My full idea for this project (outside of the Jam) would be similarly to the "jobs simulator" you see around where you do a number of task each day and you get the result by the next (in-game) day.

The game loop for the jam was "kinda" done in a beta-early-sense, but it only felt like a chore to do, not like a game at all. Basically, you have a limited amount of time (with a timer) to look at what the ROVER has detected on a 2.5D map and you give "task" like "move there", "scan that", etc. The map is randomized in elevations and hidden discovery. (It's a 3D map, but displayed in a isometric view.)

The stats you see in the menu are relative to what the rover can do: how fast it moves, how long, if it recharge during the night, how long it takes to scan anything, how far it can find anything, etc.

The upgrade system is kinda required to make it so that doing it more than once gets more fun. Each discovery gives some budget and that budget can be invested in upgrades which makes the next run with more potential. (In other words, it's ultimately a Rogue-Lite.)

I think one potential good way of changing the project will be to make the UI less "concentrated" and more "Tab-based". For example, it could be a fake-like PC desktop when the player interact with the software "installed" on it. This would allow additional elements like conversation with management (of the in-game company who hire the player), access to past logs, better data caching and management between the menus (instead of trying to run everything at once), etc.

Then, for the gameplay loop, instead of a 2.5D map, I would actually prefer to generate an actual "story" with the actual rover. Being able to replay the "previous" day live with something like a time lapse setup like if you watch a video, but with actual access to everything the rover actually has: a view of each camera installed, radar/satellite scans and more potential tools (like seismic charges, X-Rays, etc.).

For example, even if the tool onboard the rover doesn't find something to put a pin on, maybe the camera caught something that a player can notice. (The replay system wouldn't actually save footage data or anything, but would use a mix of seed-generated environment mixed with actual forth and backward calculations with timestamp-like nodes and events.)

I would also think of expending the shopping experience in a different direction. Instead of unlocking stuff and buying it at a fixed price, something like having multiple brands and sellers offering different prices for different quality of items.

And then, the way to "loose" a rover would be better defined. In the jam, I was looking at cheating a bit and making the battery consumption slightly above what can be regenerated. Your rover gets disconnected if less than 2 wheels and/or tracks remains or if the battery hits 0.

I think that the battery is important, but that it should only be a "game's done" if it lacks ANY rechargeable features and, as such, the durability should play a much bigger role. Component gets damages by X or Y reason and battery can break down, solar panels gets easily damaged by certain type of environment (or weather event) and wheels gets damages as it rolls around. So even if the battery is drained, that rover shouldn't be "done with", but instead should simply "stay put" while other potential source of data keep recording if applicable. (For example, you may buy and deploy a satellite and while the rover is "offline", the satellite keeps recording, or at least, you can access the satellite view of things during a limited coverage time.)

Then I would see that the rover customization and simulation would be more advanced. For example, various "scanning" and "analyzing" methods and tools (which can also break down). If you don't bring the right tool, even if you find the "hidden" resources, you can't gain anything from it.

And another thing I think I would add is multiple "life" (or rovers). For example, being able to send multiple rovers at once and when one's down, you can deploy another and so on. (There could be option on the deployed satellite to add more rovers) Only once all rovers are down that you move on onto the next "mission".

And lastly (and really important if I push this onto the serious board), dynamic planet biomes is a must. For the JAM, I limited myself to a Mars-like environment, but I would like to see something with lots of different biome: sand, water, volcanic and even vegetation. Not to an extreme like No Man Sky (with creatures and lots of generated stuff), but at least having weather, temperature-related behavior (ice, vapor) and ground-related dynamism (like water, lava and mud). Having things like snowstorms, sandstorms, rain, eruption and even tsunamis would be really cool (especially if you can move forward and backward during the event. You could see the "end" coming to the Rover before communication is cut.)

I juat realised the deadline's Monday, not Sunday, so I have a day I didn't account for, and as I've now sorted 90% of the game dialogue and triggers, I might be able to fit 80% of the scope to 60% of the quality I imagined ... Just got enemies, 2 of three planned abilities, UI, Parallax Background, Sound work, Music triggers, UI and Main Menu to do ... so not much ...