By Adam Smith on December 10th, 2012 at 5:00 pm.
Planet Explorers, the voxel-based construction, exploration and critter-shooting game, has now reached version 0.41. It can be downloaded from Gamefront or using your torrent software of choice but it’s a fairly hefty download – 1.35 gig – so I haven’t had a chance to try it yet because my internet connection appears to have frozen as the winter chill sets in. The game is of the sandbox variety but places players on a specific, designed planet rather than a random world. The aim, at least in the early stages, is to defend a group of stranded colonists by building fortifications and learning about the flora and fauna. Two videos aim to show how exploration and construction work. They are below.
Building a gun is more exciting than building a castle but that’s possible because I’ve built loads of castles in Minecraft, but never a gun. Actually, never a castle either really. I’m more of a crap bungalow type of architect.
10/12/2012 at 17:18 webwielder says:
Waking Mars with guns? And a z-axis?
10/12/2012 at 17:20 Fiatil says:
It looks fairly floaty but fun, downloading!
10/12/2012 at 17:39 cloudnein says:
Trailer makes it look like 98.9% critter-shooting, 1% exploration, 0.1% construction. Pass.
10/12/2012 at 18:09 Martel says:
Agreed. Sad, the premise sounded great, the implementation not so much.
10/12/2012 at 18:40 lordcooper says:
It would be unheard of for a trailer to emphasise the shooty bits to a ridiculous extent.
10/12/2012 at 19:04 runwalkerb says:
The trailer here is for alpha 0.4, which shows the added contents and some improvements over previous versions. Seeing their website or their page at IndieDB may get a better idea.
11/12/2012 at 07:03 Myarin says:
The character concept art (on the IndieDB page) is spectacularly “why wasn’t this artist snapped up by a big company long ago” great, the music is rousing and beautiful and Avatar-ish, but *man*.
The voice acting is “this is my first YouTube video” horrendous, the animation in the story trailer looks like Monty Python-style cutouts, and the game engine is Revenge of Quake 1.
Ryzom vibes? Nah, not as much Ryzom as Stargate Worlds. There’s a piercing feeling that half the team has a shared vision and knows exactly what they’re doing, and the rest of them are either just starting to learn how to make games or are phoning it in.
(Or it’s one person who’s a super-talented artist/musician and might be happier if they focused on that talent above the rest. Can’t find any definitive staff listing for the game, even on the company website. :/)
10/12/2012 at 17:45 LimEJET says:
Welp, that’s me out. It used to look interesting, now it just looks like another crappy MMO. And those effects are the worst I’ve seen in quite a while (I know they’ll probably get fixed, but still).
10/12/2012 at 18:51 frightlever says:
I got a Ryzom vibe for some reason. Something about the colour palette.
10/12/2012 at 18:13 Grey Ganado says:
I can build my own weapons? Sold.
10/12/2012 at 22:27 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
I built a sword with extra blades on the blade, and blades on the pommel, and blades on the grip. It is a SWORD OF CUTTING THAT CUTS YOU TOO +1.
11/12/2012 at 08:10 P7uen says:
Anyone know if you can construct your own hats?
10/12/2012 at 18:25 sinister agent says:
I’m confused. I see what looks like a detailed and unique weapon designing system, which could be a fantastic thing for a tactical strategy game (e.g: JA2 1.13 2) or shooter, and then I see what looks like another bog standard MMO complete with the usual horrible controls and combat. What gives?
I quite like the music, mind.
Edit: Also, I should be less mean, especially considering the devs are probably reading, so I am downloading this now, to give it a fair hearing. The exploration aspect does looking promising.
11/12/2012 at 00:10 Strand says:
That music truly is splendid. Almost as good as that for the sneak-peak of Stealer last week, albeit in a completely different vein.
It definitely works in setting the mood.
10/12/2012 at 18:46 runwalkerb says:
I’ve been tracking this game since its 0.1 and I do believe it will make one of the greatest games if Pathea (the developer ) can get it done as promised. It’s much more than a polished Minecraft or a critter-shooter. It is buggy at this stage but it’s still alpha anyway. Kinda hard to believe an indi could make a game with such quality and fantastic features. Just eager to see what will come out.
10/12/2012 at 18:47 Warduke says:
Looks like a lot of dangerous animals on that planet… or maybe they just don’t like getting shot.
10/12/2012 at 22:31 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
It’s like Croydon High Street in that way.
10/12/2012 at 18:48 the.celt says:
I’ve just been fiddling with it, and it’s much closer to Minecraft than anything typical of an MMO. Some of the reactions here seem very unfounded. I know you don’t have much to go on, but… YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH TO GO ON. “It’s got blue in it? I don’t do games with blue. Count me out.”
I was at their website. It’s very, very early in development. They hope to launch a Kickstarter for it. I think it looks promising at this early stage.
10/12/2012 at 19:29 Tetracell says:
What else can you expect from internet comments? It’s a shame there isn’t a link to download the alpha or anything in the main article so naysayers could give it a shot before just outright dismissing it.
10/12/2012 at 19:53 runwalkerb says:
Agree. Here is the 0.41 download link: http://www.gamefront.com/files/files/22680500/Planet_Explorers_Alpha_0.41.rar
10/12/2012 at 19:59 the.celt says:
But, but… I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not, but: There *is* a link in the article, isn’t there? Or was that not there originally?
11/12/2012 at 01:14 Tetracell says:
It was, your sanity is secure
10/12/2012 at 20:39 The Random One says:
Well, I hate to be that guy, but I don’t understand why anyone would play a game with blue in it. Have you ever played any good games that had blue in it? Nah, that one doesn’t count. It’s not really good, it’s all hype. Plus it’s not even blue, it’s just some light blue elements to please the blue-worshiping sheeple.
10/12/2012 at 20:29 Chaz says:
So, we can design a gun that looks like a giant penis then?
10/12/2012 at 20:39 the.celt says:
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one that doesn’t.
10/12/2012 at 21:36 AngoraFish says:
touche
10/12/2012 at 22:29 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
And you can make it immense, and make it out of diamond, and paint it black. I call it “The Substitute”.
10/12/2012 at 21:24 BSG11 says:
Before building guns, how about building some backpacks and wilderness clothing? They dress like they’re going out to do some Christmas shopping, not exploring a planet.
10/12/2012 at 22:49 runwalkerb says:
You might have a different idea if you download the game and try a little.
10/12/2012 at 23:53 Jackablade says:
Can we play as the duck billed hexa-tortoise? He’s one of the neater creature designs I’ve seen in recent times.
11/12/2012 at 00:23 Aydrian says:
1.35gb is a hefty download? What? Most titles these days are 15gb+. I know it’s not finished, that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I’m trying to think about how anyone could consider this a hefty download.
11/12/2012 at 12:42 strangeloup says:
I read that as “most titties are 15gb+”, and then started on a mad little train of thought whereby games would be smaller downloads if they had better female characters and less BOOBFACE.
In conclusion, I might need a bit more sleep.
11/12/2012 at 15:54 the.celt says:
You need more *something*.
11/12/2012 at 00:26 Shooop says:
This MMO fad can’t die fast enough.
11/12/2012 at 01:06 Feferuco says:
What MMO fad? It is like people see characters swinging swords in a way that kinda resembles MMOs (and also resembles a ton of other games before and after MMOs) and BANG! It is terrible awful MMO and it certainly has everything that’s awful about MMOs.
11/12/2012 at 07:14 spleendamage says:
Why all the MMO comments? It’s not an MMO. It’s single player and also some multiplayer maps. No where did I read “massively”, which incidentally is the first “M” in MMO.
11/12/2012 at 08:01 Stevostin says:
It has to be say that while the characters are pretty bland – especially the dude – the landscape is really fine. Construction is what they should emphasize, of course, and maybe the defense thing. Although it’s cool to see believable creeps (if you can believe in a giant chicken that is) moving like animals do.
That being said, it has that german gamedesign vibe that pretend to do as if killing bugs, dinosaur and robot is as fun or even half as fun as killing people, hearing their scream of agony, their widows cry and their heir plot vengeance against you before they flee in terror when you run to them shooting and laughing like crazy.
That’s why zombie are great. They’re the best humans you can shoot in ridiculously high numbers and it’s ok, because they’re already dead, you see ?
11/12/2012 at 13:30 Ergates_Antius says:
How many cups of coffee have you had so far today?
11/12/2012 at 10:29 caddyB says:
And here I thought people on RPS comments actually knew what they were talking about. It’s not an MMO, it’s not that combat focused, it’s an Alpha build.
From the looks of it, it’ll be a very fine game if they don’t lose direction, too.
11/12/2012 at 15:27 thebigJ_A says:
Christ, *another* World War 2 game?!?
useewhatididthere?
11/12/2012 at 15:57 the.celt says:
Too much blue in it for a WW2 game. Count me out.