Polaris

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oCWqc3_ayo57O6cxZwlZFH8JNTkquilj/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12-i4utbKpuBIK7_k1Sw2ixdUuVMOKX9q/view?usp=sharing

What does it do?

This solution is a game that targets an audience of middle school students (give or take), and is aimed at educational institutes, be it schools, learning exhibitions, interactive libraries, talent institutes etc, which can all be found in Dhahran (our local community) and many cities around the world. The game can be adjusted in two ways: 1) time bound: where the player will have a certain play time (30 min, 45 min, or depending on the institute’s preference) before landing on Mars, and 2) infinite gameplay: this mode is more suited for casual play like in exhibitions where gameplay is endless, but it will only be about space travel in general, not Mars (more like StarTrek’s endless journeys!). In either way, the game will generate challenges randomly out of a large set of pre-programmed challenges (sickness, power blackout, incapacitation due to stress, losing bone and muscle which will make manual hatch opening impossible, fire in sensitive rooms like the garden etc.), with most having some kind of a mini-games to stimulate the player’s problem-solving skills, and live with the consequences of his actions on the crew’s health. Some actions will not affect the crew’s health (like conserving fuel), but careless fuel consumption will result in the ship drifting endlessly in space, or crash landing on Mars, killing the entire crew either way, failing the objective of “Keeping the Crew Alive”. This is how the game merges between demonstrating leadership skills and managing the crew’s well-being.

How does it work?

Since this game is targeting younger audience, we chose to introduce the health hazards along with plausible space challenges in an action gameplay style. We aim to use actual NASA open-source data in the health degradation of the crew and adjust them to match the gameplay as appropriate, but the specifics will not be communicated to the player. Instead, we will focus on introducing the hazards by putting the player himself under the stress by dealing with issues while keeping an eye on the crew health in an intense and unforgettable experience (hopefully). 

What are the benefits? What is the added value?

We believe this game will benefit the player as much as the institute providing it. The player will be learning about the hazards in an unconventional way, and we hope that this intense experience will stick in the player’s head. The player might want to come back and beat the game or do better at the challenges, and those players are the ones we hope will grow and follow their passion in actually solving these real life problems and make space travel safer. On the other hand, the educational institute will achieve its goal of introducing students to real science that is based on real astronauts’ challenges. The players might not get the specifics yet, but our goal is to introduce them to the hazards and spark their curiosity about space travel.

What are you hoping to achieve?

We hope to be part of building a curious generation that is realistic and understands how things work. Many of us dreamt of space travel, but we never understood how dangerous space travel is until the “google” era. Introducing such challenges in an unforgettable way will give students a feeling and hands on experience on how stressful and dangerous space travel can be, with the hope that it sticks to their mind. Some will be reflecting upon their experience, and may start digging deeper into understanding the hazards and thinking of ways to tackle them, which could become their aspiration, passion, and lifework that is a key enabler for a safer space travel.

What are the tools you used to develop your project?

Unity Engine and C#, for developing the game

Adobe Illustrator, for creating the cut scenes and User Interface

Audacity, for looping our purchased Sound Tracks 

How can it grow and expand?

The possibilities of game expansion are boundless and could include:

• Exploration mission (to moons, exoplanets, stars etc.)
• Space mining (Enceladus, Titan, Asteroids etc.) 
• Building colonies (Mars, the moon)

“The Road to the Sun” expansion pack could present hazards on a whole new level, with the goal of harnessing some of the sun’s energy to supply power to future civilizations living in different parts of the solar system (using a Dyson-Sphere etc.) 

Truly, the expansion possibilities are boundless.

The game can also be multiplayer, where different students take different roles in the spaceship. Moreover, the game can be easily transferred into the 3D Graphics since the game systems and mechanics are exactly the same. VR is also possible and can be greatly immersive, which further supports our goal of creating an unforgettable experience.

Audience expansion can be achieved by licensing the game to schools, science exhibitions, local talent centers, space museums, libraries etc. and introduce regular upgrades using real data that will sustain the license’ continuity. If the game is sponsored, it could be distributed for free as a courtesy of the sponsor, which could reach an even wider audience.

What resources did you use?

NASA: 5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight Videos

NEOM: Health and Well-Being

How exactly did the data help you?

For the hazards, we tried to introduce them as part of the gameplay, where the player need to keep an eye on the crew’s well-being. Exercise, Sickness, Radiation Exposure, Stress, Fatigue etc. are accounted for in every step of the game. The actual data was not used during this hackathon, because it will mostly be utilized in the background to fine tune the game’s mechanics (health depletion, stress gauge etc.). However, we borrowed the idea of the Medical AI introduced by NEOM in Saudi Arabia, which will monitor the crew by creating a “digital twin”. This system will monitor the crew’s health from various aspects and predict physiological and behavioral changes based on actual crew data, which should help the ship commander (the player) manage the crew health more effectively and keep them alive until arrival.

How was your Hackathon experience?

We found our experience to be ironic, because we were aiming to create an unforgettable learning experience through stress, yet we learned so much over the past 72 hours and created unforgettable memories, also under stress!

What did you learn?

Our frequent space discussions helped the team members who are not familiar with space to learn more about it. Questions such as: 1) Why Mars? What happens if we go to Saturn?, 2) Why the stars is this photo look blurry?, 3) Why does the spaceship rotate endlessly and uncontrollably? etc. were all answered along the team discussions. But aside from space, we learned the importance of commitment and following through even when the odds are against us. We learned how stressful it can be if a member of the team does not come through, and the value of carefully choosing your team and leveraging every member’s strength. We lived by “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going” throughout this race, and we embraced the 80:20 rule which saved us so much time, and helped us deliver a product that is by no means perfect, but delivers the idea of what we want to achieve.

Why did you choose this challenge?

Because space travel (institutional and commercial) is already here, and will only expand going forward. We wanted to help the pioneers who lead us thus far by sparking the minds of a younger audience, and help create a curious generation. 

How was your methodology?

Trust each other, respect the strengths of each other, cover for each other, and follow through no matter what happens.

How did you overcome difficulties?

By staying calm, acting quickly, and having each other’s back.

Is there someone you want to thank? And why?

Talal Alroqi – His astonishing graphics carried us a long way in the Saudi competition, and his work was truly remarkable. 

Feras Iskanderani – The team was stuck without a game developer, but he joined the hackathon last minute, helped with the plot, and created the whole game (code, mechanics etc.) despite having a new born baby to take care of. 

They were truly the pillars of our team, and we are all thankful for their contributions.

I would also like to thank Ameerah Fussi, who sent me the link to this hackathon. She attended a room I created in Clubhouse called “Basics in Understanding the Universe”, and has attended the whole series. She sent me the link knowing how much I love space, and I was a bit nervous about joining because this is my first hackathon, and I didn’t know what to expect, let along reaching this advanced stage.

I am thankful for my wonderful team, and for everyone who supported us, be it an organizer, a friend, a family member, a judge, or a curious reader of our project. We are proud of the friendships we created within our team and with other teams, and we intend to keep in touch and carry on the development of this project after the hackathon.

NASA

5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight Videos

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

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

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3-96ZbY5NA

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

Veggie

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

NEOM

Health and Well-Being

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdd-DYh6TeA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C1pYxWb-lw

Wikipedia

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

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

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

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

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHHSSJDJ4oo

Tools

Unity Engine

Adobe Illustrator

Audacity

Microsoft PowerPoint

#Game, #Mars, #Education, #Simulation, #Hazards, #SpaceTravel

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