LMC

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LWUwRN4HAdV771wtRdvtTecmud2ho9Ry/view?usp=sharing

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5acdn143siya6k/The%20Edge%20Of%20Phobos.html?dl=0

Our project is a text adventure game that takes place on a space ship on the way to Mars. The game focuses on aspects of space travel that might be dangerous and on how astronauts can solve these issues. It presents challenges in an interesting way as players use information they have gathered to overcome obstacles that could have real consequences on health and safety. Players choose their actions in the game from a list of options. Some choices help the crew, and some make things worse.

By presenting this information in an interactive game, rather than an article or a video, learning becomes entertaining and fun for middle school kids.

We created the game in Twine, an open source tool for creating interactive fiction in the form of web pages. Twine creates an HTML file, with CSS and Javascript. To create the artwork, we used GIMP, an open source image editing tool. The image files are .png format. The music is original, created with BandLab and other music composition software. The music files are .mp3 format.

To play the game, download the .html project file to your computer, and open it in your web browser. It is a standard html file and should open in any browser.

We started out by watching the introductory video for the challenge. This inspired the structure and direction of the game as we decided to use the five hazards from the video as the stages of the game: Space Radiation, Gravity Field, Isolation, Distance from Earth, and Hostile and Closed Environments.

We used data from NASA and Space Apps partners about space flight and about the hazards of space flight. We read the "Hazards of Human Spaceflight" series from NASA for further information on the science of each hazard and potential solutions. We also read other NASA and Government of Canada sources for additional information about space flight, and Wikipedia and health websites such as the Mayo Clinic for specific health information such as the effects of space depression and what medications would be used to mitigate the symptoms of space radiation.

We are a team of three high school students in grade 11. We chose this challenge because all of us are interested in games and how games are developed.

We had a fun and unique experience participating in the Space Apps challenge.

This was our first hackathon, and we needed to learn to coordinate ourselves as we each learned new things and navigated obstacles. Each of us worked from our own home, distanced during the pandemic. and communicated on Discord. We created our own Discord server for this task, with channels for various aspects of the game, including story, graphics, and resources. We used voice calls and chats to communicate. We began by brainstorming the story and the main ideas that we wanted to include.

Our approach to developing this project divided the work into three areas so that each of us could focus on our area. Lana was in charge of researching science and spaceflight topics, and structuring these elements into a story. Mattie was in charge of programming the game through Twine. Charlotte was responsible for the artwork and the visuals of the game, and led the creation of the demo video. One of our friends from school, Daphne Maki, composed and produced the music used in the game, and provided her permission for our use. One of the most difficult tasks was quickly learning how to program using Twine, and then incorporating everyone's ideas and contributions into the game.

We would like to thank Daphne for her awesome beats, and the mentors for helping us research the topics.

Data and resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlHD5HfFJlE&list=PL37Yhb2zout05pUjr7OoRFpTNroq_wd9f&index=2

https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/space-astronomy/what-space-tourists-should-know-before-traveling-to-space-according-to-astronauts

https://www.nasa.gov/analogs/nsrl/why-space-radiation-matters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jRxgvwhGC0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpNa4u997xA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uc1VXL3Q7g

https://asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/sciences/radi-n2.asp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLboW4WVHE

https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/apollo-11-van-allen-radiation-belts-translunar-injection/

https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/radiation-sickness/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siL97hz8o2w

https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/scibytes/cosmic_travels_inc_the_effect/#:~:text=Without%20the%20downward%20pull%20of,endured%20by%20our%20skeletal%20system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsZWVBmpj18

https://www.popsci.com/what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-die-in-space/

https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP/artificial-gravity

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/F_When_Space_Makes_You_Dizzy.html

/Space_Apps_2021_Project_Submission_Guide_rev-9-27.pdf

https://www.pelicanwater.com/blog/does-salt-water-dehydrate-you/

https://www.airspacemag.com/need-to-know/do-space-station-crews-take-vitamin-pills-180949990/

https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/20340/for-how-long-can-a-person-drink-sea-water

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgGt03MjHfA

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/cruise/#:~:text=The%20trip%20to%20Mars%20will,at%20Jezero%20Crater%20on%20Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPinASEKA_I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_and_sociological_effects_of_spaceflight

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/mental-health-in-outer-space/

https://www.techradar.com/news/how-astronauts-manage-their-mental-health-in-space-from-the-iss-and-beyond

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0rwGJ2b_U4

https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/mentalhealth_risk.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/tips-astronauts-submariners-self-isolation/

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/isolation-what-can-we-learn-from-the-experiences-of-nasa-astronauts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_pbs8dG1oM

https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges/deep-space-food-challenge

https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space

https://www.labiotech.eu/more-news/aleph-farms-space-mission-meat/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plants_in_space#Experiments

Tools:

Twine: a free and open-source tool for making interactive fiction in the form of web pages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twine_(software)

https://twinery.org/

Gimp: a free and open-source graphics editor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP

https://www.gimp.org/

Discord: a digital communication platform

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discord_(software)

https://discord.com/

This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.