#solarpunk games

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk Game Ideas: CRPGs

Here I go on with my ideas for Indie Solarpunk games, that are not some sort of building sim or farming sim - and of course I cannot do this without mentioning CRPGs.

Mind you, despite what you might think given that over the course of the last year I have barely played anything but a certain CRPG (BG3), CRPGs are actually not really a genre of game I am super into, even though some of my favorite games are CRPGs. But as a genre in general I usually like faster paced games a lot more. It is just that when I hyperfocus on something that usually is a result of me getting obsessed with a character from it - and that is more likely to happen with a CRPG than with a metroidvania.

But how to do a Solarpunk CRPG?

The Issue:

Look, there really are not any CRPGs right now that are in any way Solarpunk. And I would argue this goes again back to the issue that people struggle with telling stories within a Solarpunk setting, as they are too set in the idea that a) Solarpunk needs to be an utopian setting (or a setting that pretends to be utopian) and b) that utopian settings will not allow for any conflict whatsoever. Additionally there is of course also the issue that most CRPGs do involve violence in form of fighting, which is what a lot of people struggle with - even though some amazing indie games like Disco Elysium have shown very well, that you can do a CRPG without a combat system.

So, let's go over some ideas for Solarpunk CRPGs.

Idea #1: Off-Brand Princess Mononoke

If you follow me for any time, you might know that to me there is no movie or piece of media that is more Solarpunk than Princess Mononoke. And thankfully we can easily build a sort of CRPG around it, either with a similar historical setting or just a fullon fantasy setting. Because remember: Solarpunk does not need to be Science Fiction!

No matter whether you go with a historical setting or just a full-on fantasy setting, the idea is fairly easy: The player character has a magical problem and they need the help of some sort of spirits. As they travel to the place of the spirit, they find out that the spirits are in a war with some group of humans, that are encroaching of the home of the spirits, because they try to access some sort of ressources, driving the spirits nearly to extinction. The player would have the choice in the end which side to join - or whether they will try to broker peace between spirits and humans.

Bonus: You'd have several choices how to play the game - but it is not a clear cut "good" and "evil", especially when the humans might have good reasons to need the ressource.

Idea #2: A SciFi Conspiracy

This idea is very much for a somewhat shorter game. Think a bit more like "Shadowrun Returns". Something that has more like 15 to 20 minutes of a runtime.

We go with the idea I brought up in one of the other ideas before: We have a Solarpunk world, that runs on mainly anarchist principles, and there are some arguments going about over some of the security mechanisms. (Anarchy can after all not properly work, if some people have weapons and others don't have - but you cannot undo the existence of weapons.) Our main character is part of some security force, that mostly are just trained to deescalate situations, but are in some cases allowed to use force.

And when a group of pro-capitalists or maybe even actual fascists start a conspiracy to take over the government, and they already have some co-conspirators in all positions. And the main characters need to navigate this with a mixture of diplomacy and violence, with the player getting a fairly good influence on how this plays out.

Idea #3: A Natural Disaster

Let me take one approach, that is inspired by one of the most Solarpunk movies, that is not by Ghibli: Misaki no Mayogai. That movie takes place after the Tohoku earthquake and is very much about mutual aid in the community.

And here is the thing: No, CRPGs do not need to have combat. So this is an idea for a CRPG without combat. We have a natural disaster of some sort. Honestly it does not matter. An earthquake, a flood, a vulcano... Can be anything. It just did destroy a lot of stuff in a big area. And the game is very much about rebuilding after this disaster, about people helping each other through mutual aid, and then building something better from it. It could feature a society going full Solarpunk if you want to (like a positive post-apocalypse) or just something getting a bit better. Build back better and such.

And if you are interested in creative Solarpunk endeavors, I would love to invite you into the Solarpunk Creatives community! :)

[aethereaii]

Prop art for Project Fish. Some things you'd typically see at a Li-Luan port.

These props are inspired by things you'd normally see at urban areas within south-asian communities.

I dug deep into what’s been inspiring me to create art for Ormauk recently, and a lot of it has been my relationship with nature as an adult, but especially more so when I was a kid. I grew up a short walk away from the beach. The town that I lived in was outside of the city, but you couldn’t really classify it as suburbia. There were empty plots of land filled with guinea grass growing taller than us kids. Unfinished foundations of houses that sat undisturbed for most of my life; overgrown and abandoned. There was a small pasture for cows behind my house where frogs croaked their hymns when rain fell and created ponds. Overhead cables and graffitied electrical transformers had a specific vibe that I just don't see where I live now.

I wanted to show my version of solarpunk, and it finally clicked with me how I can achieve this; by mixing those snapshots of my childhood with thematically designed technology that fit that south-asian culture I’m trying to emulate. A bit of what exists now and what could exist.

[dinchenix]

A cozy café, a sprouting plant market – what could be the next building in this little neighborhood? 🤔

[greenhorizonblog]

[hyperfixationfanart]

Solarpunk pearl gave me slime rancher vibes :)

Inspired by @applestruda’s Solarpunk Pearl design and the game slime rancher

Some closeup’s

[astronawta]

Game idea:

You run a train market that goes around selling items and completing quests for people at train stops that gives you items or coins to upgrade your train. There are garden compartments and machines to produce new things to sell. It's solar punk. You have to keep the train running so you can go sell your stuff. There are love interests and you can hire people to help you harvest and run the train.

[jennyjencc]

Frank Knight in solarpunk style

[solar-sunnyside-up]

🧺🎽Communal Laundry Cafe!

🌱send a solarpunk community feature you'd like to see! 🌱

[emigamescozily]

Loftia: Upcoming Cosy MMO

Loftia is an upcoming cosy, solarpunk MMO with a high focus on community and sustainability. You build a sustainable city with other players using community projects, grow crops with different techniques like hydroponics and hanging gardens, upcycling different items, use different forms of sustainable energy, design a cute apartment, rescue and adopt different pets and animals, and more coming with their kickstarter, which is currently active (link at the end).

This is one of my most anticipated games, as I love the solarpunk element!!!

It will definitely be available on PC and Max, but there is a chance it will be available for other consoles, albeit after the release. It will be paid to play.

The art style looks really cute and soft (idk if u know what i mean lmao) and i like the look of the characters.

It’s looking like it will be released in early access 2025!

[solarpunkmagazine]

Introducing City of Hope, a Utopian Worldbuilding RPG

Our editors-in-chief are working on a new role-playing game currently titled City of Hope! Here is a link to the prelaunch page on KS. More info to come!

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk Game Ideas: Visual Novels + Dating Sims

Okay, yes, I will admit: This list of games for the most part is mostly about putting out some ideas for games that are less slow and more fast paced. Because so far we had mostly very, very slow games in this. Still, I do want to make one post about VNs, because I still think that the VN genre is a super fun one, that is way to underused and undervalued. Also Romance games or Dating Sims, that sadly mostly get hated on for no reason.

The Issue:

Especially on itch.io there are a couple of Visual Novels for Solarpunk and nearly a third of the games on Steam are also tagged for it, but I feel that for a big part this once more suffers from the same issue as the Solarpunk novel writing: People struggle with coming up with a proper conflict, especially here for having the branching paths that often are a big part of VNs. And Dating Sims often are kinda a subgenre of Visual Novels (their origin is from a crossover of VNs with finance games, which is still so wild to me).

Like yesterday, just three little ideas what one could do within this mix of genres.

Idea #1: A Scientific Horror Story

My favorite subgenre of VN is the horror VN. Even though it kinda gets more attention only recently. And as some who follow me for a while know that I love the idea of Solarpunk horror. As I have said before: Horror - especially Supernatural Horror - is perfect for Solarpunk. Because ghosts, demons and monsters do not care whether or not you have an utopian world. They will still haunt you!

So, here is the idea: A group of scientists start their work in some remote location. My general idea is either some scientists for natural stuff (biodiversity?) or something historical (maybe of dead cultures). But while they are there isolated in their small group, strange things keep happening at the station. And it turns out that the area their new station is set up in is in fact haunted.

I personally would probably link the haunting to some sort of dark history. Maybe colonialism, given that Solarpunk is also very anti-colonialist and such. Though I am going to leave it at that.

Idea #2: Murder in a Solarpunk Commune

I think one of the most common genres of VNs is actually the Mystery genre. A lot of VNs are somewhere in the mystery genre. Maybe in crossover with another genre, but a lot of Mystery is there. Which kinda makes sense. And as I said before: Even in a Solarpunk world murders will happen. They will be less, but they will happen.

So, here is my idea. We have a Solarpunk future where most people live either in city or in rural communes. There are also a whole bunch of people who will just travel as a sort of futuristic bards. This is the player character. And this futuristic bard comes to a rural commune to stay for a few days - when a murder happens. And somehow everyone errupts in accusations, because the murder victim has clearly been a bit of an asshole. So now the people ask the travelling main character to be the one to solve the murder. And hence the player needs to talk to people and try to find out what is happening in this place.

Idea #3: Polyamorous Dating Sim

Lastly, let me talk Dating Sim. Admittedly, I have only played so many Dating Sims, but let me talk about the thing that annoys me about them: All of them are mononormative. There is basically no Dating Sim that is polyamorous. Sure, there are a handful indie poly dating sims, but it is pretty rare. Which, yes, I am very aware that this is also for technical limitations. But hear me out.

Just make a sweet little dating game of a person getting into a nice solarpunk setting. Maybe into a rural commune, maybe into a science center, something like that. Does not really matter, but they are gonna date. But this is a world were polyamory is pretty normalized, so some of the people you are dating are actually already in a relationship - at times with each other. And depending on the kinds of constellations you could play around with the outcomes for this.

Again, just have not seen a lot in this direction and man, I would do a lot for it!

And if you are interested in creative Solarpunk endeavors, I would love to invite you into the Solarpunk Creatives community! :)

[aethereaii]

Been busy busy working on a lot of things recently. Commission, Halloween events, just generally trying to exist; I'll share more after I get past this busy week. Or maybe I won't who knows.

For now, trying to push this episode of Encyclopedia Ormauk out before the end of month!

[nestedneons]

By future familiar

[eccentricstylist]

Took a picture outside ...

... and drew a character from it :)

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Is it just me or does Pokemon feel like solarpunk? Especially the new season Horizons or Pokemon snap for some reason.

I am very sorry to admit I have never really engaged with Pokémon so I don’t know 😭 but I hope it is and am willing to believe you! I think games can be a great avenue for solarpunk culture and expression

[loressa]

Wow, maybe there really is magic in creativity 😅

Two months ago we made Earthsong, a game about an endangered parrot called a kākāpō in New Zealand repopulating in a new place.

Here's an article I found a few weeks later, about these birds being introduced to other islands: https://www.popsci.com/environment/kakapo-parrot-new-zealand/

I know it's just a fun coincidence, but it's cool when game dev aligns with the world like this!

You can play the jam version of the game here, but be aware that it's buggy and rushed! I'm still working on the updates!

Edit: since this post is getting traction, let's consider other forms of action to help the environment!