Posted by tourdemars to Entertainment at August 19, 2004 01:06 PM

When NASA foots the bill for producing a video game about colonizing Mars, there are rules. “No explosions and no dead people,” says University of Montana computer science professor Joel Henry. “Not even harmed people.” Last year, the University of Montana received a $51,000 grant for students to design, write, code and record audio for an educational video game about Mars for 12- to 18-year-olds. Henry believes he knows why NASA prohibited explosions: “I’m pretty sure that [decision] was politically motivated.” Despite the limitations on graphics, the team of nearly 30 computer science, English and media arts students completed Mars: The Journey Begins early this summer.