What is Project Planet Postmoderna?
1 World, 2 continents, 9 historical sub-worlds and space. Explore to your heart’s content. This in principal is a virtual world within a virtual world!
Project Planet Postmoderna is a free-to-play sci-fi game and organic virtual world designed with an extensible tree of sub-worlds based on historical content married with historical fiction and sub-plots that could be used to learn about history in an entertaining way. These integrated educational components (8-9 sub-worlds/instances) are based on historical fact, myth and lore. Overall planet development and growth is based on the activities of the overall player base. If more players farm, then agriculture develops; if more build objects and equipment, engineering develops.
The world utilizes an integrated “real cash economy model” in which, everything can be bought and sold for real money. Players can deposit into their accounts and withdraw after they sell goods for value within the world.
It is set against the backdrop of exploration, discovery and colonization of a newly discovered alien planet–the first habitable one since long-distance space exploration was made possible and feasible. The fate of the colony is tied directly to both the efforts of individual users as well as the community as a whole.
The world of Planet Postmoderna is a fictitious sci-fi based world that was created by a super race to lure humankind there for the next step in their evolution. This sci-fi story line will take players from planetary settlement to exploration and discovery of the self-contained instanced sub-worlds that is an important part of the gameplay mechanic. Each of these sub-worlds has their own historical fiction sub-plot. An alien species, The Zilthay, are “planet builders” and designed the planet and these virtual sub-worlds–representations of Earth civilizations and times in our human history–in order for man to learn from that history and use the preserved DNA of long lost species in order to rebuild what has been lost to man. If mankind is unsuccessful in accomplishing several needed feats, its own future is uncertain.
Players will be part of the settlement and development of this new world and eek out a life in the New Old West of this newly discovered Earth-like planet with recycled technology and what is sparingly delivered by the governing corporation, New Worlds Corporation (NWC). NWC former CEO and pilot of The Black Venture, discovered the planet by pure chance on he and his crew’s way to one NWC’s mining outposts. The planet was seen on the other side of a “space tear,” a visible rip in space.
Settlement continues on the planet but technology is greatly hampered by the energy-draining effects of the planet’s native minerals, crystals that absorb energy by day and emit them at night or during violent discharge storms. Until the Zilthay Technology is later unlocked through this immersive and ever-developing story line, players are hampered by the challenges of a new lifestyle, on a planet billions of light years from Earth.
This virtual world/MMORPG-styled Sci-fi Game is designed with an integrated realistic economic model in which players can build, buy, sell and trade virtual goods for real-world equivalent currency. The other planet-side sub-worlds (virtual worlds within a virtual world) are based on various times and civilizations from Earth’s history. The first one associated with the demo is based on the Mayan/Aztec eras.
We believe the landscape of entertainment is ever changing. If we can create a world that does both–entertain and educate, it will have that much more application and be that much more engaging.
Planet Postmoderna plans to leverage the technology and platform of an existing online game, Entropia Universe, under Mindark’s (the makers of Entropia) Planet Partner Program. We will merely be producing an additional new planet complete with a new storyline and assets into an already successful model, Entropia Universe. By doing this we will save time and money in launching this world.
Entropia Universe Background
Entropia Universe was launched in January 2003 by Mindark PE AB. and has grown to more than 950,000 registered accounts from over 200 countries. It is the only virtual universe with a true Real Cash Economy (RCE).
The currency, Project Entropia Dollars (PED), has a fixed exchange rate of 10:1 with the U.S. Dollar. The business model is unique as it is based on micropayments, meaning that the client software is free to download from the Internet, and there are no monthly subscription fees, thus Entropia Universe provides a way for new players to immediately start exploring without having to deposit money. Virtual funds acquired in Entropia Universe can easily be exchanged and then withdrawn into real‐world funds.
This business model has been very successful. The 2010 turnover of Entropia Universe topped $422,000,000 U.S. This business model has been very successful. The 2010 turnover of Entropia Universe topped $422,000,000 U.S. These are the transactions/purchases that took place between and by players.
For more information, visit http://www.entropiauniverse.com
Example of Player Economic Benefit: Player owns $100,000 PED (In-game credits) of property and surrenders all for the converted value (10:1) of $10,000US. This property can come in all forms: Land, Buildings, Equipment, Furniture, Clothing, Weapons, Armor, etc.
In 2010 a Virtual Space Station was sold for $330,000 US.
We Need Funding Now!
We are at the point of needing funding in order to continue production. Once we show successful funding, we can present our final proposal to Mindark. At that point, the contract is bound and we begin training and production with a projected launch date of 12 – 18 months. We cannot proceed until we show that we are funded.
IMPORTANT!!! It is imperative to understand that by building within Entropia Universe we are leveraging the technology and game platform. We are not at its mercy. Our success is not dependent on Entropia being successful. It is the other way around. Entropia is successful if the Partner Planets are successful and they are already successful. Planet Postmoderna will be successful on its own merits.
Potential savings from building within Entropia Universe
There is a huge advantage to developing within Entropia Universe versus building a standalone game.
The following are things we will not have to spend money on to develop:
- Game Platform and Systems
- Player Accounting
- Game Engine
- Economic Engine
This translates into potentially more than $6 million saved in development costs and years less in time. Mindark invested much more than $6 million just to build Entropia. These are things we won’t have to develop if we leverage the game.
Who is behind Project Planet Postmoderna?
A talented Project Planet Postmoderna team of volunteers has been involved in this pre-production since early 2008. They come from all over the world and all walks of life with experiences and skill sets that range from 3D modeling and animation, writing, film, programming and coding to marketing and sales. The team is crafting each piece of Planet Postmoderna from scratch for the prototype. They drive the project in a way that just being part of it is an educational experience.
Why is called Planet Postmoderna?
According to French Sociologist, Jean Baudrillard, in a postmodern society there are no originals, only copies–or what he calls “simulacra.” You might think, for example, about painting or sculpture, where there is an original work (by Van Gogh, for instance), and there might also be thousands of copies, but the original is the one with the highest value (particularly monetary value). Contrast that with CDs, DVDs, or music recordings, where there is no “original,” as in painting–no recording that is hung on a wall, or kept in a vault; rather, there are only copies, by the millions, that are all the same, and all sold for (approximately) the same amount of money. Another version of Baudrillard’s “simulacrum” would be the concept of virtual reality, a reality created by simulation, for which there is no original. This is particularly evident in computer games/simulations–think of Sim City, Sim Ant, etc.
The planet is comprised of many instanced representations of times in Earth’s History. Virtual Worlds within a Virtual World. The irony in the story is that this world of many worlds is discovered by a corporation that built its entire fortune on the development of virtual worlds.
Why become as settler on Planet Postmoderna?
Project Planet Postmoderna is an educational and virtual world that combines a sci-fi futuristic and old west environment with portals to instanced worlds based on historical fact, myth and folklore. The sci-fi story and the base virtual world create the platform for the educational portals to launch users on amazing journeys testing both their skills and knowledge. It is through these journeys that users from around the world can collaborate and utilise what they learn through their virtual experiences. The project components work in unison to provide an interactive and immersive environment that encompasses and engages the user community. In addition, the entire economy is based on a Real Cash Economy model and players have the opportunity to build businesses within this virtual world.
Why get involved in Project Planet Postmoderna?
We are building it in a way to encourage learning about 3D Design, Animation and Engineering and History. We hope being part of the project will encourage team members to pursue careers in Film, Architecture, Engineering and related industries. We also hope that the instances (such as the Aztec and Mayan Temple Q) will encourage players to want to learn more about the myth and historical facts that surround and make up the backgrounds of the various temples. We will do this through partnerships with organizations like Autodesk, Pixologic and Blender and various universities and tour and travel operators as well as technology providers.
Students and hobbyists will be able to learn about the design medium through the community, the project and through Planet Postmoderna University, an planned inworld school for learning 3D Design which, is an area of the project in concept.
A key element that makes Planet Postmoderna unique is the “organic project dynamic.” Players from the start will have a direct influence on the advancement of the planet. Think in terms of a real world, uncharted and wild. New colonists are truly “settlers.” Their individual and combined efforts at building their skills through quests and independent effort directly contribute to a planetary point pool. This pool is the basis for formula that advances the technology and development of the planet. Postmoderna will be just like a real world.
If you are an investor and would like to help us make this project happen, just email us at investors@planet-postmoderna.com. We would love to have you involved in this project.
Expanded Info
Players will initially arrive on the planet at the first POI Base Camp via pods. This initial POI is where the storyline’s, New World Corporation, first survey team arrived and set up their camp and base of operations. From Base Camp, players will be able to purchase any equipment they need and/or apply for a job (with either players or NPCs) in order to begin the process of earning income in order to to be able to get their start. We want to nurture a working and learning culture on Postmoderna. Players working for other players and possibly NPCs and setting out to hunt or mine or engage in learning quests is what we want each player to do in order to begin their new life as a settler on Planet Postmoderna.
As the virtual world and the economy develops, players will see the world technologies evolve. The combined efforts of all the players will cause the various technology trees to grow and expand, making new technologies and models available.
Players will be open to explore areas such as the Zilthai Temple Q (nearest instance POI) and beyond (based on their skill level). Temple Q (named after the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl) is the gateway to the first Instanced world. This “world within Postmoderna” is based on Aztec and Mayan history, architecture, culture and myth. It creates not only an exciting side area for players to explore but is also an educational experience in which the completion of learning quests may possibly be applied as learning credit at participating schools. The latter example would incorporate tests in order to get school credit. The participating schools will be able to use these worlds as an additional tool for teaching their classes a subject that most students are not always excited about, History.
Throughout the available landscape will be everything that each player will need and use to farm resources and manufacture items that will be used to build this world into a thriving community within the virtual universe. Hard work, knowledge of the planet and proper skilling and cooperation among players will be a must. Existing technologies from Earth will take awhile for New Worlds Corporation to deliver supplies and machinery to the planet in order to make life any easier. In addition, most offworld technologies are eventually rendered useless on Postmoderna because of the damping effects of the planets mysterious minerals. Initial colonists will indeed need to work hard on this planet.
The payoff for this work by early settlers will be great as they forge their new lives on this brave new world and what players see in the initial phases of the world will be different from what they see a year or two after launch. Players will have much incentive to work together and toward advancing the planet. As time goes on the use of the proper use of skills will advance the planet’s technology base and make mid-level and higher-level blueprints available to further advance the world. Lost technologies (native blueprints) can be looted or uncovered at POIs such as the Zilthai Temple, Crystal Canyon and the POIs in the unexplored areas and other world Instances beyond (eg the Aztec and Mayan Instance). There will be much to do, learn and experience for everyone.