About

The original Earthsim versions 1 & 2 were developed from 2006-2012. Users could explore the universe in 3D and interactively trigger narrated camera ‘cut scenes’ called ‘documentaries’ about the Earth and the Universe. The original Earthsim worked as an interactive 3D exploring based encyclopedia.

As so much good work went into the Earthsim project two of the original developers have decided to resurrect the project in the form of a game.

The new game will focus on the simulation aspects. we are calling it:

Earthsim – The Green Machine

Imagine a beautiful living natural landscape, one you can fly over and view from any angle. It’s up to you to keep this world alive.

Can you survive the four seasons, 5, 10, 50 and 100 years? Or go for 1000 years to prove you have what it takes to build a world that can survive?

Rain falls, and water flows over the land as rivers and is absorbed into the soil. Trees grow and lakes form and dry out. Forests grow or die away into deserts.

Aim Of The Game

Build a resilient ecosystem that the player keeps alive through various levels,

Two play modes:

  1. Play through
    1. Each level consists of a landscape that the player must master and keep alive.
      1. Each landscape has its own characteristics and challenges, starting from the simple to the more complex. 
      2. Learn the various challenges encountered and build skills as you progress through the game
  2. Build
    1. Build / Sculpt your own landscape.

Engine

The videos below show the early prototype work on the visualizer engine that we used for Earthsim 1 and 2 products. The engine was advanced for its time, but it has been 10 years and things have moved on. The limiting factor is no longer the ability to render things well, modern GPU’s are very powerful. The limit is now set by the amount of data that is required for the rendering.

Simulation

To improve on the videos below we need to build a rich simulation engine that can run real-time simulations of the surface of a world. Only then will it be possible to render these simulations without requiring huge data sets and massive level loading times.

This requires realistic water and atmospheric simulations that can feed into land surface simulations that finally feed into a simulation for the life forms on the surface of a planet.

Content

Game Content

  • Prebuilt game levels you progress through.
  • Build your own levels and share them with others.
  • Future versions:
    • View the top 100 best user created levels.
    • Team up with others to manage larger levels and even a shared planet

Learning Content

The Original Earthsim featured three types of in house generated content:

  • Encyclopedia: entries on on plants, animals and geological formations throughout the known universe,
  • News: pieces on discoveries that guide the viewer to and through those discoveries
  • Documentaries: Longer pieces that tie smaller elements together into a bigger user driven hierarchical path through the experience, similar to a guided learning game.

As the new game develops we will look into adding learning content back into the free version of Earthsim.

Concept

All Earthsim content aims to highlight the connections across all disciplines and demonstrate a unified systems view of the universe.

Community

Earthsim’s long term goal is to provide a free educational platform for everyone that has a modern computer and internet connection.