High-Level Project Summary
The project aims to build a 3D game where the user, with the help of a robot, is trying to save the Mississippi delta from disappearing under seawater. By speaking to the player, the robot will ask them to complete several missions, in which they will gain intuition about the causes of growth and decay of the deltas based on the AVIRIS-NG and field data of the Delta-x mission. Moreover, making a 'future picture' of the delta less blurred until they finish all the missions and reach the final picture. By the end of the game, the player should be aware of delta's death reasons and what is their expected future if no action was taken.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Change the Destinygame is centered around helping the user build intuition about Delta's growth and deterioration. Furthermore, using this intuition to build an approximated image of the delta within 100 years.
Learning Technique
In our application, the user will grasp the knowledge through compare and contrast missions. Mississippi Delta provides us with two basins, one that is flourishing while the other is drowning. By utilizing this fact, we will make the user collect and compare data from those two basins to observe how global warming and human-made constructions may affect the delta future. In addition to learning how these changes affect the living creatures there.
Game structure
The game provides the user with an interactive environment through the 3D graphics we used, consequently, the user can move freely in the area and will have a lot of stuff to do besides answering the questions provided by the robot. Besides, we used natural language processing to make the conversation between the robot and the user.
The game takes place in the Mississippi Delta, the user studies two sites which are the Atchafalaya and Terrebonne basins. With the help of the robot, these data will be processed and presented as graphs or maps to the user. Consequently, the user will make inferences about why one basin has a specific feature more than the other through guided questions and simple and informative conversations with the robot.
By completing a mission, the user gains 'predicting ability points' which helps in constructing a 'future picture' of the delta. The more the player finishes the missions, the less blurred the picture will be.
Unity helped us in developing the game and Blinder aided us in the character design. photoshop was used to make the menus and any 2D designs. Finally, python was used to make the conversation bot and machine learning can be used to enhance it more. In addition, any processing of the data was done using python.
The Game is suitable to add VR technology in the future.
How Delta-X data is integrated with the game?
Each mission will be a study of a specific feature of the water in the delta. Hence, we used the field data that measured the water quality in the first mission. The other missions are using AVIRIS-NG to make conclusions about how the water quality may affect the vegetation in the water. After more analysis of the data provided by Delta-x combined with data about the temperature and other factors, an estimated future can be provided to the user through a picture.
Byproducts
The game and the data study the Mississippi delta. Nevertheless, the user can project these data on any delta they want, given that they are already knowledgeable about the factors affecting the growth and decay of a delta.
Space Agency Data
Nasa: Delta-x project.
Hackathon Journey
The hackathon journey was not only a competition for us, but it was a self-developing and discovery journey. We learned more about our environment besides the technical skills we gained throughout working on the project. We chose a challenge that can help us study any river system in the world and can help us improve in many technical fields. As two students studying physics, we were more inclined to theory and intuition. Therefore, we focused on this part of our project and tried to make it an intition-builder rather than an information teller.
References
tools:
- Photoshop: 2D Design, Menus
- Blender 3D: 3D Character Modeling
- Visual Studio Code: Programming, Script editing
- Unity 3D: Game Development, Game Design
References:
- https://daac.ornl.gov/resources/tutorials/2022_deltax_workshop/index.html
- https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo553
- https://mississippiriverdelta.org/a-tale-of-two-basins-why-one-is-thriving-while-the-other-is-dying/
- https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/articles/solving-data-puzzle-of-sea-level-rise
Tags
#Game_Developement #climate_change #graphic_design #research #software_development