Earthlight, built by game studio Opaque Space (a newly formed division of Australian Opaque Media Group) in collaboration with NASA, is one of the 2017 finalists in the 6th Serious Games Showcase & Challenge Australasia.
Earthlight is a
narrative-driven “Serious Game”, telling a story only few people will ever
experience - that of human space flight.
Earthlight is set in 2020 and
follows the journey of Anastasia “Anna” Wiater, an Australian-American
experimental physicist and her life as one of NASA's brightest and most
talented astronauts.
The game gives players an authentic experience
of space, immersing them in the tasks performed on the ISS, hundreds of kilometers
above earth. It is built in collaboration with astronauts and the people who
support and train them, providing players and simulation experts an exciting
look at the authentic depiction of human spaceflight in Virtual Reality using
readily accessible consumer technology.
“Through Anna’s eyes, players will experience
firsthand some of the most interesting moments of astronaut training, the daily
lives on board the International Space Station (ISS), and how the world comes
together to help the ISS overcome an unexpected disaster threatening the
operation of the lives of the entire crew,” said Norman Wang, CEO &
Co-founder at Opaque Studios.
“The ability to look down and see your own hands and be able
to glance around and realize you’re completely surrounded in the incredible
spectacles of Earthlight is really
an experience that can only be achieved through the medium of virtual reality.”
The game has been deployed on the Active
Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) immediately after the 2017 Game
Developers Conference (GDC) as an experiment in using cutting edge VR to train
astronauts. The developers have joined astronaut candidates, strapping into
ARGOS and experiencing Earthlight in
simulated microgravity.
This should have given both the developers and
NASA a chance to see how Earthlight
can be used to define the future of astronaut training.
