More Moon mission ideas

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:

1. Return to Moon Base due to radiation from solar activity
2. Power loss – repair power station
3. Medical issues – rescue injured astronaut
4. Pressure leaks (micrometeorites) – repair facility
5. Broken filtration units – build new water filtration unit
6. 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
  

NASA unveils Moon Strategy

Big story from NASA today:

• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061205/ap_on_sc/nasa_moon
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061204/sc_space/nasaunveilsstrategyforreturntothemoon

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"

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?

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

Radiotelescope on the moon by 2018

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?

How to make 3D objects

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

We need content!

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

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.

Welcome to the Game Development Blog for FOGE MoonBaseOne

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