Game on for Mars
The team behind the new video game Deliver Us Mars visited ESA’s research and technology centre ESTEC in January. They talked with ESA experts about the Red Planet and revealed how real-life space technology and knowledge about Mars helped them to create an authentic game.
Launched in February 2023 by Frontier Foundry, Deliver Us Mars is an epic sci-fi adventure game set on Mars in a post-climate change future. Players take on the role of young astronaut Kathy Johanson who joins a mission to recover missing spaceships and ensure the survival of the human race. The game features a landscape that convincingly recreates the challenging terrain and harsh weather conditions of Mars.
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Koen and Paul Deetman, founders of the game’s developer KeokeN Interactive, talked to ESA experts to get a reality check on how tough it is for humans to survive on Mars. Pantelis Poulakis, ESA’s Special Adviser for Mars Sample Return Robotic Elements, described some of the challenges astronauts will face, especially the extreme cold of the Martian night. Angelique Van Ombergen, ESA’s Discipline Lead for Life Sciences underlined these physical challenges, but also mentioned the psychological impact of being so far from your home planet. Understanding the reality of Mars and the problems future astronauts will encounter helped KeokeN Interactive to create a vivid and believable martian setting for Deliver Us Mars.
The meeting at ESTEC was the culmination of a long-standing link-up with the game’s publisher Frontier Foundry, who had reached out to ESA early in the development of Deliver Us Mars. In August last year, they also gave ESA’s Branding and Partnerships team a preview of the game at Gamescom, the games industry’s largest annual trade show. Through events like Gamescom, ESA is establishing partnerships with companies who look to ESA to help them bring authentic space experiences to their audiences. With Gamescom 2023 on the horizon, ESA looks forward to supporting more games partners with a passion for space.