Take a Lunar Adventure With New NASA Game

July 7, 2010 — NASA has given gamers a taste of lunar adventure with Tuesday’s release of Moonbase Alpha, a new, free online video game. The game has single and multiplayer options that allow participants to step into the role of an exploration team member in a futuristic 3-D lunar settlement. Players must work to restore critical systems and oxygen flow after a meteor strike cripples the solar array and life support equipment. Available resources include an interactive command center, lunar rover, mobile robotic repair units and a fully stocked equipment shed. The game is a proof of concept to show how NASA content can be combined with a cutting-edge game engine to inspire, engage and educate students about agency technologies, job opportunities and the future of space exploration. Moonbase Alpha, rated "E" for everyone, is a precursor to a planned NASA-based massively, multiplayer online game project. The project is being designed to have content and missions that require players to gain and demonstrate knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to succeed. NASA released the game on Valve's Steam network. The agency will use the Steamworks suite of services for server browsing, leaderboards, statistics and more. An MSNBC game review reported that the trickiest part of Moonbase Alpha comes from figuring out just what the game wants players to do in a particular repair situation. It can be difficult, especially the first time or two of playing, without knowing what repair tools are needed for each case, especially when every second counts. However, voiceovers drop hints about what to do next, but many players may encounter some trial-and-error before they actually succeed in saving the base within the 25-minute time limit, MSNBC reported. The online game has already begun attracting attention from inside NASA. Daniel Laughlin, project manager for NASA Learning Technologies at the agency's Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, said he has received calls from NASA scientists and engineers eager for their missions to appear in "Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond." The tie-in of actual mission data could give future gamers an extra dose of realism, he said. View the game’s trailer here. PC users can download the game here.

NASA’s new online video game, Moonbase Alpha, shows astronauts on the moon and the problems they encounter. Illustration credits: NASA

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