Design Manual
1. Overview
Space Adventures is a first person adventure game to be played in a classroom
under teacher supervision and takes place on the space station Medulla. The player
must complete the unfinished astronomy experiments left there after the
disappearance of the Medulla’s creator and only inhabitant, Delbert McKloo. Ground
Control needs to gather all the results from the unfinished astronomy experiments
before the now abandoned Medulla is closed down. These results help Ground
Control send up clues as how to unlock doors so the player can progress and try to
solve the mystery of the disappearance of Delbert McKloo.
The game is one of reflective thinking, solving problems and finding clues.
Occasionally however, the player must for example quickly target an encroaching
asteroid for closer analysis or skillfully unlock a door to get further into the game. At
times the players will step away from the computers to have in-class discussions
concerning the problems at hand where the teacher will act as the Earth bound
Ground Control commander (imagined to be via a video conference).
Compared to traditional adventure games, Space Adventures will have a strong focus
on the player learning lessons about astronomy, in both written and oral form,
integrated into the gameplay. The only way to get clues for how to unlock the doors
that separate the different rooms of the Medulla is by sending the results of the
astronomy experiments to Ground Control who can then break the operating manual
left by McKloo himself.
2. Backstory
As designer of the space station Medulla and founder of the astronomical discovery
program Space Adventures, Delbert McKloo is a wanted man. The soul astronaut
controlling and maintaining the Medulla has been missing for over a week. His
sudden disappearance and general unpredictable behaviour of late, means that the
Medulla will have to be closed down. The player is part of a chosen investigative
team of astronauts from around the globe that has been assembled to go on a
mission to collect all the findings left onboard the Medulla and to ultimately find
Delbert McKloo himself.
Delbert McKloo has always been a bit of an absent minded professor type. In the
past, he would rocket up to the Medulla 4 times a year making observations and
regularly reporting his finding back to Ground Control. These findings have made the
Medulla and Delbert McKloo an invaluable resource for humankind. However, after
Delbert’s wife left him he began spending more and more time in the space station.
Now he finds himself up there 365 days a year tinkering with the station’s
mechanisms and reporting his various findings back to earth. Ground Control thinks
he is becoming unreliable and after his disappearance, they want to finally close
down the Medulla and this will therefore be the final mission.
Unfortunately the contacts at Ground Control do not know the inner workings of the
Medulla, but are slowly getting an understanding of its mechanisms from an early
manual they found designed by McKloo himself. As the player completes and sends
back the research results, Ground Control will use it to make sense of the Delbert’s
manual and will send up clues to help the player unlock the doors between the
different compartments and anything else that might help them solve the mystery of
the disappeared McKloo.
Look and feel
The space station Medulla has somewhat of a cartoon look. The cartoon art style
means the space station will not represent a realistic space station – this is a ‘fun
space station’ as oppose to a real space station. The main view is that of a room in
the space station: full of knobs, gauges, screens and levers and each mission takes
place in a different room within the Medulla. While you cannot spatially move around
in the room, you can delve into the plethora of knobs buttons and levers of the
Medulla’s instrument panel. The user test from our alpha version showed this style to
be very engaging and means the universe and its logic will be somewhere between
reality and fiction.
Camera View
In the game, the player will see the section of the spaceship that pertains to the
chosen mission. The camera always shows the scene in first person. During full
motion video (FMV) scenes, the view will be through the protagonist’s eyes walking
down a corridor for example. To give these FMVs, which are the only time the
playing is “moving about” the Medulla, an atmosphere of entering unknown terrain,
the camera will be of a handheld style, shaking as if it is the protagonist himself
walking through these corridors. At all times during the playing of a mission, the
camera will be fixed on the scene (here meaning what you see on the particular
level).
3. General Game Progression
Game progress overview
An overview of Space Adventures progression is shown in Illustration XX.
The student types in the URL for Space Adventures
and a window opens. This window will contain the
backstory telling the player that he must answer
the different missions’ logbook questions to
progress in the game (Intro). At the bottom there
is a “Go to Medulla” button (figure XX Mission
Assignment above). After pressing this, the player
watches an animation of a spaceship taking off and
docking on the Medulla (figure xx).
He
must then login in. After log in is a picture of a
door (Mission Selection). Beside the door is
selection-panel where the player can chose which
research compartments to enter (Asteroids, Life in
Space, Gravity or Rockets). (figureXX)
The player enters the chosen research compartments and the mission is played. (See
General Mission Progression) After each particular mission puzzle has been
solved, the player is once again confronted with the door (Mission Selection) that will
show the previous mission as completed. (figureXX again above) As the player
moves from level to level the screen shots shift between an exterior shot of the
medulla showing the elevator light moving and the interior of the elevator as its
moving up or down.
When the elevator reaches the selected level, the door opens slightly revealing only
a glimpse of the room and then the screen shot changes to the mission scene and
the mission is played. Each completed mission activates a particular level button in
the elevator. If all missions are complete, all buttons will be up. Press all buttons
down and the elevator will take the player to the top level where he might find
McKloo. When the elevator doors open he finds himself in a room with three new
doors. (figure xx). Here he must choose which of the doors he thinks Delbert is
behind to finish the game.
4. The Mission
Delbert McKloo first began working on his
space station, the Medulla, to specialize in the
understanding of the effects of gravity, to
monitor and study asteroids and potential
meteors, to study the effects of a variety of
rocket designs, and to conduct research on
life in space. Therefore the Medulla has 4
central research compartments, one that
specializes in each of the four areas as well as
3 practical compartments: an engine room, a
kitchen and a bathroom. Each research
compartment contains one of Delbert’s
Logbooks where he would write in all his
incomplete projects and research questions.
General Mission Progression
Each mission takes place in one of the Medulla’s research compartments that are
connected through a series of stops on the elevator. The student can choose which
level he wants to go to except for the last one, but once he enters the room he is
committed to that level. As a student enters a compartment, the elevator door shuts
and locks behind him (figure xx).
The mission objective is to find clues that will help him unlock the elevator door to
get back into the elevator and continue searching for McKloo. Once he re-enters the
elevator, he finds that the level button is raised and active with a new sign saying
“mission complete”. His map has the letter “C” over the level meaning “completed”.
In-Game GUI
(Logbook, Interactive Screen, Control Unit)
During the game, the screen will be filled out with the level scene. However,
elements can overlay this level scene in order to provide the player with the
information needed to solve puzzles, answer questions or watch animations. The
screen is basically split into three sections: 1, 2 and 3 (Figure XX). These elements
can be pulled in and out of the screen through the main navigation.
Section 1/Logbook:
In the left hand side of the screen is the
Logbook. The Logbook is used to preset mission
briefs, written material and a section with
questions which the student can enter answers
for directly into the Logbook i.e. it has texteditor capabilities. The Logbook will have a
navigation function with links. This will bring
the students to a page which links to the
different sections of the Logbook (mission
briefs, written material and text-editor). At the
bottom of the page there is a “flip page”
function that lets the player flip through the
Logbook pages one page at a time. The writing style of the Logbook will be first
person with a touch of humor as written by McKloo. For a more comprehensive
description of the Logbook and its global features, see section Workspace.
Section 2/Interactive Screen:
In the upper right side of scene is an
Interactive Screen. This screen can be
pulled down to view animations or to
play puzzles. This is therefore the section
that has the player is most prominently
engaged in experiential cognition. It is
also in this section that the player will
need to use keyboard stokes to issue
commands. As animations and puzzles might demand different sized screens to be
displayed, the screen size will vary from puzzle to puzzle and animation to
animation.
Section 3/Command Unit:
This unit serves as a form of command
center where the player can issue the
necessary commands for the game
interface as well as the save-function.
The universal commands for all missions
are: save, exit, toggle Logbook, and
toggle Interactive Screen. Besides
these commands, the unit also displays messages through the Message Center from
Ground Control on Earth. Ground Control is where the players get incoming
messages, questions and clues. These could be in the form of “On page 123 of the
Instruction Manual it says you can press the red button under the Logbook twice and
the pull the lever beside it. This may open a hidden section.” These messages are
therefore a way to embed the story within the progress of the game – in-game
storytelling.
5. About Puzzles
McKloo has fitted each elevator door with
a different and mysterious trap lock that
locks the door after entering (figure xx).
However, each compartment also contains
little cabinets that hold “tools” which are
needed to open up the door. These door
puzzles are what determines the
progression of the game. In this way,
missions are separated from each other
by a puzzle that must be solved to move on to the next mission that eventually leads
towards solving the mystery of McKloo’s disappearing.
6. About Clues
There are two forms of clues in Space Adventures, mission clues and game clues.
Solving mission clues lead to the discovery of “tools” embedded in each
compartment and to release that particular level button. The tools are needed in
order to solve the puzzle (helping to reopen the elevator door) at the end of each
mission. Mission clues are thus needed to progress further into the game. Game
clues on the other hand are clues that help you solve the disappearance of Delbert
McKloo. These are distributed throughout all the missions and are needed for the
final puzzle (deciding which door McKloo is behind).
Finding Mission Clues
Mission clues primarily come from Ground Control who are trying to decode McKloo’s
manual on Earth. They need the final research results from the player in order to do
this, i.e. answer a question and a clue will be given. Mission clues will revolve around
hidden combinations for using the buttons, switches and levers on the compartment
panel. When pushed and pulled in the right combination, they open op a cabinet that
contains a “tool” to be used for the mission puzzle. Mission clues are given as a
result of answering questions in the logbook.
Delbert’s logbook will demand the player to give both qualitative and quantitative
answers and clues can be given for both types of answers. For quantitative
questions, the clue could be a blinking button or a moving lever. The player would
then know that this is needed to open the cabinet. For qualitative questions, the
answer would be given from Ground Control through the Control Unit. This could be
a clue as to how the known buttons and switches should be combined in order to
open the compartment1.
Mission puzzle (re-opening the elevator door)
After having gathered all the clues, the player will have answered all the questions in
the logbook, obtained the tools and released the level button in the elevator. Now he
can move on to the mission puzzle. The mission puzzle is to crack the lock on the
elevator door. (figure xx)
This could be a lock-pick puzzle where the
player must wedge two different picks into
the lock to open it or it could be in the
form of a number combination that must
be punched into an electronic device.The
numbers gathered through the mission,
mission clues, will have to be combined in
order to enter the right number
combination. Upon opening the door and
1
For more see section on Workspace
going into the elevator, the player notices the level button is raised.
Finding Game clues
After having solved a mission puzzle, Ground Control will give the player a clue that
can help him locate Delbert McKloo. This clue may appear in the elevator on the top
level screen and could be something like “It’s a long, long way to Tipparary”. When
the player has finished all four missions, he will therefore have 4 game clues to help
pick which of the last three compartments to look for Delbert in.
Game Puzzle
After all four missions have been completed, all 4 level buttons in the elevator will be
up and activated and the player can advance to the final scenes where he must
choose between 4 doors: the engine room, the kitchen or the bathroom.
The player now has to make the decision
as to which of the rooms Delbert is in. The
player can actually choose the 2 wrong
doors first. Eventually he will open the
kitchen door (the correct door). Although
Delbert is not there, he is seen on a fuzzy
TV screen transmitted from a distant
planet. He has his arm happily around sexy
tentacle woman and obviously has no
intention of returning to the Medulla. If his door was not chosen first, he will pity the
player and tell him he could work as a crew member until his skills are a bit better. If
his door was chosen first he will congratulate the player saying that he learned all he
needs to know about the Medulla and is qualified to take over as its new captain and
or commanders (if there are several in the group).
7. Workspace
The workspace is a very important part of learning element of Space Adventures as it
is where the class teacher can read and give comments to student’s answers to the
logbook questions. It is what defines the structured communication in our
definition of teaching. What we have called the logbook is the student’s
workspace. This is where the student writes and submits answers. The teacher’s
workspace is where the teacher can see all students as well as when and what the
student’s have submitted for each question. Furthermore, the teacher can comment
on these answers that will then appear in the student’s workspace.
Teacher’s workspace
The teacher’s workspace has several different functions:

Assigning login id’s for students

Grouping ids (students) into groups/countries

Viewing a student’s submitted work

Commenting on a student’s submitted work

Administering mission clues
Assigning Login ids and Groups
Before the actual game
can begin, the teacher
must create a login for
each student and join the
different students
together in groups (Figure
XX). The teacher has her
own ID and each time she submits a student by including his Name, ID Name and
group, the teacher will be able to se the students when they login in with these
names.
Viewing a student’s
submitted work
Each student deals with
all quantitative answers
through the AI unit
(meaning the results are
pre-programmed and
seen immediately)
while the teacher can
go in and view all
submitted qualitative
answers. Every
student that has been
registered by the
teacher can be viewed
individually (Figure
XX). Each student is
viewed by real name,
id name and the
amount of submitted
questions and how many of these answers the teacher has commented. Each student
name functions like a hyperlink. By pressing the name, the teacher can view the
submitted work of each student (Figure XX). The name and group ID appears at the
top of the individual students page along with all submitted answers and an overview
of which answers has not been submitted.
After reading through the student’s
material, the teacher can use the Add Comment button to send a comment to an
answer submitted by a student.
Commenting on a student’s submitted work
In the Add Comment environment, the student’s answer functions like a text editor
(Figure XX). The teacher can write directly into the text, adding comments as well as
hyperlinks (which appear in red). When viewed by a student, these hyperlinks open
up specific pages in the logbook. In this way, the teacher has the possibility to link
possible misunderstandings or certain topics that need expansion to specific pages in
the student’s logbook. Whenever a teacher has submitted a comment, a student is
informed through his Command Unit.
Student’s
Workspace
The student’s
workspace is
integrated into the
Games GUI. While there are several different aspects and “areas” of Space
Adventures that could be called workspace like the interactive screen or the group
discussions, we only refer the student’s workspace to the logbook. This is because
this is the only place where the student is in individual contact with the teacher and
the most potent place for structured communication.
As mentioned in the In-Game GUI section, the logbook contains a variety of
functions. It is possible to view the content page-by-page or section-by-section
through the main navigation that is linked from all pages of the logbook. A student
can read background material with pictures and illustrations, answer specific
questions and link directly to an interactive game or animation.
Questions
There is a link from the main navigation of the
logbook to an overview of the questions that
must be answered for a particular mission
(Figure XX). Questions will pertain to specific
background material either in the form of
certain sections in the logbook that must be
read and/or to a game/animation that must be
played/viewed to answer the question. Each
question functions as a hyperlink. By bringing
the mouse over a question and pressing it,
the logbook is flipped to a new page where a
student can write an answer to the posed
question. However, specific parts of the question
can also serve as hyperlinks (shown in blue). By pressing these specific parts, the
student is brought to the relevant section of the background material, game or
animation.
<drawing above should have 3 question marks (???) as answer link.
Frequency game should also be a link that opens the interactive screen>
Answers
When a student is ready to answer the question he presses the triple question mark
link that takes him to an answer page. That page has the question at the top and a
space to write the answer below. To support an immersive effect, the answer page
should be of the same size maybe, but a different device like a transmitter that
establishes communication with Ground Control. Here Ground Control sends possible
help to solve the questions. Quantitative answers are written directly below the
questions and fielded by the AI unit with immediate response.
The Discussion
At least once per mission the students will be summonsed by Ground Control to have
a group discussion about a topic of “utmost importance”. It is likely to be a question
that ties in all the ideas and questions presented during the mission. At this point
each member of the team clicks on a particular screen in the mission scene. The
scene changes to show a large drop down video-teleconference screen. On the
screen is the leader of Ground Control standing with a couple co-workers and with
the Ground Control room behind them. At this point the group goes away from the
computers and has a (private) discussion with the teacher concerning the topic.
When the teacher is happy with the discussion, the video conference screen can be
deactivated from the teacher’s workspace. When the screen goes up, the level
button in the elevator is activated and the student is left to unlock the elevator door.
8. Mission example
The player is given an id and password from his teacher. He enters the Space
Adventures URL and comes to the “abandoned” website showing the games mission
and purpose as described above. He presses the “Go to the Medulla” button and
watches the rocket take off and land on the medulla. Here he logs in. An elevator
door opens. He is then presented with a choice of missions. After choosing the
mission “Asteroids” the elevator (shifting between interior and exterior views) goes
up to the asteroid level the door opens and he is standing in the asteroids room.
The logbook is protruding from the right hand side with the directions of the mission
on its top page and inner logbook navigation down its side (not shown here). From
the bottom left of the screen a light is flashing from a slightly protruding unit. Upon
pressing the blinking light, the command unit slides up with a command from Ground
Control. “Have you found some questions in the logbook yet?” In the navigation is a
link called “questions”. Clicking it advances the logbook to a list of questions.
Example questions from the Logbook:
1.) What is the average time in years between these 4 asteroids sightings: 1923, 1945, 1976,
and 1999???
2.) Which meteor hit the earth in 1919???
3.) How big is the asteroid approaching earth seen here in the <target lock game>???
4.) After studying section1 and section 2 do you think it is common that objects collide in the
solar system?
…
…
…
10.) What is the difference between an asteroid and a meteor?
Upon writing the number “32” in the space below the first question a button lights up
and the player can press it. Upon answering the second question in a like manner, a
lever suddenly lights up. Approaching the third question, the player clicks on the link
“target lock game” and the Interactive Screen slides into view. On the screen are the
words “INCOMING METEOR!! Get a target lock”. Beside the words are the symbols
for each of the arrow keys indicating how to operate the crosshairs of the target lock.
The player notices that the words “Get a target lock” are in the form of button and
clicks it. A few seconds later a meteor is seen flying across the screen. The player
skillfully gets a target lock on the incoming meteor and reads the text that shows up
beside it. Here he sees its dynamic position and speed as well as its size and the
material that it is made of.
When he loses target lock, the information goes away. He remembers the size and
closes the screen. He then writes the size below the answer. Immediately a control
knob is lit and activated. The player then goes to question 4. Upon answering this
qualitative question, the teacher (Ground Control) sees it in the Teacher’s
Workspace. After a short review, the teacher finds it acceptable and pushes a
“accept” button. A message from Ground Control shows up to the player. It says
“Your work up there has really been a help for us translating McKloo’s manual. It
appears that if you push button 3 two times, flip lever G up and then turn the control
knob to 15, something should happen.” The student does so and a compartment
pops open revealing a lock pick. Clicking on the pick it disappears and is shown
graphically to be in the player’s pocket. The student tries to click on the elevator
door (not shown in above scene), but a message field next to the door says: “still
need another pick”.
He continues answering questions in a like manner. At one point, Ground Control
sends a message. “Its time for a video conference with your group, please go to the
teleconferencing screen. We have to discuss a very important subject. Which do you
think is more worth worrying about: a 1KM asteroid or a 50m asteroid? Why???” The
player clicks on a small screen that says “teleconference” and a full size screen drops
in front of the entire scene and is impossible to close. On the screen is a static
representation of the members of Ground Control with the control room behind
them. The player steps away from the computer and meets with his group to discuss
the question.
The group discusses the question and then all groups meet with the teacher. A
representative from each group formally gives details as to how they would approach
the problem from a professional perspective. After a short while the discussion is
accepted and the teacher presses an “accept” button releasing the teleconference
screens. At this point the player only answers one more question, which gives him
his last clue and he opens another compartment. Pick 2 is there. He clicks it and then
clicks on the elevator door.
Suddenly he is standing in front of the door and the lock. Clicking the lock a puzzle
emerges where he must skillfully insert the 2 picks in the right manner. He does so
and the elevator door opens up. He clicks between the opening doors and he is back
in the elevator facing his choices of levels again. There is a message (a game clue) in
the bottom screen that says: “There are no TVs in the Engine Room”. On the level
panel, the asteroids level is marked “Mission Completed” and the button below the
screen is raised and activated. He can press on the button, but it only goes down and
back up again and the bottom screen says “the following missions must be
completed before accessing this level: Level 2- Extraterrestrial life, Level 3- Rockets,
Level 4- Gravity.” The student instead picks level 4- Gravity and continues on his
adventure.
After completing all the missions, the player advances to the main level where he
must choose between 3 doors. He gathers all 4 of his game clues and decides to
choose the Kitchen. The door opens and the scene switches over to the Kitchen
scene. It is a messy space kitchen with a prominent large TV hanging from the
ceiling. On it is a live telecast of Delbert McKloo broadcasting from a remote planet.
His arm is around a VERY ATTRACTIVE tentacle woman. He seems satisfied. He says
“HA HA!! I have taught you well! You have solved my problems and have learned to
control my lovely Medulla. You are now capable of taking over the ship. Here is to
you CAPTAIN! Tell my friends at Ground Control that they need not continue looking
for me. They will never find me. Those hypotheses I’ve been making about life on
other planets however…. you may report that they are all true. HA HA HA HA HA!”
The screen gets fuzzy and goes blank. Game Over. The player has won!