Lander Sketches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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:

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

Within the ShowTool Program:

1. Click “OK” to use the program in evaluation mode (email me if your eval expires)
2. In the upper left hand, click the light green Project Directory button
3. Click Modify
4. To the right, click the gray “Add Directory” button
5. To the right of the textbox under “Path to Project Directory”, click the right arrow
6. Navigate to the directory you uninstalled the main zip file to (For me, this was C:\Documents and Settings\crossler\Desktop\MBO_Objects )
7. Click in the name box, and call it “Moon Base”
8. Click OK
9. 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

1. Once you have the object loaded, to find out what textures are used, click the light pink Material List button on the left
2. This will list the name of the PNG or JPG image in the directory that the object is textured with
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. Mail us the changed images files when done, we’ll add them to the game!

THANK YOU!

Help!

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

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?

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!

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)