Tackle Space Exploration with Potatoes in Spaceplan

The game is advertised as “an experimental piece of interaction based partly on a total misunderstanding of Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time.’” The idea behind the game is that you’ve awakened on your space ship orbiting a planet of some sort. You have no idea where you are, though, and your ship’s systems are malfunctioning.

Spaceplan was developed by Jake Holland, and is being produced by Devolver Digital. It’s narrative driven, as evidenced by a “Fact Holder” and “Word Outputter” on the right of the screen. You’ll also see a list of things waiting for you to invent, which will improve how well you perform in the game without clicking.

To regain your power and other systems, you begin by rapidly clicking or tapping on your “KinetiGen,” which generates energy. Then you can use your energy to repair solar cells for a bit of energy production even when you aren’t clicking. After that, you can grow potatoes for more power production. As you progress, you get to build more interesting things that will help you find out where you are and also generate the ever-necessary electricity to keep everything up and running.

There are a total of 15 starchy items you can unlock, create, and then blast into space to explore. You will reveal the secrets of five different planets, scattered in two distinct realities. The soundtrack for the game, available in the trailer but not the web app, is very space-sounding, an electronic mix that really sets the mood for the game. Sound effects are just as compelling.

You can check out the web version of the game to play it now, or wait until it releases to your iOS device. If you’ve just got to start exploring right away, go visit the Spaceplan web game, which is a working prototype of what’s coming in May. If you just want to watch the trailer, check it out below. I’m not usually into “clicker” games the way my youngest is, but this one has actually grabbed my attention.