Polaris 03 is a free puzzle adventure game released in 2017 and made with RPG Maker XP, by the french amateur team "Famas".
It is set in a science-fiction (near future) environment and mainly involves puzzle games in an adventure style.
Polaris 03 proposes two languages when launching the game: English and French (native language of the team). The game length is around a minimum of 2 hours.
Website: [1]
Story[]
"In a near future, your space shuttle crashed in the middle of Antarctica. You are unharmed but your spaceship is shattered. In order to survive, you will have to explore the depth of an odd structure, nearby the crash site..."
Gameplay[]
The game takes place in a scientific base that functions as an open world where all the different "research" areas accessible to the player are gathered around a central hub.
The player tries to obtain the electronic "pass" from each research area, and will only be able to unlock the main exit door once enough passes are obtained.
Development[]
Each research area of the game has been created by one member of the team independently (solely in charge of concept, graphics, music, programming in their own segment), working only from the general synopsis and potentially the previous segments already made by previous members.
The collaborative project started in November 2013, with any visitors on the original French forum that launched the project being invited to join.
The protagonist of Polaris 03 entering the Antarctic base
6 members of the team ended up creating their own full areas, with occasional external or team help on some details. Since one member made two areas, there are in total 7 "research" areas (aside from the main hub and other places around the base).
The project was finally achieved in its French version in November 2017, followed by an English translation by one of the team member (NanakyTim).
All the graphics and music of the game have been handmade by the team.
The programming method heavily relies on the "event" system provided in RPG Maker XP, with some last minute use of additional scripts on some later details.
Credits[]
Members of the development team include:
Roi of the Suisse - Title screen, The blizzard, Base entrance hall, Main hall, Greenhouse, Plant experiment laboratory, Game ending, music for Ventilation system
sriden - Animal experiment laboratory, dialogue and graphics of the "lore" computers, music for Title screen, some music and debugging for Assembly line, helmet animation for Base entrance hall, some dialogue for Main hall and Game ending
NanakyTim - Biochemical laboratory, English translation
Nemau - Ventilation system, some graphics for Title screen
Criket - Assembly line, some programming for The blizzard
Zam - IT server, some dialogue for Main hall, some programming for The blizzard
trotter - Introduction movie
Zeus81 - scripts and RMXP version that have been used in the project
AlexRoiEsper - some programming for Assembly line, some programming for The blizzard
Foretnor - some programming for The blizzard
Occasional external help:
Shin and Felwynn - artworks on facesets
Darxenas - main music for Assembly line
Zim and AlterEgo - some game design ideas and propositions