Game Engines for Mars Exploration
The Mars Society Convention 2024
This presentation was delivered at The Mars Society Convention 2024.
You can watch this presentation here (below) or on YouTube https://youtu.be/N4nCSBdc9aM
You can watch all recorded presentations here https://www.games4teachers.net/videos/
Game Engines for Mars Exploration
Thank you for attending this presentation on the possible advantages of game engines and cooperation with game developers with the space exploration as your goal.
I must admit that re-watching „Total Recall” based on Philip Dick’s story „We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” convinced me to prepare this presentation. In the story and in the film, the main character wants to travel to Mars but the cheapest option is to implant memories which will than function as the lived experience. I believe that today we already live in a world where we can experience Mars nearly first-hand. If you play some video games, the experience is uncanny. And if you check what those games can do... You would be astounded or so I hope.
For this reason, I would like to tell you a few things about games, game engines, and how astounding the present can already be.
But let’s start with video games. And let’s limit ourselves only to those games that show a realistic representation of Mars or similar celestial bodies.
If we look at what has been produced in the last 10 years, the number of Mars-focused games or Mars-related games is surprising. Do you want to walk on Mars? Fly a drone on Mars? Drive NASA rovers? And each year brings new and more realistic games. Some of them were even prepared in cooperation with various space agencies. In addition, you have 100s if not 1000s of shooters, platformers or economic strategies to play. But let’s focus only on realistic video games with exploration at the core.
Because seeing is believing, let me show you the trailer of a project from 2016 entitled Mars 2030 VR.
I hope that you liked what you saw. Mars is there, rockets are there, even detailed Mars habitats are in the game. However, this game was produced 8 years ago. Following Moore’s Law, we can claim that game engines used today can do at least four times better. More details, more pixels, more realistic reflections, more accurate particles and dust animations. We can even simulate physics in real time!
Today’s game engines can easily create realistic landscapes for games, for urban designs, and are even used to make films. And all of that is available for peanuts.
Of course, most games are made on engines that belong to specific game developers. But most of those engines are also based on Unity or Unreal Engine or CryEngine. They have amazing capabilities in terms of creating realistic 3D environments with mind-blowing and detailed animations and physics. Even some simpler engines like GameMaker and Game Guru can still do a lot. There are dozens if not hundreds of other engines like Godot, but most of them are not designed for realistic 3D representation. Still, Unity and Unreal Engine are available to everyone for free!
And what can you do with a software available for free? How much are you limited? Well, you are not limited at all – you get the full package!
But there is more to that. Because modern software can communicate or cross-reference collected data. Within Unreal Engine, a game engine, we can recreate Mars on the basis of real scientific data.
We are not talking about a simplified map or a model of Mars. We have access to realistic 3D maps of Mars, and they are fully explorable.
And how big can those 3D maps be? Well... How big is Mars? Because that’s what we get with Unreal Engine.
OK, so we have accuracy, we have the size, but what about realism. Well, let me show you one more clip. While watching, can you spot which elements are real and which are CGI? Computer-generated?
You probably guessed it – everything here is computer generated. But what is more important, you looked at nature with dense foliage, wind moving leaves, rain drops, water reflections and distortions. Most of those do not exist on Mars. Creating believable Mars location is even easier for game engines!
Again, seeing is believing, so let’s have a look at the Mandalorian. I know that he didn’t travel to Mars, but some planets were similar, and they were all created in Unreal Engine.
That’s it. Today, using a game engine, we can create realistic and detailed representation of Mars-like environments. It takes a bit of knowledge, a bit of hardware, and Unreal Engine.
So, let’s see what we can do. I mean it, you and me. How much cash do you have in your wallet? Just a few of us attending this presentation can afford most of the assets we need to recreate Mars in Unreal Engine. And what we cannot afford, we can just get for free. Unreal Engine Market is full of free assets. And if you have $100, you can buy a full 3D map of Mars. Another $100 will also get you the whole solar system with the Milky Way to admire at night. Do you want to drive rovers? $20. You prefer a whole futuristic Mars base? You have it. Or do you prefer scans of real habitat modules? And what about equipment? It’s all there in Unreal Engine Marketplace. paraphrasing Philip Dick, we can deliver it to you wholesale.
If you search the net long enough you will even find some NASA or ESA projects based on Unreal Engine. Unfortunately, most of them are not updated or feel unfinished. But they are there.
So if everything is so peachy, why don’t we have it done?
There’s always something you need to do or have first. Well, first you need to have powerful computers to render your designs into those 3D environments.
You need to know those game engines because with the right settings you get those stunning views. And this means that sometimes you need to resort to additional plugins and coding. This is a game engine and you need to know how to use it. Or you need people who have the know-how. All that hardware with LED walls or VR goggles takes time to set up and money to burn.
And on top of that, with limited budgets, it is difficult to get top results, especially when you want them quickly.
However, there is a way. And here comes the second and more practical part of this presentation. I would like to show you how you can work around some limitations.
Remember that we are using game engines, so hire game designers. Treat them as partners and highly skilled workers.
Game developers already have games set on Mars or similar planets and moons. Usually, they are willing to share some assets with researchers. Some of their assets are already available for free.
Many players become designers when they prepare modification for games. You might have heard about Starfield, a recent game which has a Mars base BTW. This game has a huge number of modifications available for free. Talk to game developers, they are ready to share their products especially in exchange for publicity.
If you need something tailored for your specific needs, reach out to game design departments. Students prepare 3D environments for internal projects every term. They cooperate with external companies to simplify the process, gain knowledge or collect funds. You can be part of that picture. Those 3D environments follow rules and laws of physics – you can ask for specific outcomes. Just give students some time and clear guidelines. They are students after all... Or cooperate with universities, and organize events, competitions or challenges. Students take part in those all the time.
On top of that you have local, national, and international game jams. For example, Global Game Jam collects more than 30.000 game designers. Become a sponsor, prepare challenges, design diversifiers or provide tools that you want to have tested. There are hundreds smaller game jams taking place every year. But there is only one Global Game Jam.
Finally, various space agencies already participated in some game-related projects. Contact them, ask for assets, ask for access to their projects. Many of them were available for free to the public like Mars 2030 that I showed you, so you are more then likely to be allowed to revisit those projects and maybe even develop them further with the new tools that we have today.
Just to give you an example of what you can find, let me show you Fort Solis prepared last year. The game takes place on Mars. Perfect! Whole habitats are already designed. Most items have multiple variants to make the environment more detailed and varied. Just like with LEGO blocks, you can put any of those pieces together, and you get an extremely realistic environment which you can use with VR or AR or just explore on your PC. And I mean it, using the assets from this one game, you can create anything you may need from Mars environments or Mars habitat.
This is the gist of my presentation. Game engines provide us with a win-win situation where we only need to cooperate to reach our mutual and individual goals.
Unreal Engine is available to you for free.
Game developers and game design students make those Mars-related projects anyway.
If you can afford it, those science fiction LED screens are already here.
And if you have a limited budget, we also have VR and AR solutions to test.
But what is most important, if you have a decent PC at home, it probably can already run Unreal Engine, and you can start designing those Mars environments even today!
We are living the future. We can design and create realistic Mars environments today. And we can experience them today. It takes a bit of time, a bit of cooperation, but most of the necessary equipment and software is relatively cheap or even available for free. What say you? Are you ready to go to Mars?
Thank you for your time. I hope that I managed to convince you that game engines and games can have a positive impact on our preparations to explore Mars in near future.
Thank you and let’s meet on Mars!
