FOGE MoonBaseOne

New National Space Plan Inspiring kids?

2010-02-16T20:06:00.001-05:00

The new Administration's direction in space is not as inspiring as the last Administration. Any ideas on inspiring the next generation of space explorers?

MoonBaseOne Version 4 posted

2009-02-07T16:00:00.002-05:00

I've uploaded the version of MoonBaseOne that we've been using for the past year within Galaxy Explorers here. This isn't in a .msi file, meaning that it's not as easy to install within Windows (sorry, I no longer have the computer set up to make those installers).

This has:
- Astronauts in new, cooler uniforms
- More missions and tasks to do
- Different story line options
- Better Terrain
- A lot of small tweaks

Notice that when you run it, it'll upload your score to an online server.

This hasn't been fully tested. Hopefully, we can hand it to a new vlunteer to fully test and build into an install file.

Source code to make your own "Lunar Academy"

2009-02-07T15:57:00.002-05:00

I've released the source code for making your own quizes using Torque. This is Creative Commons, meaning that anyone can use it without required payment. I've posted a zip file with instructions on how to add it to your game here.

MoonBaseOne 3.0b Posted

2008-02-25T07:56:00.003-05:00

A new version of MoonBaseOne has been posted that incorporates work from our summer interns as well as a few new missions and a new game type! Please help us debug it by downloading it and posting comments with feedback.

Current bugs:
- Conversations seem to be crashing
- The astronaut needs a new uniform, possibly all white

Wikipedia site created

2007-07-15T18:36:00.001-04:00

We have a new Wikipedia page! Feel free to add to it, update trivia or details, or link to your profiles.

Our last step is to complete all Copyright transfer documents to give FOGE full rights to distribute.

Great job everyone! Excellent effort, and it was great working with you all.

Latest release

2007-07-14T23:20:00.000-04:00

Added a few more updates:
- Derek's new voice files added
- Added a scoreboard that remembers the top 10 scores
- Two different games - one where you can play for double the points, but your clock doesn't stop when you're in the base
- Bots tell you info about how they are configured
- Removed the Chat HUD console, repositioned score
- Added more commands to Bots (Follow me, Mine here, go home)
- Added conversation file for Hammond, so he'll trade resources with you
- Added ammo boxes with advanced mining bits to increase mining yield

Updated video with Credits

2007-07-12T07:44:00.000-04:00

Here is a slightly newer video with Dr J's and Derek's name in the credits. Thanks everyone for your hard work and excellent teamwork. It's so rewarding finally having a delivered product.

Updates to add pizzaz

2007-07-10T16:44:00.000-04:00

We've already got a few updates ready to add into Release Candidate 2 (UPDATE: Just Posted).

These are:
- Added a scoring system!
- 30 lessons within the Lunar Academy (thank's Dr. J!)
- Increased sound volume for Derek's sound files (Thanks Derek!)
- New Lunar Academy Screen that looks much nicer
- Fixed some of the animation snaffus when mining
- Fixed a problem with the commander talking about the scientist
- Fixed some of the Supply comments

Anything else to get in before it's loaded on the terminals next week?

I'm going to try to add:
- Conversation files for Engineer Hammond in the Garage
- Stop the stutter-walking after mining
- Limit the number of upgrades you can give to any single bot (otherwise, one bot can drill 100s of minerals at once)
- Add a credits screen to give us all credit for the great work done

MoonBaseOne - Release Candidate 1 posted!

2007-07-09T00:09:00.000-04:00

It's here and ready for serious user testing!

MoonBaseOne is ready to go!

All final systems have been added, so it's ready to play. I'll be doing testing, balancing, and tweaking over the next week, but it's ready to play now.

I'd love any feedback you all could send! What can be fixed or improved?

More things to tweak over the next few days. None of these are critical, but will add some oompf to the game:
- Add some more dialog from Dr. J's script
- Add some interaction for Hammond out in the Garage
- Add 15 more lessons
- Fix the sound files to play in the foreground audio

Great progress on Version 2.06

2007-07-08T17:16:00.000-04:00

We're almost complete for Phase 1 of Moon Base One!

I'll post an updated version at the end of the day. So far, we've got every major system in, tested, and working. The only piece that's left to finish is the "Lunar Academy" computer teaching system for people to take lessons and get rewards from.

The Major fixes so far are:
- Fixed random crashes! (at least, all that I've been able to replicate)
- Supply purchasing system added
- All new conversation system added (it looks great!)
- Item upgrades can be purchased and applied to bots
- All new buildings fully added
- Missions give you the jetpack and mining gun... so you have to earn them
- You can no longer use jetpack inside base

Version 2.05 Posted

2007-07-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

We're planning one more update this weekend to add the computer lessons and store purchasing GUI, as well as fix some moving AI and apply item upgrades to the robots. Newly converted sound files will be in that, as well.

There is a temporary upgrade (that hopefully fixes all crashes) posted now. It also has Andre's new amazing base layouts. Great stuff!

Version 2.04 posted

2007-07-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Large coding update!

The purchasing system has been completed. There are now 15 objects within the game that can either be purchased or earned by completing classes. Each object is found at a certain location (Supply, Garage, Computer).

There's a new way to purchase robots. Once you have enough materials, you go ask the supply officer. You can also by upgrades to your mining gun as well as to your carrying pack. The supply officer can also fix the broken robot out front if you have enough minerals.

We have audio cues being played to tell the players what to do... the volume is just really really low, so we'll increase that for the next update.

Video Mashup

2007-06-01T19:04:00.000-04:00

Check out the new MBO Video!

Version 2.03 posted!

2007-05-29T00:22:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since we've posted an update... to summarize the reasons why 2.03 took awhile:
-Updated to Vista
-Reverted to XP
-Formatted wrong Harddrive (Doh!)
-Audio files not working
-Fixed it all again... better and stronger than the original..

LOTS of changes in this version:

Forcefield around mission bounds
Less minerals
Better message popups to players
More arcade like - 10 minutes to play
Purchasing system finalized
Mission eventing and timer system finalized
Sound system entered (just need final sounds. :) )

MoonBaseOne Video

2007-05-14T09:11:00.000-04:00

We've put together a short 2 minute video highlighting the game and some of the things you can do inside it. Check out the flash version (90mb), the full version (480mb), or watch it on YouTube below.

We're currently working on version 4.03, which will have a countdown timer to run through the game and get enough minerals in 10 minutes.

Version 2.0 posted

2007-04-06T00:42:00.000-04:00

Version 2.0 of the game is up! This has NPCs with actions on them (they're still rudimentary), a new terrain, and Andre's new buildings. Lots more coming soon, so stay tuned!

Attack of the Bots!

2007-03-30T16:58:00.000-04:00

A huge robot update has been posted in the latest release. Over 30 new features to really expand the robot system is in the new version 1.99. To really test out the changes, load the second "Empty Moon Testing" mission in the game loader.

New Robot features and Attributes:
- Hopper size - once the hopper is full of minerals, it tries to make a canister and drops them on the ground.
-- Once canisters have run out, it will run back to base to drop minerals off (if you buy a homing beacon)
-- You can add an attachment to the bot so that canisters it drops has lights to make them easier to find
-- You can give the bot more canisters by touching it, or drop all the minerals you are carrying by pressing 'L'
- Bots have different movement speed, size, color, and intelligence levels
- Bots can have better drilling bits, which dig faster and allow for more minerals to be recovered
- Bots can have have a microscopic imager to increase chances of finding minerals
- The more intelligent a bot, the better it is at finding new ground to mine on
- Bots can have an ad-hoc Network device, which lets them share bad mining spots with other bots
- Bots can have a Mineral Surveying Device which helps them always find good mineral spots

MBO Version 1.95

2007-03-28T19:34:00.000-04:00

Version 1.95 posted to the link on the right!

Updates in this post:
- Robots have a number of statistics - intelligence, movement speed, carrying capacity, size
- Robots move around when there are no minerals available!
- Robots hold the minerals they find, you have to walk up to them to pick them up
- NPCs have proper animations, and react to players
- NPCs can have missions, and sell things to players
- New mining drill added

Still hoping to post Version 2 by Sunday.

MBO Version 1.9 is posted!

2007-03-21T19:32:00.000-04:00

Version 1.9 is posted!

This version has:
- Andre's new Moon Base
- Enhanced Mining Bot functionality, sizes, and skins
- Testing mission for talking to NPCs
- Enhanced digging effects and sounds
- NPC characters within the base
- Sliding doors on the base

Please let me know any feedback, or suggestions for improvements!

Amazing Interiors

2007-03-06T22:22:00.000-05:00

Andre (our head MoonBase modeler) has new screenshots from the base interior that he's building. Great stuff! We'll try to push out a new release by Thursday morning.

Building the base

2007-02-28T07:11:00.000-05:00

For ease of management, we're going to break the game into two halves - Andre will run the base, and everthing within the base (floorplan, textures, objects, characters, etc). I will run everything outside the base (vehicles, mining, terrain, space weather, robots, etc). This will help us continue development while I'm out and when I return. I love it when your team allows you to take a vacation!

Andre has a pretty innovative idea to build a series of modular floors shaped like rings... this way, we can add a new ring when needed (or when we come up with a new plot device). This will allow us to quickly test new base layouts and change in the future to support more ideas. Andre's thinking of using an elevator between floors, and will give us a preview of the idea during tonights telecon at 7:30.

On the left side are some pictures of a new moon base idea that NASA is testing out, full story here.

Minor Mining update

2007-02-26T08:06:00.000-05:00

I've posted a small update just to test the mining changes. I'm having troubles building the datablocks for the other player uniforms and bots, so they aren't in right now (should be soon!).

Changes:
- There are less minerals needed to buy robots
- Mining an area doesn't use up the land as fast
- Mining areas are much smaller - so you don't have to move as much to mine
- Jet pack speed is based on how many minerals you are carrying.
- Rocks are mineable again - about 40-60 minerals per rock

Astronaut Uniforms

2007-02-21T20:15:00.000-05:00

Here's the texture for the Astronaut Uniform - we're looking for 5 new ones, one for each character:

The Source JPG file is located here. The Source PSD file is located here. Andre's Engineer uniform is also shown for comparison. Great stuff Andre!

More mining!

2007-02-21T19:39:00.000-05:00

I've added a minor update as version 1.7:

- To fix a few of the bug reports, I changed the way that movement works with mining - now you use up energy every time you mine. This lets you mine faster.

- The player starts out with a bunch of minerals to begin with, to make getting a robot quicker.

- Each robot can have different numbers associated with it - how fast it mines, how much it mines

- Everytime you mine, it will use up a bit of that area... after 10 or so times, it will tell you that there's been too much mining in the area

Plans for next mining updates:
- Robots wil hold on to minerals, you have to go out and pick them up when they are full
- After robots can't mine in an area, they'll randomly move around until they find a spot that isn't mined yet, then restart
- When robots mine, they might hit a pocket of gas or something explosive
- When robots mine, they might slowly take damage
- You can recall robots to base... some of them might not work and you have to pick them up
-- This wil be very useful if a meteor storm is about to hit
- If robots break, you can either fix them or scrap them for resources
- When making robots, you can pick many different options for building them

What other ideas?!

Mining robots

2007-02-18T16:09:00.000-05:00

Game version 1.6 is posted!

This has some upgrades to the mining logic. When you mine, you can only mine when you have enough energy. You can only carry 100 units of minerals... once you have that, go and touch the golden machine by the base of the outpost to drop those off at base.

After you have enough minerals to purchase a mining robot, hit the "+" plus key. This will place a mining robot. You can place up to 6 robots, and each one you get mines a little bit better than the last.

Currently, the robots each cost:
5 aluminum, 8 carbon, 45 iron, 3 magnesium, 25 silicon, 5 nickle

What else should we build? What should they cost? I've increased the mining values, especially in higher ares... is this enough?

Mineral Counts

2007-02-07T20:27:00.000-05:00

All,
Can you help me work through the minerals that we will have and their percentages of being found every time someone digs? The way it currently works it that for every dig, you have the chance of finding 1 unit of each type - so you could get 1 of each if you "rolled" perfectly each time.

Here's my first though effort. These are very easy to change in my config files:

Name
1st number - % to find in Low Altitude
2nd number - % High Alt
3rd number - % In asteroids

Aluminum 10% 30% 40%
Calcium 10% 30% 40%
Carbon 10% 10% 20%
Hydrogen 20% 10% 50%
Iron 40% 10% 20%
Liq. Ox 10% 3% 20%
Magnesium 30% 10% 20%
Silicon 5% 35% 45%
Water 2% 1% 3%
Titanium 0% 30% 10%
NanoFiber 0% 0% .1%

Do we need to add Nickel? Anything else? I'm guessing Iron should be increased. Water as well?

I'm thinking of adding an extra column for % when digging underground or % when robot digs (though these might just be double and tripple the chances of finding one). Thoughts?

Lander Sketches

2007-01-31T20:24:00.000-05:00

Phil Smith, our master Space Artist, had these sketches to help inspire us on for the 3D objects that we are aiming to create:

Mission and Feedback Loops

2007-01-31T20:05:00.000-05:00

For our MBO subsystems, we're looking at the player keeping four simulation "loops" in synch.

Let's discuss what the loops are and their details in this post.

(Here's a spreadsheet that we can collaborate on)

New Game Version Posted

2007-01-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

We've posted version 1.5 of the Moon Base One game. The new version includes:

- More vehicles
- Deadly spilled radioactive goo
- A Jet pack with Sounds
- Into Dialogue
- Breathing sounds
- Underground Outpost with Doors and a machine room
- A mining gun to mine into the lunar regolith or into stray boulders

This is a first draft for many of these effects - and some are still a little raw... they'll be cleaned up and polished during the next release.

Thanks for everyone's help!!

Moon Base One developers phone conference

2007-01-24T11:16:00.000-05:00

Hey all, we're getting all of the developers together for a quick phonecall tonight at 7:30pm EST or 4:30pm PST. We'll be having these every week until we deliver the game in June.

If you're available, please call in so we can resynchronize on tasks.

1 877 761-1266
DIAL **
DIAL Password 12345

Inside the Moon Base

2007-01-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

We're using 3D World Studio to develop interiors for our base. We need volunteers to help design the inside of the bases. Anyone interested? If so, ping me and I'll walk you through how to build these rooms! The next version of the game (out this weekend) will have some starting examples of inside rooms under the base we can walk around in.

http://www.leadwerks.com/index.php?page=applications_games.htm&subbar=bar_applications.htm

Listen to the Intro

2007-01-20T00:14:00.000-05:00

Our professional voice actor, Peter Wylie, has recorded a few versions of the intro. I've done a few edits and put my favorite up here. Please leave us any feedback you have! I envision this will be the voiceover for the intro video.

If you like Peter's work, we might be able to request additional help from him...

Moon Base One: The Setting

2007-01-14T23:40:00.000-05:00

The year is 2030. Rob Hegg stands atop the jagged mountains of the south side of the moon. Early in the 21st century, humanity came to the moon to extend humanity’s presence across the solar system. The moon is the first step. The quest to find extraterrestrial life has always been a driving force behind humankind’s expansion into the solar system. That, and the calling to venture into the unknown causes mankind to invest in its future by exploring and colonizing space. For the creative minded, employing space technology could bring untold riches in new commercial ventures.

Neither the early robotic probes, nor the humans that created them could have predicted the tremendous possibilities for humanity to be found in the chemical composition of the moon. Helium Three, the key to clean fusion power, was abundant in the hostile environment of the moon. It was no longer just exploring space, but exploiting it, which brought the humans. The possibilities for commercial growth and the development of wealth exceeded beyond belief. Scientists on Earth worked to perfect the processes for creating power from Helium Three that could provide near limitless clean energy for the entire planet. The hopes of billions of people rested with this precious element. So too did the fears of millions.

The development of limitless clean energy threatened nations all over the world. It threatens the empires, money, and power of those who produce fossil fuels. There are many powerful people, organizations, and countries who would love to see Moon Base One fail; so many in fact, that an increasing number of people believe equipment failures and other strange happenings are sabotage. There is no evidence of this claim. Still, inhabitants are warned to check everything and to be on the look out for “substandard equipment”.

Much of Moon Base One is buried beneath 5 meters of lunar regolith and soil. The lunar soil is an effective means of protecting its inhabitants from the intense radiation emanating from space and the nearby sun. Moon Base One has a short supply chain to Earth and orbiting space stations. Arrival of supply vehicles is a normal part on base operations. Moon Base One has begun producing helium 3 in ample quantities to meet Earth’s power needs. Moon Base One also supports nearby mining operations and fuel production for rockets bound for the Red Planet.

Calling all artists!

2007-01-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

Are you an artist that can help us put textures on the 3D objects we come up with for the MoonBase? We need your help!! Here are step by step instructions on how you can put your art skills to work:

Save the file http://crossler.com/test/games/MBO_Objects.zip to your desktop
Unzip it to a folder on your desktop
Run the file named TorqueShowToolPro 1.5.exe within the directory you unzipped
Accept all the default settings when installing
On your desktop, click on the link named Torque ShowTool Pro

Within the ShowTool Program:

Click “OK” to use the program in evaluation mode (email me if your eval expires)
In the upper left hand, click the light green Project Directory button
Click Modify
To the right, click the gray “Add Directory” button
To the right of the textbox under “Path to Project Directory”, click the right arrow
Navigate to the directory you uninstalled the main zip file to (For me, this was C:\Documents and Settings\crossler\Desktop\MBO_Objects )
Click in the name box, and call it “Moon Base”
Click OK
Click the light green Load DTS button to load a DTS object to view (this has the 3D object wrapped in the 2D textured images)

Editing the images

Once you have the object loaded, to find out what textures are used, click the light pink Material List button on the left
This will list the name of the PNG or JPG image in the directory that the object is textured with
Open your favorite editor and edit this image file, and recheck with the ShowTool to see how your changes look (you can click and drag on the buttons to the top right to rotate the 3D image)
You can change the size of the images, as long as they have one of these sizes: 128x128 or 256x256 or 512x512 or 1024x1024 (they must be square)
Mail us the changed images files when done, we’ll add them to the game!

THANK YOU!

Help!

2007-01-11T11:48:00.000-05:00

The skillsets that we still need volunteers for are:

- C++ Programmer (2-3 people)
- Audio engineer for special effects, background music (1 person)
- Graphics artists/painters/photoshop experts (2-3 people)
- 3D designer in Lightwave 3D or 3DS Max (1-3 people)
- 3D animator in 3DS Max (1 person)
- Voice actors (I think we have enough)
- Video designer (1 person)

Plot and Misson Document

2007-01-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

A new collaborative document containing the Plot and current missons has been added as a link to the right: Collaborate on the Plot. If you want access to edit this or update it, send me an email!

How's this for opening text and voice over?

2007-01-06T12:33:00.000-05:00

June, 2030:

Your volunteer application for a six week assignment to Moon Base One has been approved! As a contractor working for FOGE Inc., we are very proud of the studying and effort you have shown. Your hard work has paid off.

As you know, FOGE Inc. is one of the World’s lead stellar contracting firms. We are the best engineers and scientist available for hire!

NASA has just approved a contract for us to accomplish Phase 3 of the Moon Base One expansion. We will be improving existing facilities, and adding state of the art factories, robotics and infrastructure. Your success here is required for us to be funded to work on Phase 4. Your friends at FOGE are counting on you.

Over the next few weeks, your task is to set up an automatic mining process. Find enough materials from the lunar Regolith to build more robots and enhancements to the base. We'll give you specific tasks of what to build, but finding enough raw materials is paramount!

Now that you are here, get acquainted with the mining outpost at the base of the hill. The main Moon Base One structure is about a mile to the North East. Your room is in that main base - we have a rover assigned to you that can drive there. There should be a jetpack near here that will also help you fly around in the low gravity. Be careful on your landings - we've had many employees sprain their ankles from coming down too fast.

We'll call you on your inner-suit comm. radio when we have specific missions to do. From all of us watching your every move from back on Earth, FOGE Inc wishes you good luck. Have fun building the future of mankind!

New Year = New Things to do!

2007-01-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

We're planning on having the final version of the game ready by June 1st. Make sure you check out Version 0.2, which was just posted (links on the right side of this page).

The things we still need help with are:

3D modeling and texturing:
- specifically: individual buildings in the moon base, mining equipment, and two new space rover vehicles
- 3D modelling of a robot/droid to carry rocks/supplies when called
- building new images for the existing moonbases - so they look a little more realistic
- 3D texturing of space suits from astronauts of other companies (we have the FOGE one, need a few more)

Coding:
- Mission system (building in some C++ code so that AI bots can respond to commands and communicate)
- Base building system (so that when players bring resources to the base, buildings are created)
- Various "mini games" to accomplish goals (like wire a broken circuit, reprogram a robot, fix equipment, etc)

Writing/Design:
- Designing the Missions for players (we have a good list online, but need some more granularity - What exactly are the missions? How long are they?)
- Writing text for the scripts (What exactly are the words that NASA mission control says to the astronauts for each mission? What other messages are sent?)
- Writing dialoge that the AI bots will use (Do they say "Hi" when approached? What about bots from other "companies")

Audio/Video:
- Recording the audio/video for the missions communications from NASA (we have a film studio ready to help with this)
- Recording audio for the other astronauts (we need a few male and female voices)

New version of MoonBaseOne Game!

2006-12-28T19:08:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! I just returned from travelling, and posted an updated version of the game. Steps to download and install it are on the right side of this page (the game zip file is here).

Things added:
- A mission system
- Another large base
- Jetpack
- AI Bots that follow paths
- Sandstorm effects
- Night effects
- Terrain Fixes

Next, I'll start building out some of the great ideas that everyone's posted.

More Moon mission ideas

2006-12-11T16:03:00.000-05:00

Exploration

Exploration of the moon. Test rock samples brought back from EVA’s.

Operations and Maintenance

Re-supply missions to moon.
Remotely drive a rover to collect supplies from landing site
Set up power unit – deploy solar panels
Respond to anomalies:

Return to Moon Base due to radiation from solar activity
Power loss – repair power station
Medical issues – rescue injured astronaut
Pressure leaks (micrometeorites) – repair facility
Broken filtration units – build new water filtration unit
Reports of different problems from earth

Other possibilities for the video game. This can include a host of anomalies from things blowing up to falling off a cliff. I think the more danger, the better.

Building the base – inflating structures or using the Moon buggy to move structures into place.
Mining operation – Astronaut services a robotic mining operation. Perhaps transporting oxygen to the home base or Helium 3 to a rocket for launch
Servicing failed equipment – autonomous telescopes that break down
Cleaning off large solar cells when covered by regolith (If he kicks up too much dust, the solar cells get covered and power in the station goes down)
Food production – hydroponics facility
Collecting supplies that came from earth

Lunar Research Station Design Challenge webcast

2006-12-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

Steven Heffel from the Federation of Galaxy Explorers team in Montanta recommended this:

For the past several months, students, primarily in grades 5 - 8, have been challenged to design and build a full- or scale-model of an Earth-based research station that will support living adaptively and working efficiently on the Moon. The final designs for the Lunar Research Station Design Challenge are arriving from students around the world, and are being posted at: http://quest.nasa.gov/lunar/outpostchallenge/final/index.html
On Dec. 12 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time, NASA Quest will conduct a Web cast from NASA Ames and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, one of several research stations established by the Mars Society in areas of the world that serve as analogs (similar environments) to Mars.
The Web cast will connect the students who have been participating in the Lunar Research Station Design Challenge since September, with crewmembers and commanders who at that point will be living in the MDRS habitat. Featured will be the students' designs and the parallel sites that NASA has participated in building.
For more information on the challenge: http://quest.nasa.gov/lunar/outpostchallenge/
For more information and/or to join the webcast on Tuesday: http://quest.nasa.gov/lunar/outpostchallenge/webcast.html

NASA unveils Moon Strategy

2006-12-04T22:54:00.000-05:00

Big story from NASA today:

NASA has unveiled plans for returning to the Moon! The mission plan is to start in 2020 with a four person crew, and grow from there. The main outpost will be a Lunar base, probably close to the south pole where there are many mining opportunities.

Do we want to incorporate this into the game? What dates are we thinking of for this occuring? 2015? 2020? 2030? 2040?

Mars ideas we can "borrow"

2006-12-04T12:56:00.000-05:00

Here's a good Mars site that has some interesting and creative designs and images.

http://www.crazy4mars.com/visit.html

I like the layout of this base, and think we should start reprodcuing the buildings in it to at least get a first layout of our base. Should all buildings only be buildable in a specific location (much easier to program), or should you be able to freely place any building?

-------------------

Also, here are some good images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which could be used for Moon Textures as well:

More quests and Space rock threats

2006-12-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061201/sc_space/potentialdangermoonhitbymorespacerocksthanthought

The potential danger to being hit by meteroites/micro-meteorites seems to be at least 4 times greater than our computer models predicted. This could make for some interesting missions, and random explosions/damage during the game.

Our "quests"/"missions" could be in the form of:

Assigned through company on Earth via radio communication

Go get some mineral or amount of minerals
Repair or place or move a mining station (or make sure a "transport bot" can retrieve minerals)
Recover an "air-dropped" package and return to base
Fix a NASA-owned asset, such as a telescope, transmitter, or weapon (asteroid-shooter?)
Help robot drones with a problem they are having
An employee/vehicle/bot of a competing company on the moon needs rescue

Randomly occuring

Rover breaks down while you're riding it
Micrometeorite hits a building/equipment
Computer failure with something you're using.... reboot a machine
Complete comms failure, can't receive missions
Solar flare causing radiation storm... need to seek shelter immediately

Freeform - bonuses that you receive by doing things on your own

Purchase minerals/equipment from a competitor
Go discover or haul extra resources
Find or analyze new resource or chemicals
Clear lunar dust to prepare for future needs (moon dust is magnetized and very sharp, gets into everything and ruins equipment)

Radiotelescope on the moon by 2018

2006-12-02T17:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2480764,00.html

A few scenarios for the game might revolve around taking care of the NASA Lunar telescope... possibly building or upgrading parts of it, repairing micro-meteorite holes, or general care and feeding.

This might play well into the concept of the character being a "contractor" or employee of a corporation that is on the moon for a company making proftis. This company might be on consignment for repairs and other space tasks by the Earth-bound governments. This might make for a really good/competitive story of having different corporations all fighting for the bonus money of the first to complete certain lunar missions.

Any thoughts?

Underground tunnels and Mission Scenarios

2006-11-30T22:58:00.000-05:00

We've been thinking of changing the designs to support many of the ideas people have commented on below.

(check here for some moon facts: http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/maan.html)

I'm thinking that we should maybe change the ideas of the "sun damage" for two reasons: it's very hard to program to look realistic, and it might not be technically accurate. We might either ignore the 2-week day-night cycle, or have a countdown and force the player to go inside during "day" periods. Another option is to just assume that the equipment made is tough enough to survive the 500 degree F difference.

Underground Tunnels
Another option is to have much of the construction be in the form of underground tunnels and rooms, which will offer the best protection from radiation, micro-metiorites and temperature damage. When the day approaches, the astronaut would have to be in the tunnels or get to them before taking too much damage.

Mission Scenarios
I think the best idea would be to have "scenarios" and missions that the player gets. When playing, a random mission will be given to the player, probably in the form of a sound file... a voice transmission from Earth that gives the player their task. Any ideas for missions? I'm thinking things like:

- Go find a meteorite that just landed at X,Y and take a core sample
- Go repair a malfunctioning piece of mining equipment
- Build a new tunnel somewhere
- Get a certain amount of various types of minerals
- Dig a hole
- Fight martians? :)

How to make 3D objects

2006-11-14T20:28:00.000-05:00

Note: I've almost got Tribes-style jetpacks working within the game, and am currently tweaking them to feel more realistic on the moon!

If you're interested in creating 3D models and content, here are some good guides:
The best book to give an exact description of how to export objects to the Torque DTS format is "3D Game Programming All In One" by Kenneth Finney. It also highlights many of the other processes I'm using in building the game.
I use LightWave 3D to build objects (but it's not free). Another great tool is Milkshape 3D (which is free). There is an entire series of tutorials at:
http://www.garagegames.com/docs/tge/ (under Tutorials -> Milkshape). I also use QuArk for creating buildings with interiors (.DIF files).

Specific tutorials to look at:
http://www.psionic.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tutorials/lowpoly/mbasics.html
http://www.iinit.com/tutorial.cfm?category=2&source=2&tutorial=5
http://www.editingarchive.com/downloads/644

MoonBaseOne Version 0.4 posted!

2006-11-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

I've got a lot of updates to the game. The newest version of the game files are at: MoonBaseOne

To install the game, first go to the http://www.garagegames.com/products/1/ website and download the demo of the Torque 1.4.2 game engine. Once you've installed it, replace the c:\torque\sdk\example\tutorial.base directory with the directory from the zip file above (this has all the game files in it).

Things I've changes this version:
- Terrain improved to remove random spikes and holes
- Jump size more realistic for moon
- Rocks available on the moonscape that give you points when you walk into them
- Screen size changed to work on 1280x1040 (and in windowed-mode) Hit Alt-Return to maximize game
- Footstep sounds removed, step sizes increased
- Horizon dust increased
- Other small changes to make game 90% smaller
- Upgraded to work with Torque 1.5 if you have it

We need content!

2006-11-09T16:04:00.000-05:00

The biggest thing we need is content! This means 3D models, textures (for the models), and sounds. These need to be in a format that I can import them in for Torque.

A good resource to start learning about how to do this is at http://www.garagegames.com/docs/tge/general/ I use Lightwave 3D to do the modelling, photoshop for texturing... but as long as they're in a working DTS file, They'll work well. Minimizing polygons is very important so that the game loads and plays faster... so models need to be in the 100s (not the tens of thousands like something out of a movie).

You can also search for "free 3D models", though most of them take a lot longer to later convert into Torque.

If you find any (especially if they're already in Torque format), please post in the comments section!

The Moon is geologically active

2006-11-08T17:22:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the Moon is still alive with "moon burps' of volcanic gas, especially within the area of the Ina Structure (shown in the picture to the right), and explained here and here.

I'm thinking this might be a new exciting premise of the game - build a base near here due to the increased access to precious metals and a volcanic power source. This could add an extra element of danger, but also add some very visually compelling areas of the game.

New Version of the Game Engine!

2006-11-07T21:52:00.001-05:00

We’ve just updated the game engine to be the Torque 1.5 Game Builder. This will give us much better control of the lighting conditions and fixes a number of crashes while developing in Torque. I’ll push out an updated version of the game as soon as I finish converting it to the new engine.

Tasks that we need help with

2006-11-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

How is the concept for the game?

Is it fun enough?
How do we make it more challenging/dangerous/aligned to the objectives of learning?
Should we introduce more danger?

Find 10-20 images of moon terrain

Pictures of rocks
Realistic colors of ground
What footprints look like
Concentrate on getting things that look dusty

Find a realistic height map of moon terrain

This should be from a scientific source, so we can build a realistic ground
Is the terrain I currently have good enough?
Try to find some that has craters in it

Find pictures of different rovers and moon vehicles

Should we use existing rovers?
Something that we design?
Something more sci-fi ish
We could have up to 3 vehicles, as they take a long time to get correct

Describe each vehicle

How tough would it be?
How fast would it go?
What’s it’s exact purpose? Collecting rocks? Erecting buildings?
How should vehicles behave on the moon where there is 1/6 gravity?
What happens if vehicles freeze or get too hot? Not work? Engines wont start? Seats melt?
How much oxygen can each vehicle have? How does astronaut breath this? If a astronaut can hold 100 oxygen in his suit, and vehicle can hold 1000 or 5000, does vehicle transfer oxygen to astronaut when he leaves? So, I can recharge my suit by climbing into a vehicle?
Can vehicles “jump” or have a speed boost? Which ones would be aimed at going over crater walls?
Should we have some sort of drone that’s remote controlled for exploring or pushing a vehicle or pulling it out of a hole or for carrying resources?

Describe each building

How many should we have?
What should each do? Things without animations are ideal… so if the texture on the outside explains what it does, the better.
How much resources should each cost to build?
How long should it take to build them?
How big are they? Hundreds of feet? Man-sized? Ginormous?
Does the building have any “pre-requisites”? Does a mineral processor need an electrical plant first? If so, how do we make the first buildings?

Describe the minerals

Are the ones above sufficient? Is a “minerals gathering” game fun?
Should all minerals be mined from rocks? Some from the ground?
Should the player be able to mine directly from the rock or only in a rover? Can the player carry resources?
Once resources are close to a building or site, is that enough to create a new building? Does the astronaut need to carry them in? What can we do that’s realistic but not boring?
What colors should each resource be?
Should there be an icon of each? Should each have a specific weight so that the rover can only carry X total?

How should we interface with the Moon Base?

Do we drive up to it and then get an overhead (SimCity-like) screen? Do we have each building be a big 3D object or an icon on a map?
What does the interface to the moon base look like? How do you pick which buildings to create?

What do you all think?
Is this fun and educational?

Gameplay

2006-11-04T20:34:00.000-05:00

How you play the game:
- Travel fast in darkness. Travel slow while shielding vehicles during sunlight. Some vehicles take damage when moving over a certain speed in sunlight.
- Keep vehicles safe, players only have 1 of each vehicle, and these can be destroyed
- Mine minerals from the landscape, and move minerals to central crawler that builds base and launch pads
- Build a landing site for future landings, refueling, and launches
- Possibly have 3 different designs for vehicles that can land and build the base
○ Fast scout - tires take damage when moving in the sun, can turn on sun shield but not move, can repair other vehicles
○ Medium mining barge - can not mine in sunlight, can repair tires for scouts
○ Slow construction crawler - can move without damage in the sun

- Player lands each vehicle from orbit at pseudo-random spots, can switch control between each vehicle (but only operate one at a time)
- Terrain is very pronounced, covered with craters so there are high jumps that can damage vehicles
- A countdown always shows on screen to give the player a sense of urgency

Concepts for immersion:
- 1/6 gravity on each object
- Moon dust - sharp, ruins rubber, clouds of dust hamper visibility, erupts in magnetic clouds when first hit with sun each day
- Shadows - very bright and stark, no grays in shadows - lots of total darkness
- Craters with high crater walls for obstacles
- Two main types of land - black flat Maria, high crumbly white lands
- Micro-meteorites storms can damage vehicles (sun shields might protect, should we build these in vehicle or as buildings you must park in during day time?)

Victory conditions:
- A scoreboard is kept listing the top scorers (should this be online/networked)? Scoreboard possibly always lists what place you are in compared to others on machine
- You start with a million points (or something) and lose points for every second it takes you to build the moon base. Once it's built with enough supplies, you win, and animation of a starship happens
- Destroying two of your vehicles loses the game
- Dying loses the game
- Taking damage to vehicle or person sounds alarms and flashes the screen

Welcome to the Game Development Blog for FOGE MoonBaseOne

2006-11-04T18:16:00.000-05:00

FOGE MoonBaseOne Game Design

Objective:
Build a single-player game by June 2007 that can be used to teach concepts to high-school students about the moon at summer camp program. Ideally, this would be built for easy multi-player expansion. We want to convey that the moon is “a terrible place to build a base – too hot during the day, too cold at night, not many resources” (quote from Buzz last week). It should be a platform for refueling and launching to get to Mars or Beyond.

Summary:
The game would be a 3D animated adventure to land mining bots on the moon, navigate them to mine resources, protect them from the hazards of sun damages and falls and collisions, then building a landing and launch site for refueling other spacecraft. You get points for building this landing site/base faster. You are a NASA astronaut that must breathe air and can suffocate if air runs out. You can pass out from sun stroke, or freeze if you spend too long in extreme temperatures (which is always the case on the moon).

Game Design overview:
Our first goal is to make a running game that works and has the least amount of “bells and whistles”. After we get a Version 1, we’ll start adding capabilities to Version 2 or 3. Making this stuff takes a lot of time, and requires skills of: art, 3D modeling, 3D texturing, programming, sound design, and storytelling/timing/aesthetics. It’s not easy! So, we need to plan to build things incrementally and realistically and not expect to make Halo 3 (that game is taking over $100 million to create)!

Check out the Federation of Galaxy Explorers site for more information