Astronaut:Moon, Mars and Beyond, a NASA MMO, was publicly announced in 2009—but outside of that announcement, no information was forthcoming from the developers until recently. The game has resurfaced on KickStarter with a fundraising goal of $25,000. With 45 days to go, well over half of their funding ($14,687 as of publication) has been secured. Amazingly, about one-third of that total has been raised in the few hours between this writing and the original story on Wired.
“Play as an aspiring astronaut in Astronaut:Moon, Mars and Beyond™, the official NASA MMO game. Set in the year 2035, you will embark on an adventure into space, Mars, the asteroid belt, and the outer planets.You will 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.“
In addition to helping get the beta version funded, there are some incentives tied to certain donation levels. Incentives, depending on the amount donated, include being named in the credits, receiving game licenses, having licenses donated in your name to schools, holographic representation of yourself as a member of the Astronaut Academy Space Council, Letterman Jackets, and (at the $2,000 level) a Mars Duster with the NASA logo and inclusion in the game as a non-player character. So far none of the 353 donors has contributed at the $1,000 or $2,000 levels, but the project does seem to be on course to at least meet its goal.
Astronaut:Moon, Mars and Beyond is in development for the PC, XBox 360, and iOS. No release date or price has been set.
Update: As of 08/28/2011, the MMO has been fully funded on KickStarter.
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