The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson told a story from the first 100 settlers on the planet Mars and followed the development of the planet and the solar system throughout a period of incredible change – while the planet was terraformed and the population itself underwent massive social and political change. This body of work has been inspirational as it uses real hard science to understand the problems and the possibilities of colonising Mars and the troubles and goals that people would have being part of such a project. These novels (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) made it possible to think of the ordinary (and extraordinary) lives of colonists, and Earth Dust Rust aims to do the same by letting players become a character on Mars during a time of early space development.

The Martian by Andy Weir and The Martian movie directed by Ridley Scott used real science to understand the problems facing character Mark Watney as he struggled to survive on the surface of Mars. The novel is an excellently researched and scientifically grounded story and it tells a realistic account of what a person would go through psychologically and emotionally to survive under these conditions.

Star Citizen by Roberts Space Industries is an incredible space simulation project with jaw-droppingly beautiful design of ships, ground vehicles, landscapes and habitats. The game was Kickstarted with $150million of donations and the company produces regular YouTube videos showing their fantastic efforts to bring the a simulate universe to your computer. Their work is an inspiration for Earth Dust Rust.

Elite Dangerous by Frontier Developments is also a visually stunning space trading and combat game. This is also a simulation of the whole Milky Way galaxy using real data from Kepler and other sources, so the position of stars are correct and the presence of real exoplanets as discovered by Kepler are present in the game. This makes Elite Dangerous a fantastic way of exploring the galaxy from your home.

Egosoft’s X Games are a on a smaller scale from the first two games above, but they are excellent simulators of economies and they are also space combat games. The ability to build your own space factories and to use resources to develop manufactured products, each being priced according to supply and demand throughout a vast universe is a major inspiration for Earth Dust Rust.

Space Quest I – VI by Sierra Online. The first Space Quest game was released in 1986 and featured a character named Roger Wilco, space janitor, who escapes from the starship Arcada, overrun by Sarien invaders, and crash lands in the deserts of the planet Kerona where he must use his limited wits to survive. These games gave players the ability to control a character and explore “strange new worlds” while meeting the people and robots who existed there.