962
Backers
$46,719
pledged of $25,000 goal
0
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on October 11, 2011.
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
We love you. Plainly put, your $5 pledge means you care, and we will place your name into the credits of A:MMB under "Beautiful Dreamers", lit by the full moon.
Pledge $10 or more Pledge $10 or more
The giver of the pledge will receive a founder's credit in Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond (all versions), a Beta invitation, and a single license for when the game comes out on your platform of choice - PC, Mac, iOS - (about half of retail). (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $24 or more Pledge $24 or more
Okay - this is it: the sweet spot. By pledging your 24 dollars, we will cite you as a founder of the game in the credits, and when available, a Beta invitation, and we send you 2 keys for the full version of the game when it arrives and an exclusive collection of schwag, including an unlock key for special custom vehicles and a Space Ranger Elite™ collectible suit for your character in the game - exclusive to Kickstarter.com donors. See you. Out there. (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $30 or more Pledge $30 or more
Pledge two licenses to a school. At this level we will earmark two license keys for students at a school, and include a card stating you as the Pledge: "may you enjoy this software in the spirit it was given. I share with you the joy of discovery and science." Wow - that's a great gift . Thanks. :) (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
Backers will receive a credit _in_game_ in the in-orbit, in-situ Hall of Fame wall as a founder of the Arthur C. Clarke Academy Space Station, and be mailed an exclusive signed official poster of the Astronaut Academy, an exclusive first-look beta invitation when available, targeted at PC computers, when available, and a license pair for when the game comes out. (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $125 or more Pledge $125 or more
Sweet! You will appear _in_game_ as a 3D hologram member of Astronaut Academy Space Council (and mostly likely a secret Space Ranger). When the game launches you will receive instructions to unlock an Academy "First Flight" Space Suit, be mailed an exclusive signed official T-Shirt , and a license pair for when the game comes out on your platform of choice - PC, Mac, iOS - and collector's edition packaging. (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
"Yo gang, the game on the no-grav court on this side of space is G-Ball, and to get your style in order, we're offering the first-ever Astronaut Academy NASA G-Ball Team Jersey. Choose from "Goddard," "Hawking," or "Turing" and be the first earthbound team members in the history of the game. It's all cool mate. You've got time to practice. You'll also get an exclusive first-look , a beta invitation when available, of course, a license pair for when the game is available on your platform of choice - PC, Mac, iOS - and your name on one of the walls in the G-Ball Astro-Sphere. And it's aaaaaaall G, Baby." -K-Bango, AAGB MVP 2029, Team Hawking. (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
If you know what a Letterman jacket is, then this prize is for you. An all-exclusive Arthur C. Clarke (AA) Academy Letterman Jacket, in space-blue and white, with logos emblazoned. Not only this - but for your trouble we'll put your likeness in the game as an Armstrong-Smythe Trophy winner on the walls of the Academy Pavilion (!) (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Pledge $2,000 or more Pledge $2,000 or more
The first ever of it's kind: A Mars Duster. Emblazoned with an Academy wing-set, a NASA logo, and your local Mars Union leader's Dome Designation, this off-white, long-length cowboy-inspired jacket will keep the dust off your back, and your spacesuit on track. Nothing is cooler than a Mars Duster from Astronaut: Moon Mars and Beyond. Not only will you have a founder's key version of the game when it unlocks (fast-tracking your journey to Mars), we'll put you into the game as a non-player character, forever exploring those back-water plains of Mare-Incognitum. (Note - also includes the rewards from the previous categories).
Project By
Connected as Khal Shariff (590 friends)
Khal Shariff CEO, Project Whitecard Inc.
Khal Shariff, Founder and CEO of Project Whitecard Inc., is an award winning creative & technical talent. A much sought after speaker at industry and forward-looking events, such as the NASA Virtual Worlds Workshop, Khal maintains a very high profile in the industry, leads Serious Games Canada, and consults to a number of industry conferences.
Khal is the creative lead and author of the winning pitch for the NASA MMO, Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond, a project to be announced officially in late 2011. Khal is a 2011 finalist for Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year.
Sonny Kirkley, Ph.D., CEO, WisdomTools Llc.
Dr. Sonny Kirkley is CEO at Information in Place, Inc. (IIPI) and WisdomTools. For over 15 years, Dr. Kirkley has served as the principal investigator on over $8.7 million of federal and state funded research grants including serious games and interactive learning projects with the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and a range of corporate clients. His latest focus is on designing, developing, and researching serious games for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)education and is leading the IIPI team on the NASA Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) game project. As part of his work in the area of serious games, Sonny co-developed the Mission Based Learning (MBL) approach to serious game module design, which is based on a problem based learning framework for both design and learning. This method is used to support designing instruction for integrating serious games and other advanced learning technologies into the curriculum and has been used in K-12, defense and corporate training and education.
Yes, it's amazing, the amount of hacking attempts the last 2 weeks or so; it's literally non-stop with the server going down every hour (I get all the messages).
We are testing the new server and will be attempting a migration very soon.
Looks like the Forums are down for the webpage.
Hmm, in retrospect, wish I'd supported at the $24 level, not the $10. Those rewards look cool.
Go support another great developer.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/732317316/starlight-inceptiontm
Thanks for the updates. :)
You're welcome John. Here's that press release. Important for all of you to know: the badges people are talking about below, well those are badges for this game, and it is a very good budget (top prize).
Team Solution from NASA, Pug Pharm, Project Whitecard, and CET Named a Winner in the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition
An international team entitled: "Robotics and STEM Badges Using NASA Content" was selected as a winner in the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition. Khal Shariff of Project Whitecard Inc., with content focused on the official NASA Massively Multiplayer Game, Pug Pharm Productions Inc. (Pug Pharm), a Canadian leader in gamification and social engagement, Dr. Meri Cummings of the Center for Educational Technologies and Dr. Robert Starr of NASA delivered the winning pitch at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California.
The content was designed to find and inspire the most innovative uses of a "Digital Badges" in support of connected learning and was held in collaboration with Mozilla. It is part of the 4th Digital Media and Learning Competition supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC.
“We are pleased to be working with Pug Pharm and excited that our joint project, ‘Robotics and STEM Badges Using NASA Content,’ was chosen a winner in this highly competitive pool. Our project will support CET and draw upon NASA and the NASA MMO team to deliver information focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) content,” said Khal Shariff, CEO of Project Whitecard.
“This is a great validation of Pug Pharm’s innovative technology platform, which will support Project Whitecard’s design by managing badge award criteria, achievement measurement and assessment, mission performance tracking, social matchmaking, and user-management” said Steve Bocska, CEO of Pug Pharm.
The winners—awarded grants ranging from $25,000 to $175,000—demonstrate the wide range of approaches to, and uses for, digital badges and badge systems. They illustrate the potential of new technologies to improve academic achievement, economic opportunity and civic engagement. In the final round, thirty winners were selected from a highly competitive pool of 91 finalists.
A complete listing of the winners can be found at: http://dmlcompetition.net/Competition/4/winners.php,
with words on this team at: http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2012/03/01/macarthur-foundation-competition-winners-will-use-mozilla-software-to-supercharge-learning/
Thank you very much. This makes me feel much better. I am looking forward to this.
A small update it is. It's Khal. I have been working very diligently to finance the project. This has taken a fair amount of time. We have one corporate backer, and a second one is likely to come on board. There is much work occurring on the pre-production side, and with the MacArthur grant, we will be very busy enhancing the product to use badging technology from April to April.
I will promise that we will start and finish sending out the goodies (there is still aways to go on the Beta) very soon, and I will be giving you a nice little present of our Apollo 11 game (unreleased), to tide you over.
I agree with John. Mini-updates are better, and I hope you got the last one.
I for one would rather have small updates rather then no updates. I am starting to wonder if my money has gone bye-bye.
Hello - here's an update. We just won a MacArthur Foundation Grant - so new the ink has not dried. I am supposed to have the press release finished in the next day, so look for that.
The status is good. We should be delivering those little goodies very soon.
What I hope for is to give you a significant if short status update very soon, so I have been holding off. Your patience is appreciated. I hope to give you that update by April 2nd. -Khal. :)
Been a *long* time since we've had an update, guys. :)
¿What is the status of the project?
Khal, are you familiar with the Orbiter community? If not, I suggest that there is a very large and dedicated fanbase associated with that program that would be well suited to this project.
http://www.orbitersim.com
One of the things that made Orbiter so amazing was the openess (even though it's not open source) through the use of an extensive add-on API. Not sure how that might fit in your vision of the completed game, but certainly if such a thing could be accommodated, it would encourage new content with little investment on your part.
Also, I was wondering if perhaps you'd look into including 'historical spacecraft simulators' or something similar that would allow the students of Arthur C Clarke to participate in such historical events as Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the Space Shuttle, etc. A group of Orbiter developers I'm involved in went to great deal to recreate Apollo down to the checklist and it's proven to be a very interesting and educational experience.
Wish you luck on the development, I'll be keeping up with you guys!
I'm pretty sure that we've just passed the answer to life, the universe and everything... one thousand times over.
Carl, you did it! :)
Think I just kicked this over the 40k mark! I love everything space so the fact I can explore and be a part of the space council? Sounds amazing. Really excited to see how this turns out.
I must say im very excited about this project, never thought a game like this would come out but here we are!
Where is my game at?!?!?! Just kidding. Take your time - do it right! Don't be like EA. Don't be like EA. Don't be like EA.
Well well - Hi James and and Adam and Thank-you. Adam, yes it all worked out.
James, please post our badge on your page and thanks! http://imgur.com/2qNGd
My email is khal AT projectwhitecard.com . There are definitely synergies to explore about Mars and our two groups - actively! There's a conference soon, too, right? TTYS
Congrats, what a great project. I am the webmaster for the Mars Society and we would be interested in helping out - jburk@marssociety.org
Congratulations, I really liked this project the last time you had it on here but bad me I never backed it then. Looks like you may hit that goal of $50,000 anyway! Can't wait for this to come out. You've done an amazing job of generating interest this time around.
Awesome this made it past the goal! Now for the hard part, waiting:)
Thanks so much Jack. :)
Congrats on reaching your goal, glad I could help
Thank-you Melody!
Hey Khal and the gang at Project Whitecard - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Looks like this project is a go - can't wait to see the final product. WOOT, WOOT!!!!
Thanks Armoredwaffle. Cheers to you too. :)
I joined Kickstart to specifically fund this MMO, and I'm so excited that you guys reached your goal! Congrats
Thanks Ben, it is very exciting, and thank-you for the support. =D
Khal - thanks for the clarification, and a relief! It makes perfect sense - a public agency can't be confused as directly soliciting public funds. In any case, congrats! STEM outreach has scored big with the successful Kickstart of this project! Can't wait!
A little musical piece to enjoy, via super fan Jacob:
http://www.youtube.com/watch…
"The game itself will be set in 2035, in the Arthur C. Clarke Astronaut Academy Station, which the Kickstarter page describes as “Hogwarts in space.” Players will be able to “uncover secrets about a threat to civilization as we know it, and build you and your team a high-tech inventory of space gear including a home base, somewhere out there.” PvE and team-based PvP play are promised. Check out a video here.
It’ll be available on PC, Mac, iOS and “select consoles,” and — if the “estimated delivery” dates for the pledge rewards are accurate — should land sometime around December 2012. We’re looking forward to seeing what NASA has in store."
Although the WIred Magazine article is a very complimentary piece:
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/08/nasa-mmo/
Ben your answer to that is that because this is a fundraiser, specifically on Kickstarter, and not the game itself, that we have to be careful not to use the NASA meatball in the context of public fundraising; to prevent confusion we removed the logos from appearing on the page(s), as we want people to know 100% that it is AMMB LLC raising the funds, and not NASA, even though we are not changing appearance in other contexts. For example the Wired magazine "NASA raising funds on Kickstarter." That not good. Thanks for the question.
Hey! Quick question - why were all NASA logos suddenly removed from the promotional material, t-shirts, videos, etc.? Is NASA retracting their support or direct involvement? ...just curious.
Keep working that thought Seegrey. There's something there. Hmmm. :-) Hmm (thinking).
It's a nice feeling to wake up and see we're going to Mars. Has there been thought to including tech like SETI@home, so that the mere opening of the game client will provide a slow but steady assistance to the real space programs? There's a number of projects in the cloud computing area that would fit in with the game well.
More importantly, I suppose, who's down for gokart racing on Pluto?
You did indeed. Congrats and thanks! Woot, we say: "WOOT." :-)
I sent it over the goal mark! Looks like this baby is a go.
Woohooo! Congrats Team.
Congrats everyone on the first milestone!
Oh my Gosh... ! Yes two F5 keys coming right up.. oh wait I used them all. =)
($53 to go).
You also own me a new F5 key, sir.
That said, thank you for your project! NASA and its many projects gave me a dream when I was young. Do you know what the cost of a dream is in a third-world country? It's high. It's difficult to find. And still I shall never forget being excited about watching shuttle launches on TV and subscribing to NASA newsletters on our painfully slow school internet. While I no longer follow my space dreams, the science part of it stays, and the mere idea that there is something I can do to help people continue giving that dream to other people is astounding. It's the stars. It's something we should never, ever give up on.
And now I should end my sappy purple prose while we're ahead. :) It's awesome to see you're so close to the goal in so few days! Nevertheless, I'll keep on promoting this to my friends. It's an awesome project, I know we would all be happy playing it when it comes out, and so will the kids.
FHatzor: it's exciting! :)
Khal you owe me a new f5 key.
Hi Ben - please send me email, because we want to engage UND right away, thanks.
Thanks Rebecca, for the thoughtful words, they mean very much to us on the team and to me.
We're always learning, even out of school! It never stops.
-Khal
This project is amazing, and you are amazing for doing it. I only found out about this less than an hour ago, but I am a supporter, and I am going to promote this. Thank you for this project, thank you so very much. I've always felt that space was a worthwhile endeavor, and the mere idea of this MMO is enough to make me support it as much as my broke student self can.
So, in other words, thank you for being awesome, may you and this project continue to thrive and inspire.
Hey Khal! I'm currently a research scientist at a private human spaceflight consulting firm, a space studies grad student at UND, and I even beta-tested Star Wars Galaxies back in the day; I really dig the project and would love to be involved in any useful capacity - beta/content/etc. Best of luck!
Hi Mindy, no problem. The scenario works like this. You would get the 'key,' download and install the software, and then create a player profile. A player's personal profile is considered to be one licensed player, and considered to be property. So "Astro-Mindy," for example would be how you log in, with a password. If someone came to the computer they could log on as you, or as themselves (but they would need an account, too).
Awesome! If you don't mind me asking, I have no idea how student keys work; are they set so that any student can use them, or are they tied to a specific one?