High-Level Project Summary
The game simulates landing on the moon in an Apollo-era lander. The player must regulate their speed so they do not touch down too hard while also making sure they don't run out of fuel. Then, as a reward, they are able to run around lunar terrain with gravity similar to the moon.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
The game simulates lunar gravity. First, you land in a lander down to the surface. You have to be going under a 10m/s when you hit the surface, giving the game some challenge to it. I did consider making this speed slower, but through play testing found that it was too hard. I was able to use lunar gravity for the simulation to make it more realistic. One feature that I am proud of is the engine plume coming from the bottom of the lander. It scale with the level of the throttle of the lander, providing a visual representation of the throttle level. I hoped to add more things to do after the player landed the lander, but ran out of time. I used Unity for my programming environment. I also used Photoshop to create the background and sky.
Space Agency Data
For the model of the lunar lander, I found one provided by NASA (link) that I could use in my program. I also used the gravity measurement provided for the moon by NASA to make my simulation more realistic. The image of the "Earthrise" taken during the Apollo missions also inspired me when I create the background and sky for my project.
Hackathon Journey
I had fun doing the challenge. I choose the challenge because I already wanted to do something similar to it. My approach was to start with the stuff I needed to learn such are generating the terrain and end with the stuff I already knew like creating the UI. This let me add more features with my extra time. I did run into some problems with Unity and had to switch to a different version, meaning I had to redo much of my project. I do not think I will do this challenge again because I really don't feel I had enough time. I think instead I will look for a different event that is similar, but over a longer period of time (like a month).
References
- Lander 3d model from NASA - link
- Gravity measurements of the moon from NASA
- Unity
- Photoshop
- Visual Studio
- Tutorials from the Youtube channel "Brackeys"
Tags
#moon #lander #apollo #simulator
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.