Pluto Clears the Neighborhood

2021 Epic MegaJam Submission

All 3D assets and Effects were made prior to the game jam. Most assets came from the Unreal Marketplace or from Turbosquid. All audio provided by Soundly. 2D UI elements were made in Photoshop.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) determines if something is a planet based on three criteria.

The three criteria of the IAU for a full-sized planet are:

1. It is in orbit around the Sun.
2. It has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape).
3. It has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

Pluto fails to meet the third criteria so it is considered a Dwarf Planet.

Pluto plans on changing that.

Pluto's orbit intersects with the Kuiper Belt on the outside of the galaxy where hundreds of thousands of icy bodies orbit the sun. Pluto isn't big enough to knock the other bodies out of orbit thus failing  criteria number three.

You'll play as Pluto as he attacks Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) to clear the neighborhood and eventually take down the boss Eris. Will Pluto finally become a planet again? Probably not...but play to kinda find out. 

The Kuiper Belt is a little too crowded and there's only enough space for one intergalactic mass body in these parts. 

Controls

Move: WASD/Left Joystick
Camera: Mouse/Right Joystick
Attack: LMB/X/Square
Shoot: RMB/Q/B/Circle/RT

source: https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/why-is-pluto-no-longer-a-planet/

Kuiper Belt Info: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/