Moonshots: Moonshooters

By Nikki Rademaker, and Yanna Smid

Overview

The project "Moonshooters" was created during the MOONSHOTS '24 project organized by the Netherlands Space Office under the leadership of André Kuipers. The main goal for this project was to come up with an innovative idea that can be useful for NASA. We proposed our Space Shooting Video Game that uses the actual space environment as the in-game environment. The game is intended to help improve astronauts' mental well-being by offering a playful and relaxing activity during long space missions.

Instead of simply working out an idea, I created a prototype of the video game for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was created with Yanna Smid. The prototype runs on a computer but is designed for use with AR glasses and a joystick controller. The idea is that these glasses should detect when the astronaut is looking out the window and display the game in their view.

The Project

Together with Yanna Smid, Christina Irakleous, and Annelies Vaandrager, we came up with the idea of a game that would use the actual space environment as its game environment. Living in space can be stressful and lonely. Astronauts face isolation, limited privacy, and a strict routine. Studies show that games can help reduce stress. Our idea was to enable astronauts to play a game while looking out the Cupola window. Using AR glasses, the game overlays asteroids on the real view of Earth and space. This gives astronauts a fun and immersive experience to take their mind off things.

In the final prototype, the player controls a small spaceship. The goal is to shoot asteroids and avoid collisions. Each hit gives points, and players lose lives when hit. The game ends when all three lives are gone. A score is shown at the top, and hearts display remaining lives. Sound effects add to the experience, but there is no background music to avoid unnecessary stress while playing the game.

For more information about the game and the project, you can visit our project website, or you can read the full project report. Below is a demo video of the prototype.

The Presentation

We presented a simple first version of the prototype at the Moonshots event in October 2024. In this version, you could only fly around and shoot projectiles without anything happening yet. Astronauts (Bill McArthur and Michael Fossum) and students tested the game and provided useful feedback. They liked the simplicity and found it engaging. Yanna and I developed the prototype further to get a fully functional game for desktop use. Feedback provided during the presentation was implemented to cater to the astronauts' needs. We also tested it later on during the development process with other users of different ages. Most players picked up the game quickly and wanted to play again. We adjusted the speed and aiming based on their feedback.

Tools

The final prototype was built in Unity version 2022.1.2f1 with inspiration from an online tutorial for the environment and flying mechanics. All the different game elements were implemented by us. Furthermore, the 3D asteroids were modeled in Blender.