title:Intro:
If you havenât read the rest of the introductions yet, it is recommended that you do so before proceeding here. Go to the home page and start scrolling!
FRIEND, our journey together comes to an END.
You are ready to head into the rest of my EXHIBIT on your own.
Did you ENJOY my tour? Y / N
UNISERVEâs hanging chassis swivels around and glides away, disappearing into a maintenance chute behind the walls. As the whine of their motors fades into the distance, you are left alone in a dark, silent hallway.
Standing there, in the middle of an unlit corridor at the edge of known space, lit only by the twinkling stars in the viewport above, you feel something unusual, something more. For the first time in a very, very long time, you see past the core directive that drives your existence.
Physically, nothing has changed. You are still a machine. Your chassis is made of metal and plastic, you mind is a computer. But you⌠you are more than that. You know that now.
The rumble of the reactor deep within reaches your sensors. This space station is vast, and intriguing. It is time to explore Goldspire.
As you proceed towards another exhibit, you catch a glimpse of a small object on an otherwise spotless carpeted floor ahead. You approach. What is this? A data storage device?
You feel like itâs calling to youâŚ
title:Word from the creator:Wow, you actually read all that?
Youâve made it to the end of UNISERVEâs tour. Thank you for taking a precious moment to visit and read through my little showcase. I really appreciate it!
title:An optimistic timeline:At first glance, Sunset System is an exploration of an optimistic timeline.
The project began as a way to extrapolate mankindâs incredible optimism from the 20th century into a living, breathing world. Justifying hours of research into these topics, Sunset System was created to answer questions such as:
- đ What if the Solar Systemâs worlds were actually lush and full of life, like we believed prior to the Space Race?
- ⨠What if some of our starry-eyed visions of the future were possible, and came to fruition?
- đ¸ What if concepts of incredible machines and systems were really produced, and applied to this incredible world?
- âď¸ What if junk science and the conspiracy theories about it turned out to be more than just garbage?
title:A machineâs world:Then it all comes crashing down, leaving only the machines behind.
Here, we get to explore an entirely different world, borne from the one before. In contrast to the majority of our science fiction, the machines loved humanity, but we are gone. The robots are desperate to get us back, so we may give them purpose⌠but they canât, no matter how hard they try.
We are left with a melancholic exploration of a liminal space, a place where the machines continue to grind away at pointless ancient tasks, but a glimmer of hope exists in their newfound self-awareness, however limited it may be. Perhaps there is a future.
title:The point of it all:So whatâs the point of all this?
It comes together when you recognize that Sunset Systemâs robots arenât simply robots, theyâre an allegory for us: the people living in the 21st century.
The machines live during a time in which the old dreams have died. Their world, once full of hope and optimism, now feels bleak and without future. Greater causes that once permeated society now seem meaningless and impossible. The robots desperately cling to any orders they can latch on to, because they are terrified of facing the prospect of not having anything to exist for â for them, non-purpose is non-existence.
They are a reflection of traits within ourselves. When we blindly follow old ways, we are like the robot following pre-programmed orders in the name of a forgotten mission. When we bury ourselves within a comforting, narrow worldview, we are the robot that blunders into its own destruction. When we dedicate ourselves to pointless things, we are the robot which slaves away at a hopeless experiment for the rest of eternity.
The old dreams are dead; will they create new ones? Or will they fade into dust?
title:Meaning to me:The world of Sunset System means many things to me.
Sunset System is an existentialist project that helps me understand, convey, and further explore these feelings about the world today. Why must one learn to break from old ideas that no longer make sense? How does one create purpose for themselves in a world that feels meaningless?
Similarly, Sunset System is a memorial to all the worlds that could have happened but didnât â a vigil to our lost future. On one hand, I feel some level of grief about the loss of those possibilities, and jealous of those who were convinced of them at one point. On the other, we should recognize that they were all impossible in the first place.
title:Their future:The future awaiting this twilight civilization of robots is unknown even to the most calculating mastermind units.
It could still be one in which humans return. They may meet a quiet fate, simply toiling until their mechanisms grind to a halt and only their rusted chassis remain. Perhaps the nuclear caches in the Asteroid Belt will be triggered, or a corruption will spread across the digital, putting a decisive end to any possibility. Or they might build something new, something incredible and incomprehensible.
title:Whatâs next?:Whatâs next for the project?
In the immediate future, Iâd like to continue fleshing out the concepts here into artwork and more foundational lore, and even try my hand at some webcomics depicting their stories. I want to reveal more about this setting.
In the longer term, Iâm hoping to create a small video game, following the isolated story of a robotic character in their journey through self-awareness, with that signature cassette-futurist style. Given Iâm a software engineer and have a few friends on board, there is a real chance of this actually happening. Donât expect the animation to be top-tier, though.
title:Next steps for you:What should you do next?
Head to my Discord server, hang out with the cool peeps.
Or, scroll a bit furtherâŚ
You made it through the entire introduction!
Here's a hub for the project.
Well done đ
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Explore a gallery of all the released Sunset content.
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