NASA To Develop Unreal Engine 3 Powered MMO

[Dark Pulse]

NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for our non-US readers - might be the last people you think of making an Unreal Engine 3 powered MMO. But guess what? That's exactly what they're doing, calling the game "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond."

The new game, which will be released next year, is being developed with input from past and current NASA astronauts as well as scientists, engineers, and GS level employees. As a result, all of the spacecraft, robotics, technology and gadgets in the game will be based on current NASA prototypes, offering a realistic journey into space.

"Players will pick a profession like a roboticist, space geologist, astrobiologist or mechanical engineer and work together as a team as they explore space and complete missions, establishing bases and outposts and traveling to the farthest reaches of the solar system," explained Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of Virtual Heroes, which has previously worked on the U.S. Department of Defense's "America's Army" videogame. "The game will offer both individual challenges and team-based objectives to encourage players to use real-life applications of science, math and engineering to unlock new in-game vehicles, spacesuits, robotics and mining apparatus that will propel them further into space."

 

[Jackal]

Do they really have that much money that they can buy and make games? I thought they needed constant budget increases for their space craft.

 

[Kazimira]

Theres been so many failers thay know thay need to invest in something that will get them a profit later not just in cash but in new blood to the space program.

 

[213]

So, what happens, first ones to Mars get all the epic loot?

I don't see this working as an MMO. In fact I think the "MMO" label alone will kill it before it has a chance. (and don't get me wrong I myself love MMO's.)

What I'd prefer to hear about, and play would be an engrossing single player experience, so they can go all out and use it as a learning tool, a game that adapts to the players skill/intellect/and pacing and as a way to tell some of the stories that people in these careers have to tell.

Sounds a bit corny maybe, but when's the last time you got to watch the Earth rise over the horizon, and see what sunlight reflecting off the Moon's surface looks like,.. from an arm's length away?

One big problem will come in trying to define that blurry line of "detailing and engrossment". Finding out just how much people want to learn, and how much they want to "just play" and where to place that line will be a challenge indeed, without the traditional challenge rewards of sex and violence.

 

[Lethargy]

Earth and Beyond was great, could be something like that...

 

[Forgetful]

I knew about this long ago but couldn't say anything. I have a committee project review every year in my college. One of the reviewers heard me talking about the unreal 2 engine. After my review they told me they were going down to Houston to talk with NASA about an MMO. I was like... Is this person serious?

Very strange.

On a second note this person also mentioned Ubi soft is going to be opening another Video Game Campus in Winnipeg Manitoba. They have one in Monreal Quebec right now.

 

[Kazimira]

This will be a failer in terms of playabilaty but not in terms of sales. Parants will try to get thair kids to do something educational. Kids will pick it up and throw it in a box somewhere. Still Nasa will get the sales and profit thay need. Theres a reson why everything Nasa does is something alot of people just dont want to do. It can be very dull. Theres no way around it. So the game is not going to go far for kids. Adults will realise its worse than getting thair epic black drake(wow) for grinding and give up on it.

 

[Forgetful]

From our conversation I gathered would be a sim for the astronauts. At least thats the only portion of it we discussed.

 

[GreatEmerald]

How would a UE3 MMO work? I mean, UE3 is giant, how do they expect to upload that much data?

 

[Jetfire]

Yep, never heard of NASA in this part of the world. ^_^

 

[Kazimira]

How would a UE3 MMO work? I mean, UE3 is giant, how do they expect to upload that much data?

The information being sent is placeing data and animation triggers. The rest is litrely in the game and engione alredy. I'm wondering when people will realise this and make a better engione for wow.

 

[Jetfire]

Also it's worth pointing out that the install footprint for Age of Conan can exceed 30gig depending on how many zone's you've been to (based on my last contact with the game a long time ago, maybe it's changed since)

 

[GreatEmerald]

And news about this from the Linux front:

NASA's MMO Video Game To Have A Linux Port?

The latest mission for NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is not to put man on Mars or revisit the Moon, but to develop a video game. NASA is working with three game studios now to develop their very own massively multi-player online game. This game is being called Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond and will be available on a subscription basis to the general public. Hence the title and it coming from NASA, it will be an MMO game about outer-space where one has to deal with a variety of extraordinary tasks. More information on NASA's MMO game can be found at NASA.gov or there is a bit more information at BigDownload.com.

This game is still a ways from being released, but at the heart of this game is the Unreal Engine 3 -- the same engine that powers Unreal Tournament 3, America's Army 3, and dozens of other titles. Unreal Engine 3 is a multi-platform engine that has an OpenGL renderer and is compatible with Mac OS X and Linux even though we haven't seen any titles be released yet for Linux.

Will Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond have a native Linux port? We have been tipped off that it is indeed being considered. Though this shouldn't be much of a surprise considering NASA extensively uses Linux in its operations (including Fedora). If a native Linux port of this NASA MMO will indeed come, we can only hope that it will be developed in lockstep with the Windows client and will be released around the same time, compared to the waiting game that there has been for Unreal Tournament 3, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, and so many other titles.

A space game won't appeal to all Linux gamers, but at least it's not yet another first-person shooter and it will be a modern-day game.

Source (and links): http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzA4NA