acceptable, after all I think NASA did research them.

All technology could contain information pages explaining their "technological readiness", so that for example the difference between an altair lander and a mass driver which is not currently part of any mission plan is understood. Also the order in which they are introduced would help establish this.

Also this could really be an interesting road map from what we can do now, to a colonized moon.

Offline neilh

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #19 on: 07/06/2010 09:33 pm »
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Offline TexasRED

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #20 on: 07/06/2010 09:41 pm »
I was going to at least give it a whirl soon. Even my desktop is an older AGP card so I'm doubting it will hang.

It doesn't seem to be picking up much attention. Maybe cause its supposed to be a precursor for a full fledged MMO, IIRC. Having it on steam may help. 

Offline Cinder

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #21 on: 07/06/2010 10:48 pm »
I'll try it.  The graphics in preview shots don't look good at all.  Puzzling, given that the real deal looks so stunning. 
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Offline dougkeenan

Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #22 on: 07/06/2010 11:12 pm »
I'm just getting locked up during the steam install.

Offline tigerade

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #23 on: 07/06/2010 11:38 pm »
I'll give a try later on.

Offline ChuckC

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #24 on: 07/06/2010 11:42 pm »
This game looks like it’s as real as it gets. Oh that right thanks to Obama this as real as it is going to get.
« Last Edit: 07/06/2010 11:43 pm by ChuckC »

Offline PMN1

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #25 on: 07/07/2010 12:30 pm »
Spacereview has commented on it

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1657/1

Offline neilh

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #26 on: 07/08/2010 06:59 pm »
New Scientist's blog has a review:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/07/warning-nasa-game-may-encourage-bad-behaviour.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Apparently the reviewer found that it was more fun to shirk official duties in the game and just wander/drive around the low-gravity environment. It also has some interesting notes about the follow-up game, 'Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond'.
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Offline Cinder

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #27 on: 07/08/2010 07:33 pm »
The graphics look like they were done by the programmers.  The licensed graphics engine is way underused.  Which is surprising given that there are next to no atmospherics to render.  The physics are also underwhelming. Vehicles have only very basic canned kinematics.  Dust is only cosmetic: its spray is made of non-physics sprites and the suits are already dirty.  It'd be so much better if you somehow got to see dust fly as real one does, gradually getting all over equipment.
Also a first person perspective from inside the suit would be cool, as well as proper sound modeling to really feel that vacuum on the outside.

Exploring larger areas would be cool too.  Open-sourced it oughtn't take too long for the same people who made Orbiter and Celestia add-ons to build picturesque areas.

The follow up game sounds more ambitious, so hopefully these sorts of things will be improved.
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Offline kfsorensen

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #28 on: 07/09/2010 07:27 pm »
Holy crap this looks like a stupid game.  I just read the manual and the whole point of the game is to keep the squishy humans alive after a meteor strike.  And it looks like you have to use a robot to win it.  Do they realize the irony of their mission scenario?  Why are the squishy humans there in the first place, running out of oxygen, if you're going to use a robot to save them?

I'm guessing no one on the development team within NASA even stopped for a moment and asked whether or not making a game this boring was even worth it.

I played a vastly simpler game in the late 80s called "Moonbase" that was much more fun.  You mined for water, you made money, you grew plants, your reactor could melt down, you invented fusion.  Despite its cheesy graphics I'd take it in a second over this crap.

Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #29 on: 07/09/2010 07:37 pm »
Do they realize the irony of their mission scenario?  Why are the squishy humans there in the first place, running out of oxygen, if you're going to use a robot to save them?

LOL, that's a good point. It's an interesting plot hole, so to speak.
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Offline kfsorensen

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #30 on: 07/10/2010 12:27 am »
The 1990 video game "Moonbase" that I mentioned still looks like more fun than this NASA game.  Just looking at the screenshots reminds me what a fun game this was.  I love the date when we can expect fusion.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/moonbase

Offline Zachstar

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #31 on: 07/11/2010 08:53 am »
I might give a try but to be honest from what I am hearing this game is as boring as it gets.

I don't get it "Americas Army" was so successful for so long then poof suddenly if it has .gov on it it turns into a crap game.

You know what NASA needs to do. Develop for Orbiter. No seriously. It will do far more good than the bad press on this.

Offline neilh

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #32 on: 07/11/2010 06:41 pm »
You know what NASA needs to do. Develop for Orbiter. No seriously. It will do far more good than the bad press on this.

I concur! It'd be great to just have somebody making "official" NASA Orbiter models part-time at NASA, and I imagine news agencies would also appreciate having models on-hand for use in CG simulations for their broadcasts.
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Offline Cinder

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #33 on: 07/11/2010 08:17 pm »
Negligible nitpick: the thread title is wrong, this isn't an MMO.  The next game might be, but this is just ~10 players at a time.
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Offline LEGO Space

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #34 on: 07/14/2010 07:08 am »
Hmm, that's unfortunate to hear. I wonder if there's anything they could do (within reason) to make it more engaging.
Have Mooninites annoy you with their antics.
If the basic format works, they can keep adding content.

A pity NASA is too PC to produce a dune2/starcraft style game, you know those ones where you expand your base, capture resources as quickly as possible and then bomb the *** out of your adversaries with your tanks.

..although NASA did come up with LCROSS.. :)
The only thing "spacey" about Dune 2000 (a remake of Dune) was that once you had built a Starport (in the novel they were called Spaceports) you could purchase vehicles from offworld that would be transported to you in a spacecraft that looks like an Atreides Frigate from the 1984 film. Starcraft on the other hand had astronaut Marines with excessively large spacesuits, which was cool. Oh and "Firebats" who smoked cigars in their spacesuits, much like Ali G smokes a joint while placing a Jamaikan flag on the moon.
But I think VSO is a greate match for an RTS, apart from the fact that nasa can probably not put its name on something where americans, chinese and indians duke it out on the moon :)
Rather than them duking it out on the moon they could cooperate (along with Europeans Russians and perhaps Japanese, Canadians and Brazilians) against a fictional faction similar to the Brotherhood of Nod in Command & Conquer, if it has to have the NASA seal of approval. If not then it might as well be real powers duking it out :D.
It could be made somewhat realistic that in the future the game is set in, nuclear powers have completely dismantled their arsenals and many long-range weapons have also been banned worldwide, which would allow you to be in visual range before you can shoot at the enemy and vice versa, unlike in most modern RTS games where they have weapons modeled on real world ones but which have ridiculously low ranges.

I mean, look at the elements: you start with a base, you explore and find resources such as ice fields. you build solar power farms and ice miners. You begin smelting and manufacturing your own rovers. you order new items to be delivered from earth.. it is almost exactly dune2. :)
Don't forget 3-He mining, like in the 2009 film Moon.
That's why I'm not sure it could work as an RTS. Sure the base building and resourcing could work very well. But things will get really surreal when you start having landers deliver small arms, explosives and armed rovers. I'd hate to be the guy that has to come up with a plot to justify turning the Moon into a battlefield. Kinda sends the wrong message about why NASA is trying to return to the Moon :)
The plot could be that it's an international scientific base on the moon that is attacked by a fictional faction and the worlds space agencies then scramble to send armed military astronauts there. It could be made interesting by "the good guys" only having rag-tag weaponry designed mainly designed for earth as they had not been planning to fight on the moon, while the aggressors had been planning the attacks for years and have built weapons and vehicles for this purpose.

Also, wars on the moon aren't that surreal if you consider these two US military projects from the late 1950s:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunex_Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Horizon



I chose survival horror, because to be successful in such a genre it doesn't matter how little you have to work with in terms of plot, as long as you pull off the atmosphere and immersion. It probably could be done with what they already have in terms of graphics and physics engine, though the sound effects and music will likely have to be overhauled extensively.
Biggest issue will be the environment. The bases will likely be small and most of the time will be spent outside in transit. Turning a big gray desert from boring to scary is going to be hard. Perhaps during this time some sort of hallucination mechanic could be added that distorts reality and keeps the player alert. Blocking out the sun to immerse the terrain in darkness, cracks that appear out of nowhere and if you fall in you freeze, mist appearing out of nowhere, being pulled into some craters and freezing if you stand in them too long, shadows moving, hearing voices, lights that flicker in the shadows and other weird stuff.
Half-Life on the moon!


P.S. I wish Stanley Kubrick was alive. He'd probably have some interesting ideas.
Did he ever write stories for computer games?
« Last Edit: 07/14/2010 08:02 am by LEGO Space »

Offline LEGO Space

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #35 on: 07/14/2010 07:46 am »


Hadn't heard of that one. Looks interesting. Although it appears it doesn't have a single player campaign. Like I said, I'd hate to be the guy that has to come up with a plot to turn the Moon into a battlefield and the developers of this apparently thought the same :)


I'm not saying space can't be the setting for a good/popular game, but NASA might have a problem with putting it's name on something like this:


The near-realism of this makes me wonder if or when humans will really export their stupidity into space. Having said that, the game looks pretty sweet. I also like the way the HUD simulates the helmet's shape. Is it like Counter-Strike where you can only join battles before they begin or more like a Deathmatch game where you can pop in whenever you want and respawn whenever you die?

Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #36 on: 07/14/2010 07:51 am »
Did he ever write stories for computer games?

No, but he mixed sci-fi with mysticism and symbolism quite well. See 2001 A Space Odyssey. Absolute realism, which is what Moonbase Alpha is based on, is what you don't want in a game, unless you're trying to make a simulator.
^^ Warning! Contains opinions. ^^ 

Offline LEGO Space

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #37 on: 07/14/2010 07:53 am »
Also a first person perspective from inside the suit would be cool, as well as proper sound modeling to really feel that vacuum on the outside.
I wonder what driving a lunar buggy sounds like. Surely some of the sound is transmitted from the chassis and seat through the spacesuit.

No, but he mixed sci-fi with mysticism and symbolism quite well. See 2001 A Space Odyssey. Absolute realism, which is what Moonbase Alpha is based on, is what you don't want in a game, unless you're trying to make a simulator.
Agreed, but you need slightly different stories for computer games to be entertaining. Since you brought up Kubrick, I suggest that the base's computer might go nuts and start trying to kill the astronauts, possibly because it's being influenced by the mysterious entity.
« Last Edit: 07/14/2010 08:01 am by LEGO Space »

Offline Cog_in_the_machine

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #38 on: 07/14/2010 07:56 am »
Half-Life on the moon!

More like Dead Space with a more ambiguous enemy so it doesn't turn into a shootemup with zombies jumping from behind the corner to chew on your skull :)

Also I thought of the hallucinations that the protagonist has in F.E.A.R., simple startle moments and such.

All these elements work best if you're immersed in the game. Something that has all of them and incorporates it successfully, but on the Moon would be awesome. Taking away the weapons will just add to the feeling of vulnerability, hence increase the effect.
« Last Edit: 07/14/2010 09:16 am by Cog_in_the_machine »
^^ Warning! Contains opinions. ^^ 

Offline Dano Hari Prawoto,ST

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #39 on: 07/14/2010 09:00 am »
we do make some experiment (upon hardware modelling) it's an aircraft-like capsule simulator, but having no propulsion engine, yet...  :'(

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #40 on: 08/04/2010 10:24 pm »
Popular Mechanics: "Why NASA's New Video Game Completely Misses the Point".
www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/video-games/why-nasas-new-video-game-completely-misses-the-point
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Offline neilh

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #41 on: 08/04/2010 10:30 pm »
Popular Mechanics: "Why NASA's New Video Game Completely Misses the Point".
www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/video-games/why-nasas-new-video-game-completely-misses-the-point

I often disagree with Keith Cowing and what he posts over at his site (and won't link to him), but I agree with his assessment that the Popular Mechanics review wasn't so much a game review as much as it was a political commentary disguised as a game review. Heck, just a few sentences in the review actually talk about the game itself.
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Offline Cinder

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Re: NASA's Moonbase Alpha (MMO Video Game)
« Reply #42 on: 08/04/2010 10:30 pm »
And Rand Simberg's comments that that PM article by E. Sofge misses the point.
http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=28546
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