Fact Sheet
Developer
MBARI, FathomNet
Moss Landing, California
&ranj Serious Games
Rotterdam, Netherlands
FathomVerse 1.0 Release Date
May 1, 2024
FathomVerse 2.0 Release Date
March 26, 2025
Website
fathomverse.game
Description
FathomVerse is a free mobile game that invites everyone with a smartphone or tablet to contribute to science. By playing blissfully productive mini-games and interacting with stunning ocean imagery, gamers partner with researchers to identify ocean animals and train AI. Play FathomVerse to help scientists discover all life in the ocean.
Features
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Play minigames to view imagery collected by researchers and discover ocean animals.
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Hone your skills and learn how to identify more than 50 groups of ocean animals.
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Save and share your favorite images, and curate a personal gallery.
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Participate in quests and earn badges for your gameplay contributions.
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Unlock awards to expand your knowledge of ocean animals and how gameplay is used for improving AI.
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Cycle through the Ocean Radio channels to shift the FathomVerse soundscape as you play.
Background
FathomVerse seeks to transform ocean exploration by engaging a community of passionate ocean enthusiasts to work alongside researchers. Scientists estimate that anywhere from 30-60% of life in the ocean is still unknown to science. Filling that knowledge gap is vital if we want to understand how all ocean ecosystems are being impacted by climate change. With advances in imaging and AI technology, we can capture images of the ocean and quickly analyze them. However, AI needs people to continuously train and verify the models. That's where FathomVerse comes in.
FathomNet teamed up with game design experts, including &ranj Serious Games and Internet of Elephants to develop a unique mobile game that allows anyone with a smartphone or tablet to take part in ocean exploration and assist the whole ocean community in the quest to understand marine ecosystems.
Images and Logos
Splash Screen
Logos
Previews
FathomVerse Credits
We’d like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their contributions to FathomVerse:
MBARI
Monterey Bay Aquarium
&ranj Serious Games
Internet of Elephants
Barderry Applied Research LLC
Dingo Sky LLC
National Science Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation
Animal icons: Kurtis Wothe and other Phylopic contributors*
Animated logos: Kurtis Wothe
Audio channels: Hydrophone - John Ryan, MBARI, Ocean Soundscape Team; Into the Deep - Monterey Bay Aquarium, Into the Deep / En lo Profundo Exhibit
Award images and video clips: Jaida Elcock, MBARI’s Video Lab, 32K Productions
Mission briefing images: MBARI’s Video Lab, NOAA-OER
Badge images: Schmidt Ocean Institute, NOAA-OER
Labeled data: FathomNet Database contributors
Unlabeled data: MBARI, NOAA-OER, Ocean Networks Canada, Ocean Exploration Trust, Ocean Observatories Initiative, Schmidt Ocean Institute
Beta testers: Eric Albert, Laura Anderson, Kelsey Archer Barnhill, Madi Baird, Megan Barry, Sean W Brown, Allen Cheng, Riley Choi, Jack Dalton, Christina Des Rochers, Caroline Edmonds, Gisselle Farfán-Magaña, Katherine Farfán-Magaña, Tennyson Filcek, Davina Gifford, Alexander Graber, Micaela Johnson, Pat Lee, Caitlyn Left, Dennis Lieu, Alex Magaña, Vikram Mohanty, Christopher Nolan, Golnoush Pak, Lydia Rysavy, Heather Scott, Zuriel Silva, Aeryn Siu Lee, Gail Siu Lee, James Siu Lee, Josiah Terpstra, Ruben Van Pinxteren, Georgia Watson, Leander Weihs, Dane Whicker, Belinda Zhao
We are grateful for the contributions provided by the Science, Engineering, and Operations groups that work in partnership at various institutions for generating the imagery shown in FathomVerse.
FathomVerse is a contribution of MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab and the FathomNet Program.
*Lauren Sumner-Rooney, Guillaume Dera, Felix Vaux, Kanchi Nanjo, Christoph Schomburg, Mario Quevedo, Levi Simons, T Michael Keesey, Nathan Hermann, Steven Haddock, JR Winnikoff, Becky Barnes, Prespa Research Group, AH Baldwin, Ferran Sayol, Séverine Martini, Ludwik Gasiorowski