2:59 A.M.

Jaisalmer | Learning Through the Looking Glass

Awards & Nominations

2:59 A.M. has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!

Global Finalists Honorable Mentions

Introspector

High-Level Project Summary

We have developed an interactive game that allows the players to learn about the James Webb Telescope in a way that is not only accessible to the players but also closes the gap between high-level concepts and the inaccessibility to understand them. This project gives players an option to get a simulation of what the James Webb Space Telescope “sees” as the players may explore in a 3D view. Not only that, but it also allows the players to understand the amazing capabilities of the James Webb Telescope and makes them aware of its huge impact on space research.

Link to Final Project

https://thunderous-sherbet-80b45f.netlify.app/

Link to Project "Demo"

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

Detailed Project Description

WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT DO?

We developed an interactive game which is divided into three levels. After the completion of each level, a part of the James Webb Telescope assembles with its detailed description. If the players want more information about the part, more details are also provided with the selection of “MORE INFO” option. After successful completion of the game, the whole telescope is assembled together and the players get to experience the 360° view with simulation of what the James Webb Telescope “sees”. The players also get to explore by selecting the “EXPLORE” option and understand the differences between the INFRARED mode and VISIBLE mode. If the players want more information about the James Webb Space Telescope, they may also select the “LEARN MORE” option to get to know about the history of the telescope. The players may also zoom in and out or get a rotated view by selecting the “Rotate View” option.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

Our project is built on unity version 2021, which is a 3D/2D game engine and powerful cross-platform IDE for developers. And it is rendered using WebGL which is a JavaScript for rendering high-performance 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser.

Our project contains 13 scenes each, and for adding functionality like:-

  • ·Rotating telescope or scenes
  • Adding sound to the scene
  • Adding skybox

We have used C# scripting in which we used inbuilt functions like (rendersettings.skybox, input.getacess ,transform.rotate) for adding specific functionality to our project.


WHAT BENEFITS DOES IT HAVE?

This project gives everyone an opportunity to not only learn about the James Webb Space Telescope but also experience a small simulation of just how powerful the telescope is. By giving the players an option to explore in 360°, it becomes personalized to the players, hence the players will find the game more interesting and interactive.


WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE?

We hope that this project spreads awareness about the amazing capabilities of the James Webb Telescope and makes people more interested in science.


OUR PROJECT

https://github.com/vr-cyber/Nasa-Space-Apps

Space Agency Data

We made extensive use of NASA official website of James Webb Space Telescope (James Webb Space Telescope | NASA), in extracting information about parts of the James Webb Space Telescope, the working of each part of the telescope, and also to collect images of various discoveries of the universe captured by James web telescope.

Other websites and videos we used in building our game:-

Hackathon Journey

Our experience with NASA Space Apps Challenges was amazing and also quite humbling. While creating the team, we had very little idea of how and what to approach or start our projects with. It was our first project with VR and we explored it together while also having a great time researching scientific concepts and the working of the James Webb Telescope along the way. We had a newfound love and respect for science all over again! We all contributed in different ways to the project and it was really cool to work together and also extremely rewarding to reach the end and complete the project.

We would also like to especially thank the https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/JWST-Inst for the 3D models and https://webb.nasa.gov/content for the necessary contents required to do our research on the James Webb Telescope.

References

Unity Editor Version 2021.3.6f1


3D Models :

https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/JWST-Inst


Audio Effects (free to use):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVO_zJc6l99JInvYhuExMuw


Textures:

https://www.vecteezy.com/


Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NASAWebbTelescope

https://www.youtube.com/user/northropgrummanmedia

https://www.youtube.com/c/Cosmoknowledge


Other Unity Assets:

https://assetstore.unity.com/


Description/Information:

https://webb.nasa.gov/content

Learning Through the Looking Glass

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built. Your challenge is to develop a game to help people learn about the James Webb Space Telescope’s amazing capabilities.