Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/863766
18 cgw j u ly . a u g u s t 2 0 1 7 F E A T U R E F E A T U R E ive decades ago, when man first landed on the moon, chil- dren everywhere began dream- ing of becoming astronauts, imagining what it was like to visit space. Today, their own children do not have to simply imag- ine; they are able to get a fairly realistic sense of what astronaut training entails, at least as earthly as possible without leaving the ground, via a VR experience called "Earthlight." "Earthlight" is a narrative-driven game that tells a story only a few people will ever experience – that of human space flight – as players live the unique and unusual journey of one of NASA's talented astronauts. In- deed, there have been many space-themed games over the years. However, using the term "game" in the typical sense does not fully describe "Earthlight." Yes, it is an entertainment experience, created by a game developer: Opaque Space, a newly formed game company in Australia. However, it strives to be as realistic as possible – and it has science behind it. It is developed in collaboration with various space agencies, including NASA and its laboratories, to ensure the content is as authentic as possible. And, the title is created in VR, enabling the "as- tronaut-in-training" to not simply "play," but "experience" the scenarios. Parent company Opaque Media Group, founded approximately five years ago, launched the game company to explore interactive entertainment experiences, es- pecially – but not limited to – those geared to space. In contrast, Opaque Media Group is more focused on emerging technologies to reshape entire industries through user and developer experiences. It embraces all kinds of applications and hardware relating to augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and more – whether VR projects for the film industry or education experiences, such as its award-winning "Virtual Dementia Experience," which used early VR technology to give caregivers and families an empathic understanding of the disease. "Earthlight" started out as a tech demo from Opaque Media Group, to demonstrate the capabilities of VR. In mid-2016, the company decided to turn it into a game with the same name. "It had so much traction with consumers and investors, that we decided to turn it into a game with a narrative and a fully fleshed- out experience with far more mechanics and functionality," says Jennifer Scheurle, game design lead at Opaque Space. DEVELOPERS IN SPACE For the past year, a team within the Opaque Media Group worked to turn the tech demo – in which the user traverses the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) to per- form a maintenance task – into a narrative game experience. Development was handed off to the newly formed game company in the beginning of the year. This month, the initial fruits of their labor are ready, as "Earthlight" is released as a 15- to 20-minute game experience on Vive Arcade; it will also be available in other arcades. A longer-form version – an all-VR episodic release, in all probability – is also under way with parts of the game already built; it is expected to be ready within a year, depending on funding from investors. The game tells the life story of Ana, as players follow her experience and journey involving research and training, even before she gets to space. To ensure the experience is as authentic and realistic as possible, the Opaque team spent a tremendous amount of time researching this world, just as Ana and the player do in the game. "Before any basic implementation of mechanics, we had to do a huge amount of research because our game is twofold," says Scheurle. One, it is a narrative game experience, "and we want to stay as close as possible to reality in what astronauts do in space and in their training. Sometimes, though, we had to 'trick' the player into learning certain things. But overall, we stay true to their experiences." Two, some aspects of the game are also being examined and tested at the newly built NASA Hybrid Reality and Advanced Operational Concepts Lab for research- ing new training methods for astronauts, using emerging technologies (see "Space Training," page 22), as NASA explores the use of VR and MR in that process. To this end, the space agency is collaborating with Opaque and a few others in that process, with the game company sharing assets and animations, and performing some basic prototype testing. And it's this collaboration and the need for authenticity of motion that poses the greatest degree of difficulty for the group. The Opaque-NASA relationship started when the Opaque team visited the Johnson Space Center to obtain research insight. "The trip originally was for research purpos- es and getting photos of materials, such as suits and objects for the game, to make it as authentic as possible," says Scheurle. The parallel between the game's enter- tainment aspect and its real-life value really hit home earlier this year during Opaque's second visit to the Johnson Space Center, when Opaque Space CEO Emre Deniz ex- SPACE GAME F A VR game developer creates a narrative-based astronaut training experience for play and work BY KAREN MOLTENBREY