The Awesomenauts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXPnMjO3NE

https://bydo.itch.io/50-weeks-to-mars

To solve NASA’s Space Apps Challenge “The trail to Mars: can you keep your crew alive?” we chose to develop a mobile (Android) game with several minigames that represent the basic and essential functions to maintain a spaceship and it’s crew healthy and functional. It is focused on a single Avatar (an astronaut) that must complete activities to keep his trip to Mars going. There are 3 other crew members but the player won’t be able to control them, only to briefly interact with them and maintain the team's morale. We considered the 5 main Hazards of Human Space Flight (Radiation, Isolation, Distance, Gravity Fields and Hostile/ Closed Environments) to develop the minigames. We also thought about the importance of aspects such as physical health, mental health, team’s morale and the spacecraft’s maintenance, based on NASA’s open data. Each minigame will represent at least one of the hazards and one of the basic aspects mentioned above. As the player accomplishes the minigames, his avatar will receive or lose points of mental health, physical health, team’s morale or spacecraft’s integrity (represented by 4 different bars on the top of the screen). Before and after each minigame, the player will receive an explanation about the importance of the following activity and why he/she succeeded or not, teaching the player about the hazards and how to attenuate them. We didn’t have time to develop the minigames, so we’ll explain and illustrate them below:

Minigame 1 - Eating: “Cloudy with a chance of Asteroids” 

Problem: The lack of fresh food and variety, caused by the distance from Earth, may add to the sense of monotony (caused by isolation) and may also contribute to deficiency in nutrition. However, astronauts must keep an eating habit to stay healthy and functional.In this minigame, placed on the Kitchen, several elements are falling from the top of the screen. The avatar needs to dodge inedible objects and move towards the food in order to eat it. If the player wins, Physical Health and Morale will increase. Communal eating is a common method of promoting crew cohesion on International Space Stations. The spacecraft integrity and mental health will decrease due to time spent without taking care of these aspects. If he loses, physical and mental health will decrease, while the other bars stay the same.

Example:

Minigame 2 - Taking care of plants: “How to train your plant”

Problem: The isolation of space brings risks of psychological problems. Plants, as well as being a potential food source (helping with the “no resupply” problem), will provide tactile sensory stimulation and allow crew members to care for living objects separate from themselves, boosting mental health. In this minigame, inside the Greenhouse, the player can water plants or harvest food. Harvesting can be done once every two weeks and will increase food stocks. The player will also be able to water the plants once a day, which will increase their mental health. Before performing these actions, a text will be displayed to clarify why the astronaut's mental health bar increases while he deals with the plants. Spacecraft integrity will also increase because harvesting produces food resources. The main idea is to teach, through this minigame, that taking care of plants is an activity that helps astronauts maintain their sanity in the isolation of space. Physical health and Morale will decrease due to time spent without taking care of these aspects. The player can’t lose this minigame, but if he spends too much time without playing it and taking care of the garden, it will die. Mental Health and spacecraft integrity will decrease.

Example:

Minigame 3 - Exercising: “The incredible Bulk”

Problem: Gravity Fields - Astronauts will experience 3 different gravity fields on a Mars mission. Transitioning from one gravity field to another can affect eye and hand coordination, balance, locomotion, spatial orientation, muscles, heart and bones. Aerobic and resistive exercise has been shown to keep the heart healthy, bones structure and muscles strong, the mind alert and may even help with balance and coordination. In this minigame, the avatar will be at the Gym and he needs to press the button on the right time to perform push ups and keep his body healthy. If the player wins, Physical Health and Mental health will increase. Morale and spacecraft integrity will decrease due to time spent without taking care of these aspects. If he loses, physical and mental health will decrease, while the other bars stay the same.

Minigame 4 - Team’s morale: “Not a quiet place”

Problem: Isolation and confinement can cause behavioral issues, such as decline in morale, interpersonal interaction, mood and cognition. As the trip goes, team miscommunication and changes in morale & motivation are possible. But communication between crew members is vital to the success of the mission, so it’s important to engage the astronauts in activities and social events to boost morale and cohesion. In this minigame, the avatar will interact with his fellow crewmates in the Break Room and listen to them carefully. The player will be speaking to other crew members and their speeches will be represented by a balloon silhouettes.The player needs to choose and move the balloons that fit into the corresponding silhouettes. If the player wins, mental health and morale bars will increase, while physical health and spacecraft integrity will decrease due to time spent without taking care of these aspects. If he loses, mental health and morale bars will decrease while the other bars stay the same.

Example:

Minigame 5 - Recycling: “The chronicles of recycling”

Problem: Spacecrafts are very closed environments and space is hostile. Traveling to Mars takes the astronauts very far from Earth. Thus the spacecraft tries to imitate an earth-like environment, but there are no possibilities of resupply. Every resource must be recycled. Therefore, even the urine and carbon dioxide produced must be recycled to become water and oxygen. The minigame occurs in the Recycling room and consists on swiping the correct residues to their corresponding duct of processing. The player needs to get at least half of the residues on the correct side to win. Spacecraft integrity and Morale increases, while mental and physical health decreases due to time spent without taking care of these aspects. If he loses, Spacecraft integrity and Morale decreases and the other bars stay the same.

Example:

Minigame 6 - Shielding: “Emergency event!!”

Problem: Space Radiation is 10 times higher than Earth's radiation. Above Earth’s protective magnetic field, cancer risk increases and it can damage your central nervous system. That is why spacecrafts have shielded areas to protect the astronauts from Solar Particle Events (rare, but energetic, high dose) and Galactic Cosmic Rays (low dose rate, but constant shower of particles). Our Spacecraft’s Hull has a thick shield to protect the tripulants bodies and the electronic devices from radiation. In this minigame, part of the shield has been damaged by meteorites collision. The player must fix the damage, he will need to keep the tool on the line that represents the damage caused. If the player wins, spacecraft integrity will increase a bit. But if the player loses, all bars are going to be reduced, because this is an emergency mission that only appears every 5 weeks.

Sleeping

Astronaut’s internal biological clocks, or circadian rhythm, might be altered by different dark and light cycles inside the spacecraft,a small and noisy environment and the stress of prolonged isolation and confinement. So it’s important to ensure that the astronauts get quality sleep to prevent sleep disorders. The avatar must sleep in his Bedroom to pass the weeks, so he can play more minigames (you can only play 3 of them per week) and receive mental and physical health points. But everytime he sleeps, morale and spacecraft integrity will decrease due to time without interacting with the team and taking care of the spaceship.

Coding language: C#

Software: Unity

Project Expectations and Goals: Our goal was to solve NASA's Space Apps Challenge “The trail to Mars: can you keep your crew alive?” in a creative and educational way within the time limits of Hackathon. We expect to stimulate the players’s curiosity about spaceflights, space missions and the science behind them. We believe that it would be interesting to keep investing in the game later, to improve it and actually make the game available to the target audience (middle schoolers).

Inspirations: The Covid XIX Pandemic put us in a situation never seen before: intense social isolation and constant health risks, changing everything we understand as normal. We had to adapt our daily lives amidst so many risks and unforeseen events to keep on living. We understand that a trip to Mars comes with much of what we have experienced for the last 1 year and 7 months. We’ve learned that small details can be decisive, such as maintaining routine habits and finding ways of nurturing mental health in limited space without too many distractions. All these issues served as inspiration for the construction of the game, considering that on a trail to Mars astronauts face even worse isolation and physical/mental health challenges. “50 weeks to Mars” aims to educationally bring to young people tools to fulfill the mission of the trip to Mars, but for his own life as well, applying the care he had to take with his character in his daily life.

We developed a Mental Map to better explain how we used Space Agency Data:

Most of these links are available throughout our game, so the player can access the articles and learn more about the information on wich the minigames were based.

"Matroshka DOSTEL measurements onboard the International Space Station (ISS)" [https://www.swsc-journal.org/articles/swsc/full_html/2015/01/swsc150028/swsc150028.html] is the only open data that didn't come from NASA database.

All the links written on the Mental Map are avaiable and clickable at the "References" list and also here: https://www.canva.com/design/DAEryJwv04E/hTMZXvjc7Y9c6bMuS4hcLA/view?utm_content=DAEryJwv04E&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

We also developed a Game Document Design (GDD) to organize our ideas about the game and its details: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1B49TA5-uhQnGXPosbQ09AFszU4EepiKRH-s5BFhaTGs/edit?usp=sharing

Participating in this Hackathon was very challenging and rewarding. We learned a lot about teamwork and the hazards of spaceflight. Our team is formed by Psychology, Information System and Digital Game Development students, so we gathered our knowledge to develop a solution for the challenge “The Trail to Mars”. We thought it would be innovative to put together computing skills and a psychological approach to build a game that shows not only physical and technical aspects of a spaceflight to Mars, but also the importance of mental health and group work.

We started by selecting the data we would read and use as references in our game development (specially NASA and other space agencies sources). Then we wrote summaries and organized our ideas on a shared online document. From that point, we began to develop the game, design the graphic details, write the information that would be placed on the game and plan our project demo. It was hours of talking, planning, brainstorming and putting ideas into practice.

Considering the hackathon’s deadline, we were not able to develop 100% of the game’s design and its minigames. We hope that our project goes forward and everything that we idealized can be put into practice. We expect to bring joy, curiosity and a lot of learning to whoever plays “50 Weeks to Mars”.

-Game Inspiration:

Spiritfarer - Thunder Lotus Games, 2020;

Pou - PS Games, 2013;

Among Us - InnerSloth, 2018;

FrostPunk - 11 bit studios, 2018.

-Programs: 

Unity;

Canva;

Photoshop;

Blender;

Audacity.

-Nasa resources: 

Elementary Concepts of Shielding - Walter Schimmerling, Ph.D: https://three.jsc.nasa.gov/concepts/ElementaryConceptsShielding.pdf

Real Martians: How to Protect Astronauts from Space Radiation on Mars - Sarah Frazier: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/real-martians-how-to-protect-astronauts-from-space-radiation-on-mars

Space Faring, The Radiation Challenge: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/radiationchallenge.pdf

Evidence Report: Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders - Human Research Program: https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/Evidence/reports/BMed.pdf

Evidence Report: Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team - Human Research Program: https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/Evidence/reports/Team.pdf

Life Support Upgrades Arrive at Station, Improve Reliability for Moon, Mars Missions - Janet Anderson: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/releases/2020/life-support-upgrades-arrive-at-station-improve-reliability-for-moon-mars-missions.html

The Human Body in Space - NASA Human Research Program: https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace

5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight Videos - NASA Human Research Program: https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/hazards-of-human-spaceflight-videos

-Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate data:

Matroshka DOSTEL measurements onboard the International Space Station (ISS) - Johannes Labrenz, Soenke Burmeister, Thomas Berger, Bernd Heber and Guenther Reitz: https://www.swsc-journal.org/articles/swsc/full_html/2015/01/swsc150028/swsc150028.html

#game #mars #spaceflight #spacetravel #educationalgame

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