Recently, the 39 Days to Mars page over at speedrun.com got a visual overhaul and two new speedrun records. To celebrate, and to help anyone who might be tempted to give it a shot, I thought I'd outline some handy tips and strategies for speedrunning the game.
For the uninitiated, speedrunning is the act of getting from the start of the game to the end of the game as quickly as possible. In 39 Days to Mars there are two ways to do this: Fail and No Fail. No Fail is simply playing the game normally, but if you want to go even faster, things start to get silly.
For the best time, there's four interesting behaviours in the game that you need to exploit:
The game tries to make sure you never get stuck. For the first couple of times you have trouble, it gives you auto-hints, but if you fail a puzzle on the ship three times, it will let you skip it and move on to the next puzzle.
Cancelling out of a puzzle by pressing back and selecting 'Give up' counts as a failure.
If you fail a puzzle, Albert doesn't drink the tea or eat the scone.
You can place an uneaten/drunk tea or scone back on the table beside the respective fireplaces, and pick them up later.
So, a speed-run strategy comes out of this!
The timer starts when the start icon is completely filled in with black. First off, play the introduction as quickly as possible. There's no shortcuts here.
The first time the tea or scones puzzle comes up, you need to make it. The combinations change each time, so if you end up with a complicated scone, you can cancel out and restart the puzzle to try for a better one.
Once you've got the tea or the scone, you can start the puzzle - and promptly "Give Up" three times in a row, as quickly as you can. After three failures, wait in the ship for 4-5 seconds until the days continue to count down and the next part of the ship explodes! (The only exception is the coal puzzle that I find is fastest to just complete.)
If you were holding tea, and the next part requires a scone, replace the tea ready to pick up again later. If you're holding a scone, vice versa.
Failing sections like this is usually quicker than solving the puzzles, so do this as often as you can. The only exception is fighting the Kraken - make sure you win, because ending up in the stomach is slower.
Once you're off the ship and on your way down to mars in the descent capsule, crash headfirst into all the asteroids to explode and end up on the surface as quickly as possible.
If you manage this in under 30 minutes, you'll get the Cutty Sark achievement (less than 1% of people have this one!). As I write this, the fastest co-op speedrun is 24 minutes and 6 seconds. If you beat that, you'll have a world record!
Last weekend, I sat down and implemented a much-requested feature for 39 Days to Mars: the ability to change which hat you're wearing! Yes, this has been requested numerous times.
It rolled out in an update yesterday, and you can now access this feature from the main menu.
However, it comes with a catch : you access this menu option by subscribing to the It's Anecdotal newsletter (from within the game).
During the development of 39 Days to Mars, I shared interesting updates and talked about how the game was progressing. With new projects on the horizon, and lots of interesting things to talk about, I'm reviving my newsletter to share my development progress with you. I'll also use it to share fun updates - like these hats - with you. I hope you'll join us.
If you haven't played 39 Days to Mars yet, I promise wearing a silly hat makes it at least twice as much fun. And if you've already played it, maybe this is a good excuse to come back and get that extra achievement or two?
Boot up the latest update of 39 Days to Mars to access new hats and find out.
Happy sailing! Philip
(ps: If you really don't want e-mail updates, I understand. You can unsubscribe straight away, but don't tell anybody I said that).
Nominate 39 Days to Mars for a Steam Award
Hello,
It's that time of year again, and Steam is holding their annual game awards - as voted by the community.
39 Days to Mars can be nominated in the 'Labor of Love' category. If you enjoyed playing it, please consider nominating it! Every vote helps tremendously.
You can also earn a steam badge by completing tasks - including leaving or updating a review. So this is a great time to go back and leave a review of 39 Days to Mars if you haven't already. Both as a developer, and as a steam user myself, I really appreciate people who put the time into leaving reviews!
Finally, if you're after something new after playing 39 Days to Mars, remember to go and wishlist my next game : "Watch This Space", so that you'll be the first to hear when it comes out!
Happy sailing, Philip
Free Demo now available for 39 Days to Mars!
Hello!
I'm excited to announce that 39 Days to Mars now has a 🚀Free Demo 👨🚀 on Steam, which you can download and play right now.
It'll take you (in singleplayer or co-operatively with your friend) through the start of 39 Days to Mars, solving a few puzzles with Albert and Baxter, and embarking on their ill-advised voyage to have a cup of afternoon tea on Mars.
I hope that you enjoy playing it, Philip
39 Days to Mars now available on PS4, 33% off on Steam!
It's been six years since I wrote the first line of code for 39 Days to Mars, and five and a half years since it was Kickstarted into life. Since then it's released on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It's won handfuls of awards, and it's been enjoyed by thousands of people.
Now, finally, it's available on the PS4!
This is the last major platform it will release on, and it's a strange, bitter-sweet feeling wrapping up development. It's going to be odd coming into work and not opening up the same old project, and working with the same old familiar characters. I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who's joined during this journey though. It's been so much fun, and I can't wait to continue on it with new and exciting projects!
To celebrate the launch, and give our respects to Albert and Baxter, we baked a giant batch of scones to share for afternoon tea.
As an aside, while researching the scone puzzle in 39 Days to Mars, I found out that where you grew up in the UK influences how you pronounce the word ‘scone’. According to The Great Scone Map by the University of Cambridge, folk from the north are more likely to say “skoʊn” (to rhyme with gone), while those from the south prefer “skɒn” (to rhyme with tone). This found its way into the voice acting for 39 Days to Mars – and if you listen carefully to Albert and Baxter in the game, you’ll be able to tell where they’re from.
Announcing asteroids-golf-racing game 'Watch This Space'
I'm very excited to announce the second game from It's Anecdotal, and to share with you the teaser trailer!
Watch This Space is a game about friends and asteroids, and a series of unexpected and delightfully surprising minigames that aim to change your view of this classic game.
To celebrate the imminent demise of the HMS Fearful (and the launch on the Nintendo Switch), I've edited together a brand new trailer that's packed full of explosions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfdn2pzUtiw
- Happy Sailing!
39 Days to Mars is now available on the Xbox One!
Dust your top hat, oil your penny farthing, and hunt out that Xbox controller, because:
39 Days to Mars is now available on the Xbox One!
Yes, Albert and Baxter are embarking - once again - on their ill-fated adventure. And now you can enjoy it from the comfort of your sofa (assuming you don't already use Steam big picture).
I'm also hard at work on the Nintendo Switch version of the game,so keep your ears to the ground and expect to hear an update within the next couple of months.
- Happy Sailing!
39 Days to Mars is coming to the Switch and Xbox!
Pack your teabags, and hang on to your penny-farthing. 39 Days to Mars is coming to the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in 2019!
I'm excited to say that development is already under way, and you should be off and sailing to Mars on your favourite platform earlier rather than later in the year.
The console releases will come complete with the expansion content from the PC version, as well as all of the small updates and quality-of-life improvements that have been made along the way. Keep your eyes peeled for further announcements - including the launch dates for each platform closer to the time!
If you're impatient for an adventure, you can also pick up 39 Days to Mars right here on Steam - and to celebrate the news it's going to be on sale from the 3rd to the 10th of December!
Mamma Mia! 39 Days to Mars is now available in Italian
Sì! You can now voyage to your favourite red planet completely in Italian, thanks to the hard work of translator Walter Bernardini. If your steam is in Italian by default, the first time you run the game it will start automatically in your language. If you're already playing in a different language, you can switch in the options menu.
This update also comes with some quality-of-life updates, including changes to how controllers are handled. Patch notes can can be found in the community forum.
