Good job Marcus!

Enjoy!

But here’s the question, what to do in the down time isolated on a planet? Never mind the travel there and back, but is music or television programming enough? How many hours of entertainment can be packed and stored in a space constrained vehicle? What kinds of entertainment are necessary?

I love to drive with books on CD. Listened to the entire unabridged “Deathly Hallows” Potter book for the second time this last trip. It was entertaining, but I still found myself drifting between the “zone” driving the car, emotions surrounding the funeral and family, and the material, being read read to me. Remember that I am driving, so must stay concious and aware, alert for road hazards and traffic jams (there is STILL a log jam South of Oklahoma City on I-35!). And, when I needed to – I grabbed the phone and chatted with Howard and my wife. Helped to keep me focused and awake, as well as let people know generally where I was. For myself, the key to successfully driving long distances are keeping my mind sharp, having something as “company” – in this case the CD book, and short breaks every couple of hundred miles to stretch, hydrate and consider the next leg.

When you are done for a day, or sitting out a horrible storm, do you sit there and twiddle your thumbs? Break out a book and pass the time? Take a nap? or are you alert, monitoring systems at the console hoping that the incoming 50 subzero C weather front won’t freeze up your water supply?

There is an issue here to address: keeping your mind sharp and alert while relaxing and enjoying yourself, on a volume/mass/energy budget imposed by your circumstances. We take it for granted that we can jump onto the internet and access news, YouTube, etc. or come home to the Television. We can grab a cell and be instantly connected to loved ones, friends or the contractor that cannot seem to finish his job.

While this is not a necessary mechanical element of the simulation or game, it is necessary to bring in the context of these elements into the artwork, to make the simulation feel more real, more homelike. We can break this down into a few categories:

1. Casual entertainment: music or news in the background, short games to break up the time, but don’t require 100% participation or can be left easily to deal with an issue.

2. Focused entertainment: Entertainment that requires concentration, like reading or a favorite television series or movie.

3. Casual Social outreach: Things like IM, or quick phones calls

4. Formal Social outreach: Church, Work, News, etc.

What are the analogs to these issues that are important for survival (mental and emotional) for a long term stint in planetary isolation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha2KA_RHInM

The video above is the most promising title that apparently is out there – although I cannot find the game itself, and would be interested in it – even to learn what NOT to do. Also – this is a cut sequence and doesn’t show any in-game play, or I missed it. This is getting a lot closer to the Colony concept, but far further advanced in technology.

The rest, either don’t work, are isometric, or in something like java that highly limits the immersive graphics environment.

Seen any good colony – space exploration games?

The first questions that come to mind are the intended targets for players. Are they kids, young enough to need super simple and stylized graphics? or hard core simulation space fanatics that want the n-th detail and very complex and realistic simulations? Art plays a key role here…

Additionally, it is untenable to create a “real” mining experience, as an example. Most MMOs simplify resource gathering into single tools to harvest single nodes of resources. While a dwarf with a pick-axe can do a lot of damage, a man in a pressurized suit would have difficulty with a manual tool… not to mention the risks and limitations on strength. Do you take an analog, such as a moisture harvester and make it really simple to operate? How does the player interact with the object… and does it FEEL genuine enough to be a simulation?

Flight simulators have set a very high bar for “simulation.” Players can even fly only by controls and the models and interactivity have been worked out over the last 12 years. So what is the paradigm for a futuristic simulator statement? We know that the sum of activities to survive on a colony in space are highly complex and require many specialized engineers to implement. What can a single person do, what are the baseline parameters, mechanics and so forth… and if you solve that, what should it look like?

We have been doing a lot of close analysis of the results of the Mars missions from JPL and NASA. Certainly that is a good start, but is the complexity and “alien’-ish imagely too difficult for a 8 year old to grasp? Should the simulator have strong mechanics underneath, but feel more like a video game? How does the art reinforce the complexity and dependency of the systems?

I have two pictures in my head… one of a grimy space pioneer with very realistic and complex models and animations that even simulate gravity and environmental effects… and another of a cartoon space man that bebobs around the colony doing his thing…

<Insert the proverbial “?” popup over my head>

The stories provided on this site are intended to put a human character and point of view into space and planetary exploration. Sources include extensive reading and historical events both of Nasa’s and USSR excursions into space, architectural theory on community and many of the more “real” movies and books that are available. Of particular note, the dynamics and writing of Sci-Fi’s BattleStar Galactica and the late Firefly series have dramatically influenced the realism we hope to see in a Space Colonization simulation. Both Howard’s and my hats off to an incredible team of writers, producers and actors to deliver such a compelling and entertaining view of the future. Another kudos to TLC’s “Dirty Jobs” – which continues to illustrate the passionately motivated people that take care of the filthy nasty things that keep our society clean and healthy. Oh, and I believe that mining on a planet will be the ultimate “Dirty Job”!

It is my belief that the cost of fertile colonization will be paid both by private corporate dollars and in a large number of brave souls. Recent presentations on cable have touted that technology will be capable of moon colonization by 2015, and that within 20 years or sooner, we will be leveraging that offworld facility to spring board into manned exploration of Mars and other planets. Advances in portable electronics, communications, propulsion and navigation, as well as education and learning techniques are necessary.

The Colony simulation hopes to cover both the prospectus and challenges of choosing an appropriate planet and surviving, but also the elements that can create sustainable long term colonization. While part game, the hope is to also illustrate the difficult struggles of juggling and balancing activities that return a “profit” while also sustaining and maintaining life.

Man is extremely fragile as a single unit. It will require community and family units to sustain and prosper life on other planets. Working through those systems will cost both capital and lives. After several thousand attempts at creating a viable electric light bulb, Edison claimed that he had found several thousand ways to NOT make a light bulb. Ultimately he succeeded. It is this same paradigm that will drive humans off Earth successfully to populate the solar system.

Why the anonymity? It is a burden too large for a small company and too difficult to jump between writing inventory routines and programming environmental systems and painting a creative vision. I have no economic ties to HyperKat, but also have deep connections with many friends in the technology world – both in gaming and entertainment. Those that recognize Kraniel will recognize me. Otherwise I wish to continue to remain anon and allow people to judge the vision and creativity for themselves. Howard has given me permission to write and craft the vision of space colonization for this site, though implementation in a limited 3D engine may not return the vision. 

All of the storyline elements are tagged with “Story” making it easier to filter out other discussions. All feedback and comments are welcome!

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