Now that 24 hours have passed we have our winner!
A huge thanks to @frezik@midwest.social for suggesting this awesome idea!
A survival crafting game where the tech tree goes backwards. You start in a prepper hole with working water filtration, food sources, etc, and everything is nice. Then something breaks and maybe you fix it. Something else breaks and maybe you fix that. Three things break at once, and at least one of them is going to stay broken. Have to do something more primitive and time consuming.
Eventually, enough things break that it’s no longer sustainable and you die. Game ranks you based on how long you last.
I would also like to thank every person in the comments for making their wonderful suggestions! I've read through every single one of them and all of them are really good!
You can view the game's code at https://github.com/SamLeeway/project-196, which is currently empty at the time of writing this, but every day from now I will contribute code there.
The game currently does not have any name other than "Project 196", so I will probably host a poll when we have at least something playable.
When the game would be playable? Making games ain't easy so it's pretty hard to estimate. I would say in around a week or so I should have a rough prototype if things go right.
Update
Didn't really have much time to work on this this week, so my week estimate is going out of the window. I will not estimate anymore. But I am still working on things, so game will happen. :)
In a time which measurement makes even the biggest of brains strain, humans have finally become an advanced civilization. With wave after wave of new and exciting diseases wiping out the once controlling older generation and lowering the population to sustainable levels.
Earth was back, BABY!
The whole is not perfect, to truly achieve world peace, and to be taken seriously by aliens if they're out there ignoring us, a secret sect of specialized time jumpers has begun the task of correcting historic follies and stopping specific threats that at one point in time created insurmountable damage to humanity.
Now the technology is fickle. Still in beta and the procedures can only be completed by specific humans. We've sent out best and worst. There was an 87.00047 rate of time redacted melting.
Imagine how long it takes to melt if you have your time redacted by the machine. So it requires a very unique person who is quite likely a product of inbreeding. Scientists have been trying to figure out the melting matrix, and so far successful "Librarians" have had abnormalities that are most commonly found in branchless family trees.
The job, is to go back and chronicle everything outlined in your directive packet. You'll have to find ways to stop some of histories worst people without killing them. Prevent catastrophic events, without alarming the public. Be light on your toes, good with your fists, and focused in the mind.
We know medically, this might be incredibly difficult. You can't get distracted by attractive cousins. No time for darts with the boys. The season finally of Pappas pig, forget about it. You're there to stop the worst of the worst and the world's largest disasters.
Or in rare cases, ensure that the disaster goes through. It's a tough job and the whole time, you and your fellow Librarians must constantly be recording and creating a record of your travels.
Ultimately, your information with create the Human Chronicle, and complete a book that will ultimately teach the world how to grow, and avoid the monsters that exist to create chaos and destroy humanity, one bit at a time.
TL;DR: Sweet, but stupid time traveller's going through time to secure a prosperous future for humanity. Use hilarious and out of the box thinking to stop bad guys, and ensure you're taking notes of the time and place you are sent to.
TL;DR pt2: if you didn't read it, you dodged a bullet.