Free Game-Pilot Your Own Rover and Explore an Alien Planet

Extrasolar is a free browser game that allows you to remotely control your own rover similar to NASA's Curiosity.
extrasolar.com...
More here at The eXoplanetary Research Institute,
www.exoresearch.com...


Much of the early gameplay involves interacting with superiors and learning to navigate menus but eventually you will have your rover exploring "Epsilon Prime".

Once you get the hang of how things work, Extrasolar really draws you into its world. Exploring the planet is truly fascinating — as you tag and identify photos in your quest for life, you'll get detailed responses back from an exobiology expert. There's also a mystery at the heart of Extrasolar — what you discover and what your superiors tell you don't always match up, so there's some sleuthing to do in addition to your more traditional goals. The secrets you uncover in the world of Extrasolar will only heighten your desire to explore. Part of the reason the game is so compelling is that it feels surprisingly authentic.

www.theverge.com...

Getting to locations takes a minimum of an hour of real time, so there's a lot of simply waiting (it's a great game to play in the background while you go about your day). But Extrasolar is also a strangely compelling. I found myself checking in many times a day to see how my rover was making progress, and you're able to capture beautiful images of the alien planet. I spent quite a bit of time scrutinizing each photo and listening to audio clues, hoping for signs of alien life.

I tried to register so I could give you all a review but got a message saying "No Available Rovers" due to the over whelming volume of applications. I probably won't try again because of time constraints but I though some of you would enjoy this.

It might be fun if they get the volume issues resolved.

reply to post by tanda7


Hella yes, I signed up.

~Morpheus

reply to post by tanda7


The Demo was fun to play with. Interesting terrain on the Demo planet, and life forms. I did see you can *purchase* a premium membership for all the extra goodies, and more of the regular ones.

Like a flight sim, for pilot training, this would be a good way to start training candidates for manning a small army of personal rovers on...say, Mars


Thanks for posting.

Des

reply to post by Destinyone

Ah, so not completely free after all. I can't even get that far into it. I don't know what I'm doing or did wrong but now I've received an email saying;

"Thank you for your interest in the Extrasolar program. Unfortunately, due to the large volume of applications we have received, all entry-tier rovers that have been deployed on the planet's surface have been assigned to drivers. As a result, for the time being, we are limiting our selections to accredited scientists with active government clearances."

WTF???

When I try to open the link now all I get is this message;

Extrasolar: No Available Rovers

Thank you for your interest in the Extrasolar rover driver pilot program. Unfortunately, due to the large volume of applications we have received, all entry-tier rovers that have been deployed on the planet’s surface have been assigned to drivers. As a result, for the time being, we are limiting our selections to accredited scientists with active government clearances.

Over the coming weeks, we will be selecting additional sites for landing capsules. We will notify you at [my email] if additional rovers become available. (Be sure to check your Spam or Promotions folders.)

In the meantime, you are invited to learn more about the eXoplanetary Research Institute (XRI) and the revolutionary Extrasolar rover driver pilot program.

Am I the only one getting this message? I've got some browser add-ons so maybe they don't like me.

I got the same message.
Guess there was a flood of joiners.

I did get an invite after all.
Interesting so far. Lots of waiting for rover to send data back.

reply to post by tanda7


How interesting they state they are limiting applications to only those with the educational background and gov't clearance they want!

Does that appear slightly off to you, it does me. I got the feeling from the demo, did you do the demo, that they are looking for *specific* people, for a *specific* purpose.

I think it's possibly a *testing* site geared towards a real life project in the future. Maybe a large company testing the waters for marketing a service to world governments for space/planet exploration.

Or a site they are having some fun playing with the potential users, to get them geared up to *pay* to play down the line.

JMOHO...

Des

I have no intention of paying to play.
It is an iteresting game and it appears to be a gamification related to SETI.
The premise is definitely worth investigating further.

reply to post by shadow watcher


Agree. It does have an air of SETI in how it's set up.

I'll follow this thread to see how other people feel about it.

Des

reply to post by shadow watcher


It is a marketing ploy of supply and demand at work here. If they only have X number of rovers for gamers to play the game with, those willing to pay to play will make their way to the front of the line quickly. If you played the demo version as I did, you saw the notices of purchasing a premium membership gets you more of the good stuff.

It reminded me of all the come ons from software companies that provide services, like cleaning malware off your computer, that offer it for free. Once you download the free version, they try like hell to sell you the subscription for the full version.

Des

Did you get an invite to play more?
The pay section appears to reduce the turn around time from 4 hours to 1 hour.
It also seems to include you in more search missions. The overall playablility looks to be the same across the board though.
I've been logging vegetation found in my rover photos and directing the rover to interesting areas.

I'll keep it in the background and check in when I get email alerts to my updates.

reply to post by shadow watcher

I just got the strangest email in my junk folder.
Someone offering a "backdoor".

Anyone else?

I followed the link and now I have my rover.

Very clever way to create intrigue I think.
The article hints at some spy stuff going on,

what you discover and what your superiors tell you don't always match up, so there's some sleuthing to do in addition to your more traditional goals.

I guess now they know I'm willing to play dirty

Great stuff. Glad to have a fellow rover pilot!

reply to post by tanda7


Yeah I got the same email, then got some really creepy one that followed that. Someone emailed me that he/she is monitoring their database and knows who was rejected and use to have a backdoor into the system and was looking for ppl that where rejected to do intel for he/she.

i don't trust the extrasolar program. lots of history there. let's just say i have good reason to look a little deeper.

Creeped me out.

I submitted 7 photos and only 4 out of five species has been identified.
Damn, can someone post if all five species were identified? o/

eta: aha, just got the message from kryptex saying the mission control doesn't reveal everything, so I assume that one specie left unidentified is well classified
this is fun o/

How dull. explore a deserty rocky landscape oh wonderful. Im rushing out to buy that game.

reply to post by AthlonSavage

Hey, at least there are other things besides rocks

AthlonSavage
How dull. explore a deserty rocky landscape oh wonderful. Im rushing out to buy that game.

yeah I get what you are saying but what makes it interesting is the political intrigue playing itself out as a sub plot.
Probably not fast paced enough for some people but if you want to play a game that you can engage for a few minutes a day then this one is not bad.
There is definitely more going on than exploring a rocky landscape. If you don't like it, cool. Different strokes ya know.

reply to post by zilebeliveunknown

I submitted 7 photos and only 4 out of five species has been identified.
Damn, can someone post if all five species were identified? o/

eta: aha, just got the message from kryptex saying the mission control doesn't reveal everything, so I assume that one specie left unidentified is well classified
this is fun o/

I found my first 5. When you get your photos you can download them in Hi Res and have a closer look. Tag anything that looks organic and use all three of your tags for each photo. Also, in one photo I got three different species tagged, they gave me a merit badge for that! (The badges are on the profile page) Now they want me to find 10 more.
They also gave me a badge for putting miles on my rover.

I still haven't payed anything and I think it's pretty fun.

I've got 6 found and a few extra things.
Mind the sand.

What if....WHAT IF....
This isnt a game, but a REAL covert mission to Epislon Eridani Prime, using reversed ET tech, disguised as a game???



I got the email from Krypter too LOL