A downloadable game for Windows and macOS

Planet B, Epic MegaJam 2023

Play as Maddie with her robot sidekick Simon on their expedition deep into an ancient ruin, only to find out the future of humanity has been long engraved in the past.

WARNING!
This is a game made with Unreal Engine 5.3 over 7 days for the Epic MegaJam 2023. It is known to contain bugs where dialogue skips through and players are blocked from proceeding to next area.


Theme: Antiquated Future

History Rhymes. What the future holds are often antiquated in the sense that it have been foretold, repeated, but forgotten. Will we ever learn from history and survive tomorrow?


How To Play

  • Click the destination to move your character
  • Click on interactible to bring up the available action for the interactible
  • Click on the item icon on the bottom left of screen to select the available action for the inventory item


The World

In the year 2030, humanity experienced rapid technological advancement. What had once seemed magical became reality, and while it appeared to be a great time to live, the democratization of technology actually widened the wealth gap significantly, leaving many who couldn't adapt quickly enough behind.

Among the middle class, there was a colorful mix of technology. People couldn't afford to fully automate their homes yet, but you'd see a few advanced gadgets here and there among the regular appliances.

It was an exciting time for people of all ages, and nobody questioned the technology because it brought so many benefits in so little time. People were left behind so rapidly that they couldn't afford to investigate its origins.

Only the lower class, bitter and marginalized, could foresee a dark history behind these technologies. 


Characters

Maddie

Maddie (short for Madison) is a young and brilliant archaeology field researcher for all the wrong reasons. She is headstrong, possesses a lust for adventure, and is eager to prove herself among her colleagues. Not that she spends much time socializing, though; she prefers the solitude of being far away from society.

Growing up as the only child raised by her father, Maddie's father did an admirable job, which ironically made her feel guilty for being a burden. She learned to be independent at an early age, and while she cares deeply for her father, she tends to keep her distance, hoping he can now live a worry-free life as she became an adult.

Managing ego in the academic field comes naturally to her, but she has actively avoided commercial work. The harsh realities of life, witnessed through her father's struggles to make ends meet, make her apprehensive about it. So, she's content to rely on academic funding for as long as possible, leading a humble life.

However, she will soon discover that there is no escaping society, that all our actions are interconnected, and that we  must all bear the consequences.

Simon

Maddie's dad doesn't really know what to do with his daughter as he felt that he was being pushed away. There's always been an itch since Maddie went independent. And what he did was to save up for a modern robot Simon for his daughter. Installed with the advanced past recreation projection, it is hard for Maddie to refuse a gift so far beyond her financial means, even if it has all the bad Dad humour installed.

Simon, the latest in utility bot technology, featured an anti-gravitational propulsion system and a miniaturized nuclear power core, which supported an array of tools. Currently installed is the past recreation projection, allowing it to scan and rearrange particles and molecules to recreate scenes from the past. These recreations were fully interactive and remained intact as long as Simon focused its power on them. However, any items taken from these recreations would quickly become unstable and decay. This technology had been certified as safe by the corporation, and Simon was programmed to refuse any requests to manipulate molecules in living organisms.

Not that Simon is spying for Maddie's father, but with his personality hand-picked, Simon is somewhat protective, and always advise against risk. He is, however, an absolute loyal partner to Maddie, and will reluctantly go into danger on her behalf. And that means many repairs and modification done by Maddie herself to keep Simon running.


World Timeline (Spoiler)

  • In the year 2140, humanity abandoned Planet A and arrived at Planet B, which is Earth as we know it today. A small group of survivors concealed a significant portion of history and restarted society at the beginning of the medieval era, hoping that humanity would find a better path forward. 
  • Advanced technology was buried and disguised behind medieval-style structures so that they could continue to use advanced tech to monitor the growth of civilization. The population released from the ark grew up only know of the medieval period.
  • The keepers of this technology eventually passed away, believing that humanity was on the right path. 
  • However, in 2030, some of the 2140-era technology was unearthed by private corporations, which commercialized the tech and sold it as their own inventions. Humanity enjoyed a century of technological advancement in a short period of time.
  • Independent researcher, our hero Maddie, discovered 2140-era tech within medieval structures.


Credits

Used Assets



More information

Download

Download
planetb-win.zip 6.1 GB
Version 1 Sep 22, 2023
Download
planetb-osx.zip 5.8 GB
Version 2 Apr 19, 2024

Install instructions

This is a game made with Unreal Engine 5.3 over 7 days for the Epic MegaJam 2023. It is known to contain bugs where dialogue skips through and players are blocked from proceeding to next area.

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