High-Level Project Summary
Our project is a mobile game designed to provide an interactive, fun, and entertaining way to learn about the weather, not the one we have here on Earth, but the one outside. This is achieved through multiple mini-games, visuals, and expressive sounds.Satellites are treated as characters that can be unlocked and then used. When unlocking or using a satellite the user will encounter the mini-games, once finished, the satellite will be unlocked/used. The games are uniquely created for each satellite and observer, highlighting the satellite's journey and mission.Once a satellite is used, the latest data from it will be displayed in a simple and explained way for the user to explore.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Introduction
The weather here on Earth is a common talking topic. However, almost no one cares about the weather outside Earth, some people don't even know that it exists. We believe that this is due to the data relevant to the weather outside Earth being somewhat ambiguous to the ordinary person, even ones that are interested in such topics will have a hard time understanding it. Hence why we decided to make this game.
Game Stages
The game can be described in multiple stages or sections. Each section has its own goal.
- In the main section, you get to see all the satellites whether you own them or not. You can select any of them and either unlock it, use it, or view its info.
- Unlocking a satellite will require you to play a game related to the development or launch journey when you pass the game, the satellite will be unlocked.
- Using a satellite will require you to play a game related to the mission of the satellite, once the game is passed, you'll be to view the most recent data from the satellite. That data can be images taken by the satellite, videos, or data. Raw data shall be displayed in a simple and easy to understand. Some data will be represented in some other way alongside the numbers. For example, solar wind intensity will be displayed in numbers, audio, and graphics showing the intensity of the solar winds at the most recent update.
The game will not be limited to satellites, but will also include ground equipment such as observatories, telescopes, and sensors.
Our game will focus mainly on satellites that we are able to get close to real-time data from, however, it will also include out-of-service satellites and finished missions that had a significant impact on the history of space exploration and science. Now you can confidently say that you have a piece of history in your pocket.
Tools used
We will use Unity as a game engine for our game, as we see it perfectly fits our needs and goals. Alongside fetching data from the many websites and services available on the internet, everything will work in beautiful harmony.
Future plans
There are many, and I mean MANY, ideas that we have written down and didn't get the chance to discuss in more detail, like the real-time aurora display, where you can see the real-time visualization of the aurora and how it is related to solar activities. Our hope is to revisit those ideas and make our game educational and a journey full of excitement towards knowing more about what's lying above our heads.
Space Agency Data
• Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
- High quality and close to real-time images of the sun in different wavelengths.
- Video Recording of the last 48 hours from the sun.
• Science @ NASA: The Sun
- List of satellites that are related to the Heliophysics division and summary about each one.
• NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS)
- Video clips and images for our game.
• Parker Solar Probe Science Gateway
- Information on the Parker Solar Probe mission.
- Live telemetry of the probe.
- Recent data from the instruments.
• The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)
- Live data of the solar wind's activities.
Hackathon Journey
TL;DR
This journey can be best described as a rollercoaster. But oh boy was it fun! In this team of 5, four of us had never been to a Hackathon, which made this journey more challenging. As expected, we decided to go big, only to realise a bit too late that we bit off more than we can chew. We decided to pick up a new platform and field we never had experience with before (Unity and game development). We did learn A LOT in the little time we had. It was a great time to learn time management.
First, we were overwhelmed with the amount of available data. We decided to make a "weather app" for the weather outside Earth, but then we came across multiple papers stating that gamification is a better way of education, so, we decided to go that way.
Picking up a new field was nothing but easy, we were struggling with the most basic stuff, but we were able to get some things done.
One of the highlights in our project journey was being able to make network with other people and learn from their experiences and views, one of the most we were thankful for was Dr Stephane Pigeon, the creator of myNoise website, which helped us achieve a milestone in our journey and was more than kind enough to give us permissions to use his audio library to make our game more immersive. Unfortunately, due to limited time we had to dampen down our initial goals and take many shortcuts we weren't happy with, but the things we learnt along the way were more than enough for this to be worth it.
We are also very thankful to our mentors that helped us clear some of the misconceptions we had and polish our idea. Even after the hackathon ends the things we learnt through the journey will go a long way in helping us improve ourselves.
References
- Siu Yin Cheung and Kai Yin Ng, (31 March 2021). Application of the Educational Game to Enhance Student Learning
- Wind sounds from myNoise. Used with kind permission.
- Space images are mostly captured using SpaceEngine © Cosmographic Software LLC.
Tags
#game #interactive #software #satellite #solar_winds #sun #aurora