"But it was only after he started to be part of the project that we began to integrate some of his ideas of future space exploration developments. "We were already in the advanced design stages when we decided to approach Buzz Aldrin Enterprises to ask for Buzz’s involvement," Minoli says. I'm particularly intrigued by the news that Slitherine's game will incorporate some of Aldrin's ideas, such as the Mars Cycler. For example, instead of the lunar rendezvous method that NASA chose for the Apollo program, the player can opt for Earth-orbit rendezvous or even direct-ascent where a single giant spacecraft lifts off from Earth and lands on the Moon. There are numerous types of spacecraft and missions that can be configured in various mix-and-match combinations, and many of which never launched off the drawing boards. Indeed, the United States could have been the first nation to successfully launch a man into space, except that while it chose to conduct those last extra safety tests, the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit and the history books.īARIS was also a hands-on lesson in space technology. Yet this is a race, and whoever is the first to fulfill various objectives, such as being the first to send a man into orbit or a probe to Mars, garners more prestige. That risk cannot be totally eliminated, but it can be sharply reduced by conducting a series of test launches prior to the main mission. Every space mission in the game has a risk of failure, which for a manned mission (think the Apollo 1 fire or the Challenger disaster) has grave political and budgetary consequences for a nation's space program. What made BARIS so stellar a space game was that it captured the essence of the Space Race and its constant tension between risk and reward. Given a limited and fluctuating budget, the NASA administrator and his Soviet counterpart ( Sergei Korolev?) had to recruit and train astronauts, design spacecraft, and assign manned and unmanned missions. The game begins in 1957, with the preparations to launch the first satellite into orbit, and ends with the first Moon landing. BARIS offered the chance to take charge of the American or Soviet space programs during the superpower race to the Moon. This sounds a lot like Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space, one of my favorite computer games, but a 1993 MS-DOS design that I've long since stopped playing. It includes hundreds of programs and thousands of different components." You develop your space center, open space exploration programs ranging from the early probes and space planes to projects that are based on possible future developments. However, Slitherine spokesman Marco Minoli told me that "the game is about researching and developing entire space programs. It was based on the boardgame Liftoff! by Fritz Bonner who was also one of the partners in the designers Strategic Visions.Details of the game, which is scheduled for release in 2013, are sketchy. There are some simplifications in the technology and changes to match the US and Soviet sides but overall recreates the atmosphere and environment of the era. It is even possible to develop a minishuttle and take that to the moon. Instead of the historical Lunar orbital approach, earth orbital or direct flight are possible. Historical accuracy has been attempted while allowing for alternative possible approaches. A Simulation management and strategy game recreating the Space Race between USA and the Soviet Union to land a man on the moon in the '60s.Įach player manages either the US or USSR space program from first orbital satellite through Manned Orbital, space walks, docking, lunar probes to the landing itself and must balance tight budgets in the areas of research, launches, astronaut training, and the all important milestone missions to get the practice and safety up and the government with the big bucks onside.
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