Rogue Rovers

Rogue Rovers was created by Team AXS Studios for ROM Game Jam 2015

Gather for -- ERROR -- yourself

In the search for evidence of water on Mars, time is of the essence. Piloting Mars rovers gone rogue, you’ll race against the clock (or compete against your friends) to break open boulders to collect the most important geological specimens and power boosts to use on your rover or against your opponents. Watch out for that astronaut!

The Facts Behind the Game

The gameplay, and the general look of the Rovers themselves, was inspired by the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which saw the Curiosity rover land on the surface of Mars back in 2012. Still going strong today, Curiosity landed inside the large Gale crater near Mars’ equator, which was a site that NASA believed would be a good place to carry out Curiosity’s mission: to look for signs of water and signs of life (both past or present), and to assess the climate and geology of Mars.

In Rogue Rovers, as in real life, evidence of sedimentary rocks and mineral salts that can only form in the presence of water are extremely valuable for understanding the Red Planet's watery past.

The ROM Connection

Scientists at the ROM actively study Mars, from right here on Earth! The ROM has one of the most important collections of Martian meteorite samples in the world. These are rocks which were formed on Mars, then blasted off of Mars by massive asteroid impacts. Eventually, they found their way to Earth and into the hands of scientists. The study of Martian meteorites by ROM scientists has helped solve some long standing mysteries about Mars, such as how long ago its volcanoes were still erupting, giving scientists important insight into the Red Planet’s history!

What's a Game Jam?

At a ROM Game Jam, teams of developers spend a weekend at the ROM learning from collections and curators and using those ideas to build fun games inspired by the museum.  With only two days to research and create their games, the results can be weird, wacky, and downright wonderful!