NASA Responds To MMO Concerns

Sean Hollister writes "GameCyte contacted Daniel Laughlin, Project Manager of NASA Learning Technologies, to find out where that $3 million budget for their educational MMO actually went. As it turns out, NASA still has the money — they are just planning to use it differently than we thought. Meanwhile, the 'non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement' actually allows the game developer to profit where they might not have, otherwise. 'If it were a government contract, it would be illegal to be paid twice, once by the government and a second time by consumers.'"

Comments

Re:Now that's a good deal...

[Cryacin]

The game developer has to make what is likely going to be a dull drab game Come on! Adjectives like dull and drab hardly describe working at NASA! Imagine a game where you have to beg for money from diplomats, fight off the disgruntled engineers after more budget cuts, all the while being bound up by several rolls of red duct tape! (It's not just used on apollo missions!)

I for one can see millions of people paying $20/month for the privilige!


Wake me up when the spin doctors are done.

Re:Now that's a good deal...

[mcvos]

Could actually work out well for both sides, and we may get a cool game from it.

I agree. Despite the doubts many slashdotters have about the fun of an educational NASA game, I can definitely see some great opportunities.

Firstly, don't make it an RPG. That market has been cornered, and it makes no sense whatsoever in a NASA context. Get away from the real-time first/third-person view. You want to be able to get to orbit or Mars before dinner.

I'd make it a design/build/resource management game. Maybe you've got a budget. There are a couple of easy standard missions, like get a rocket off the ground. Then a bit harder: get a rocket to orbit. Then get a human to orbit and back. Then get a human to the moon. Build a space station. Go to Mars. Etc.

Each time you succesfully finish a mission (and you can make up your own missions to build something completely unexpected if you like), your budget goes up depending on how well you did. Did you get there fast? Did you stay far under budget? Did you bring more astronauts for a longer period? The better you did, the more your budget goes up for your next mission. If you fail, you get the same budget you had before.

Ofcourse you want to avoid grind; people launching the same rocket over and over again to increase their budget, so only your best attempt counts. If you redo the same mission, make sure you have better results than last time. Do it cheaper, faster and better, and your budget goes up. Launch the same old design, and you've wasted your time.

Ofcourse it's important that the game uses a reasonably realistic physics, but it shouldn't be so hard that you have to be a rocket scientist in order to play. On the other hand, I expect a lot of astronauts to die in this game.

I think this sort of game could be really cool. Build stuff, launch it, and see if it works. I wish I had the resources to develop something like that.

Re:Now that's a good deal...

[elrous0]

It's the deal of the century! Not only do you get to foot the development bill and take all the risk on a game that will almost certainly be a total snooze-fest, but you also get the added fun of a bunch of NASA bureaucrats looking over your shoulder saying "No, do it like THIS!" at every turn. Who WOULDN'T jump on such a great opportunity?