NASA, despite getting a cut in funding, is still buzzing about. They launched a Facebook game titled Space Race Blastoff which is a multiplayer game. The social network continues to be a hotbed of interaction and social gaming is a fast growing market.
Zynga who recently had an IPO, is a Multi-Billion dollar company that solely makes social games from the likes of Farmville, Mafia Wars, Words With Friends, and soon to be available for everyone, Bingo . Millions upon Millions of people play games on Facebook every single month so it’s a great place to develop something for.
You can play the game in both solo and multiplayer mode and how it works is very simple. When you’re in the game, you have to choose an avatar and answer 10 multiple choice questions. Get the answer correct and you earn 100 points. The play who answers first gets a 20 point bonus. The winner goes to a bonus round and answers an extra question for more points.
If you answer the bonus question correctly, you’ll earn a virtual badge. All the points you earn can be redeemed for more badges. As with any multiplayer game, there’s leaderboards to track your progress compared to others. All in all, a rather simple game.
“Space Race Blastoff was developed by Scott Hanger, Todd Powell and Jamie Noguchi of NASA’s Internet Services Group in the Office of Communications. NASA says it chose to make the game available through Facebook “to take advantage of the social media site’s large audience and enable players to compete against others.”
“Space Race Blastoff opens NASA’s history and research to a wide new audience of people accustomed to using social media,” David Weaver, NASA’s associate administrator for communications, said in a statement. “Space experts and novices will learn new things about how exploration continues to impact our world.”
What do you think about NASA venturing into Facebook games?
