Earlier this week, Hideo Kojima reiterated that he’d really like to make a video game in space, much to Mark’s despair and outrage. Perhaps “how do we send Hideo Kojima into outer space” can be one of the problems they solve in the Spaceship Game Jam, a collaboration between the Finnish Game Jam and the European Space Agency, in which starry-eyed developers “design and prototype games or playful concepts inspired by real-world space issues”.
The event runs August 29th to August 31st. You can join the proceedings in-person at specified sites around Finland, or participate online. There’s no entry fee, nor do you need to know what “outer space” is to apply. “Curiosity and a desire to explore are the only requirements,” the organisers explain (yes, I’m aware this website’s fiendish autotagging software has just linked “curiosity” to Peter Molyneux’s smartphone-chiselling abomination; no, I do not know how to stop it). I think “cosmic dread” should be one of the entry criteria as well. I mean, half the space games on Steam are horror games.
Why not just host my own damn spacejam, you imperiously enquire, rather than waiting for those stuffed shirts at the ESA to give their blessing? Well, “participants will gain exclusive access to a rich collection of data and assets generously provided by ESA,” according to the project’s website. “This collection will include data from satellites, research missions, telescopes, and more, to inspire and enrich your games.”
I find the Spaceship Game Jam interesting inasmuch as I’m interested in the overlap between private or public sector space exploration and the video games industry. I wrote a bit about that for Eurogamer, back in the day, though frankly, I think the piece in question is a sanctimonious blatherfest, so let me extract some highlights: NASA have a sideline in video games development or partnerships with developers as part of their campaign for greater public awareness and, thereby, funding.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was designed with input from NASA consultants, and NASA has also teamed up with Blackbird Interactive, developers of Hardspace: Shipbreaker, to construct a simulation of a hypothetical 22nd century Martian colony in the Gale Crater. NASA have also made use of educational games for astronaut training.
As for the European Space Agency, they’ve hosted stands at Gamescom in a bid to recruit the next generation of geeks, and are presently working with Life Is Strange developers Don’t Nod on sci-fi adventure game Aphelion. Perhaps if you take part in their game jam, you’ll be able to reboot yourself as a professional rocket scientist and help poor, befuddled Kojima escape the tyranny of gravity. He’ll get his arse to Mars someday.
