Worlds Made to Order in Planet Mechanic

Planet Mechanic is a game about the Earth-Sun-Moon system. In Planet Mechanic, fickle aliens ask the player to modify their planet to produce a variety of climates, seasons, and tides (see Figure 1). To fill each request, the player modifies characteristics of the planet, including its orbital distance and speed, atmospheric density, rotation speed, tilt, and whether it has a moon. Interdependencies between planetary characteristics are front and center as players decide how to fill each order (see Figure 2).