Moonbase Alpha available on steam or from the NASA website.
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/ltp/games/moonbasealpha/index.html (http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/ltp/games/moonbasealpha/index.html)
Any good? I dont know, im downloading it now.
Meh.
Seems like the whole point of the "game" is to jump through hoops doing a repair to a damaged station. No Simcity here. Only drones need apply until they make a future expansion pack.
It was designed for the IITSEC Serious Games Showcase a few years ago, and the point was to get kids interested in running around the moon and understanding how many different things there are to do out there. It's not a game of leveling up or solving a long-term quest or anything.
I was one of its evaluators for the IITSEC SGC.... it didn't fare well. The gameplay is slow, dull, and never focuses on why STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics) or spaceflight might be interesting.
I'd sooner put somebody onto...
1) Kerbal Space Program, an utterly awesome game in which you build and launch rockets - easy enough to use that my 5 year old can build and launch rockets - and learn some of the realities of rockets from it - but also challenging enough to keep Dad consistently entertained trying to achieve specific objectives such as moon landings or getting hybrid jet/rocket aircraft into orbit. NASA or SpaceX should latch onto these guys for crossmarketing. If you have any love of rockets at all you should look into it. http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/ (http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/)
2) SpaceChem, which pretends to be about chemistry but is really about programming, in order to have them learn a little chemistry and a lot of logic in a very engaging package. Doesn't get quite as glowing a recommendation as KSP, but still a great game. http://www.spacechemthegame.com/ (http://www.spacechemthegame.com/)
O.T., somewhat, but one game that SERIOUSLY needs to be remade is Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space.
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http://www.astronautmmo.com/dmf/
Looks like they have some news coming up...'soon':
Tweets
NASAMMO K-Bango
Sorry it has been so quiet but we will have some big news soon!
3:36 PM Jan 9th Reply
(or not...)
Quote from: tgb on May 20, 2012, 12:56:34 PM
O.T., somewhat, but one game that SERIOUSLY needs to be remade is Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/raceintospace/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/raceintospace/) Ta-da. :)
(Technically not remade, but updated to run on a modern O/S.)
Quote from: James Sterrett on May 20, 2012, 05:50:02 PM
Quote from: tgb on May 20, 2012, 12:56:34 PM
O.T., somewhat, but one game that SERIOUSLY needs to be remade is Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/raceintospace/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/raceintospace/) Ta-da. :)
(Technically not remade, but updated to run on a modern O/S.)
Kewl. Downloading now.