Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond
| Starlite | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) |
NASA Project Whitecard Enterprises Inc. WisdomTools Enterprises |
| Platform(s) | |
| Genre(s) | MMO |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Starlite (also, Starlite Astronaut Academy, also, Star Rangers, formerly Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond) is the title of a multiplayer online game which, since November 2009, is being developed by Project Whitecard Studios and WisdomTools Enterprises (now defunct). The game world will be set in the near future with the ability to explore planned and possible near-future planetary missions, which is facilitated by the use of NASA Learning Technologies, and Innovative Partnerships programs.
Other NASA Learning Technologies programs have included Second Life's MOONWORLD and Moonbase Alpha on the STEAM network, as well as a few others on different platforms going all the way back to the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) system of the 1980s.
The game is being developed because the belief in games used as educational tools is gaining recognition, and NASA is in a position to develop an online game that functions as a persistent, synthetic environment supporting education as a laboratory. It is the same reason pilots train with flight simulators. The initiative to develop a NASA MMO comes from the office of NASA Learning Technologies at NASA Goddard. The award of the Space Act Agreement was the result of a contested RFP.
November 25, 2009 was the "pre-development start" date for the project.
On October 11, 2011, the Kickstarter pre-funding drive of an AMMB MMO successfully met its scheduled end. The goal of $25,000.00 to prove some commercial viability was greatly exceeded and a total of $46,719 was raised. This is very close to the initial (failed) drive goal of $50,000 which was held just prior to this drive. [1]
June 1, 2012: At Project Whitecard Studios, Development began with 14 developers.
On July 24, 2012, Project Whitecard Studios Inc. signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA HQ to create "Starlite Digital Badges," STEM Education badges in conjunction with NASA and Mozilla. This is relevant because the same team will assign open-source digital badges using a customMozilla Open Badges platform from within the Starlite game (a unique concept) being developed for Mobile.
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