The Planetarian by Undead Aubergine
Stranded in a planet, only you, your IA and your reliable mech. Can you survive until extraction?
Use ASDW to move and mouse to look, shoot, and craft.
Pay attention to your IA explanations!


Game made for Ludum Dare 46 (#ldj46 #ldjam). #scifi #action #shooter #survival #crafting
There ~~is~~ was a super-secret Real World™ reward for the first one finishing the game.
Tools used, for the curious:
- Engine: Game Maker Studio (the legacy version, GMS2 is still too expensive).
- Design: aggie.io for the initial brainstorm, Excel to plan the crafting tree.
- Music: Audacity, a PO-33 and a Yamaha keyboard.
- SFX: PO-33, SFXR and hitting/rubbing/throwing random stuff.
- Art: Aseprite, Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI, integrated GM editor.
| Youtube | https://undead-aubergine.itch.io/the-planetarian |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/the-planetarian |
Ratings
| Overall | 446th | 3.841⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 325th | 3.808⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1025th | 3.382⭐ | 40🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1619th | 3.474⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1274th | 3.598⭐ | 43🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 761th | 3.45⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 303th | 3.73⭐ | 39🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 524th | 3.775⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 41🗳️ | 52🗨️ |
Very cool entry good job!!!!!!
I had a bit of trouble at the start because the background is so light, my cursor was basically invisible and it was hard to find it all the time. I found stuff pretty easily but I must have spent 10 minutes looking for the antenna! At the start, too, I felt like I got lost from the start area so perhaps that could be shown in the minimap somehow?
Oh yeah and a great intro in the game!
Oh, and to get the super-secret reward you have to read every message at the end screen!
We will look forward to your next game!
However, the game is very hard on an azerty laptop because you have to use arrow keys and the trackpad at the same time.
@darkmax14, @spawnie interesting, we only tried our game in a QWERTY keyboard with a 16:9 screen, will check those out too!
With 3 hp remaining.
and I was told that 2 power modules are required.
The feelings I got...
Let's just say.. it was the most speedy crafting that planet has ever seen. But I managed to pull that off!
Thank you for the game!
All in all really enjoyed it. Great work! :slight_smile:
Greato Jobu! :smile:
When I played, I was happy to remember games like Another World, Space Quest 5, where you can feel a similar atmosphere.
I really liked the way you decided to display the theme in the survival genre. I would also like to thank you for the training - this is the best example of how to do it. I love it!
However, there is also a note that concerns the speed module of the character: at high speed, the chance of encountering opponents is very high. I think that the acceleration of the character in your game is completely unnecessary. But this is my opinion, do not pay attention))
P.S. I Found a bug-I share it))

That being said, I couldn't make it far, I suspect because of a bug? Or maybe I'm just being stupid.
The first time I was playing, I closed it at about the point where you should craft the crafting module after having gathered 2 scraps and 1 battery. After restarting, I wouldn't find any batteries or scrap anywhere. Restarted it again, same problem. Reinstalled, started - same problem. Would have loved to get further into the game 3:
Still absolutely awesome entry!
@nswift that is true, in the end the gameplay is basically running away from enemies while you craft your way out. Most of our post-jam enhancements are focused on that; we want to make it more fast-paced (with many minor threats instead of a few big threats), and more puzzle-like.
@bamboocha thanks for the idea! A spawn indicator would be a great addition to the minimap.
@leokrechmer this is the point where most users get lost; we definitely need to figure out a better recipe system. We were thinking of a book of recipes as part of your interface, and pages of the book also scattered around the map.
@krakadushka damn, classic `depth = -y` flaws.
@trexxak everytime you start the game, there is a cluster of scrap, solar panels, and one engine at the spawn, and some other (5-10) clusters scattered around the map. We were thinking of putting them in a crater with the engine in the middle and the scrap and solar panels around, like a shipwreck that felt into the ground.
@bitpokit thanks a lot! This is the first jam where we got plenty of time to take care of those little things. We usually play 48h jams, and those extra 24h definitely paid off.
Once again, thanks you all! We're already working on a post jam version, every idea for the game is welcome!
One small advice: you could have separated mining and attacking (e.g. left click and right click) because sometimes it was frustrating that I shot instead of mining the materials.
Anyways, a really cool entry, well done! :))