Lunar Quest

Development Projects, Research Projects

Lunar Quest is a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) for the PC that puts players in a large, persistent multiplayer game world set on the Earth’s moon. Players assume the role of lunar explorers, builders, and scientists who lead and guide humanity’s efforts to colonize of the moon. By themselves or with others, players explore and develop the lunar frontier. Players advance their characters by their actions and by showing their knowledge of science concepts in physics. Advancement is awarded with access to new skills, equipment and “prestige” items that allow their character to be unique in skills and appearance. The game world is a persistent and dynamic simulation of lunar ecology and economy where the computer controlled population of settlers rises and falls based on the resources available to them. Players interact with the world by discovering and exploiting it’s resources and by building new man made constructs to help advance the cause of colonization.

Lunar Quest was the first ever informal educational video game funded by The National Science Foundation as part of the national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) awareness and education enhancement movement. The innovative technology RETRO invented of having 2D Flash games pop-up within a 3D world was impressive enough for Lunar Quest to be part of Multiverse’s demo on the exhibit floor of the 2008 Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. Currently, Lunar Quest is alive and well. A follow-on grant awarded by NSF to UCF Engineering is focusing on developing an editor tool for instructors to access and create custom lesson plans in teh 3d world with 2d Flash minigames.

  • To Watch the Lunar Quest trailer, click on the image at the top of the page.

  • Play the Lunar Quest Minigames & Watch the Opening Animated 3D Cinematic

UCF RETRO Lab Lunar Quest AgBot Minigame
Lunar Quest has a suite of eight Flash minigames spanning four Physics lessons. Play all eight online!
UCF RETRO Lab Lunar Quest Guard Bot
Creating a fun and absorbing narrative is as important as game play. RETRO is very proud of Lunar Quest’s 3D animated opening cinematic.