Browser Game Tests You To Survive Elon Musk's Hyperloop

Excited by the prospect of high-speed travel by riding in a pod through airless tubes in Elon Musk's concept of the Hyperloop? Want to give it a try now? Well, there's a 8-bit styled web browser game that has you navigating a pod with the hope of keeping it one piece. Called Break-a-Pod, it's ridiculously hard in a similar way as Flappy Bird was, but it was actually created by a team that's building a pod prototype with the hope of bringing it to SpaceX, the company behind Hyperloop.

The game has you controlling a pod's speed and stability, with a goal of "going as fast as you can without crashing or running out of power." It's simple, but it's also much harder than it looks. You only need to use the four arrow keys, with up to accelerate, down to brake, and right/left to keep it stable. Hitting the sides of the tubes too many times or losing control of the pitch sees you instantly explode.

The team behind the game, which calls themselves rLoop, after forming on Reddit, explains that they "hope that the game will act as a vehicle to make the Hyperloop concept fun and accessible to a wider audience, and inspire further research and engagement."

Break-a-Pod was also released as a way to bring attention to rLoop's IndieGoGo campaign, which has a goal of raising $66,000 to finish building their prototype pod. Should they receive enough funds, the game might also see a mobile release on iOS and Android, giving them another source of raising money for the Hyperloop project.

SpaceX has already held an open contest for pod designs. Out of hundreds of entrants, the rLoop team was selected as one of 18 finalists, and has been invited to the next stage of the competition. Scheduled to be held in California later this year, the event is supposed to see the prototypes demonstrated, but SpaceX hasn't yet finished building a section of test track.

VIA The Verge