High-Level Project Summary
Our project is a game called “Immortalizing the universe: A JWST Adventure” which consists of a 360 degree experience where the user will be able to explore the space from the POV of the JWST, learning about how the JWST works, its improvements against the Hubble space telescope, and providing facts about the Planets, Stars and other bodies that can be observed. We trust in the power that gamification has into people’s learning and attention span, by this we think that such things enforce greatly how the player will remember all the terms and topics included in our game, and the importance of our project radicates in the importance of knowing and learning about the James Webb Telescope.
Link to Final Project
Link to Project "Demo"
Detailed Project Description
Our Project works as a POV of what the James Webb does, letting us make the kind of pictures the telescope makes, as a first-person photography game with some minigames involved, giving an opportunity to get an idea of how impressive it is in comparison to what there was before. It works with an interactive interface which uses the mouse,spacebar and movement keys.
The benefits that we see in our game is that it is a visually appealing, playful experience. The game is made in a way that the player is always attentive and learning something new, like information about space bodies, the JWST, or main advances in investigation. The interface is intuitive and user friendly, and the objectives and the Houston advice made the game feel fresh and always have something to do.
We hope that after finishing the game the player knows more about the James Webb telescope, he/she becomes more interested in the telescope and the space investigation and so is more likely to be in touch with the space investigation from this point and on. Finally we consider that GameMaker it’s the adequate option to finish our game as we did with the Rocket launch fase.
Space Agency Data
We retrieved all the in-game images from the NASA Image Database from its website: https://webb.nasa.gov/, as well as the images of the NASA James Webb Space Telescope provided to/by the Space Telescope Science Institute in the website: https://webbtelescope.org/resource-gallery/images?Collection=First%Images
Hackathon Journey
Our Hackathon Journey was great. Obstacles always appear, but with teamwork, trust and resilience; Mr Roboto was able to solve every problem in our way. Our adventure was really fun, with plenty of challenges, jokes and good moments while enjoying the event, as we investigated everything about the James Webb Space Telescope. Sergio Arboleda University was an excellent host, and we spent a great time working, playing games and listening to music at a concert organized by them. We learned a lot about space, planets, stars, asteroids and nebulas; as well as the importance and capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope to take snapshots of the universe, compared with the Hubble Space Telescope.
In addition, we were inspired by our fascination and skills designing and programming to create the basis for a game to promote learning and knowledge, and our knowledge and interest in space from engineering. Our approach consisted of building up a great and interesting project idea that would appeal to anyone interested in the wonders of space and would like to see the universe from his point of view, while players learn about the James Webb Space Telescope and all of its capabilities.
As with the registration and personal problems, we face the problem of leaving one of our teammates behind in order to validate our project, due to a rule in which all of the teammates must be signed in the Sergio Arboleda University. This unfortunately resulted in the loss of a key member of our team, but it did not prevent us from achieving our goal in the best possible way, through more dedication and work. Besides, although the initial challenge was developing a video game in two days, we developed a complete basis for a really interesting game for all the audience as the organizators stated.
We would like to thank our lost member Alejandro Buelvas García, who had to leave the team but helped us by sharing his knowledge about creating video games. Thanks to our parents, brothers, family and teachers who formed us and contributed to being who we are today.
References
Images from:
- Image Resources. (n.d.). WebbTelescope.org. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://webbtelescope.org/resource-gallery/images?Collection=First%Images
- Wiki Targeted (Entertainment). (n.d.). Space Agency Wiki. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://spaceagency.fandom.com/wiki/Ariane_5
Demo made using GameMaker Studio.
Sharma, A.K. James Webb Space Telescope. Reson 27, 1355–1369 (2022). https://doi-org.ezproxy.unal.edu.co/10.1007/s12045-022-1431-1
Tags
#JWST #SpaceSnap #MrRoboto #ImmortalizingTheUniverse #VideoGamesForLearning