This week I will finish up most of the work that has been done over the last 2 months (a continuation of last week's post). I also want to announce the public demo that will be available in a couple of weeks as part of an upcoming Steam Festival, starting January 23rd. The demo will likely go live a few days before that.
Communications Cave
This is a feature that I am excited to share with everyone, as it will be a big component of exploration in the game. The Communications Cave is a new area on the map that has a community of friendly robots inside. They are looking for specific resources and parts to construct various items in their base. The cave contains rooms corresponding to the different areas of the maps which contain tasks for the player to retrieve items, kill enemies, or destroy stuff. Once a task is complete, you will receive special rewards from the bots there. Once all of the tasks for an area are complete, there is a much larger, significant reward given.
You can access the tasks from the terminals in each of the rooms. I won't spoil where the cave is located, but it's not far from Home Base.
Resource Scanner
A lot of players were asking about being able to ping resources due to taking a long time to find certain rock and ore types, so I've implemented a new system that allows you to ping rock nodes:
There is a limited range that can be upgraded from the tech tree. It starts with the ability to ping for Rock Nodes, and anytime a new, undiscovered node is within range, the scanner will gain the ability to ping that new type. This will allow players to go at their own pace and reward players for exploring new areas to find new resources.
New Main Menu
Last week I showed a screenshot of the new main menu, so here is a quick gif of the new menu. This is significant because it not only makes navigating the main menu easier, but it is defining the aesthetics of the menus in-game as well, which was something that had been lacking before. The in-game menus have not been completely updated to fit this yet, but I am happy with the design that will be in place moving forward and think it compliments the feel of the game nicely.
Bridge Builder
While building out the new cave, Hugo has made a bridge builder than makes it extremely easy to place new bridges anywhere in the environment. The tool is an editor tool, but thought it was pretty cool so I wanted to share it:
Player Backpack Robots
Last week I mentioned that I will go into a bit more detail about the player backpack robots. This is a bit of a deep topic, but I'll explain at a high level where this is currently at.
Player Backpacks
I'll start with the overview of the player backpacks. The player will have the opportunity to acquire different backpacks at Home Base. Each backpack has robots that help the player do tasks such as picking up items, repairing buildings, jumping higher, etc. Some of the backpack abilities are specific to a particular backpack, and some are shared across all backpacks like the pickup item bot.
The backpacks will focus on particular aspects of the game. For example, one will be more combat-focused and have robots that attack nearby enemies and shield the player from damage, whereas one might be more focused on mining resources, and one might be more focused on mobility.
These will need a lot of attention to ensure that they are balanced and work well with the game, so I don't want to mention anything specific because they are likely to change a lot.
I feel that once co-op is there, this is sort of a micro-class system and will add to replayability as different roles. I also feel that this might be entirely awful and if it doesn't mesh well with the existing gameplay experience, I will have no problem taking it out. But if you have any ideas for backpack abilities, definitely let me know!
Here are a few of the current backpack robots:
Robot Ranching
Hmm. Something about using the magnet gun to catch wildlife robots and put them in enclosures. More on this in the next DevLog!
Next Devlog
In the following weeks I hope to redesign the automation route creation system so that it is much easier and enjoyable to use, so more on how good (or bad) that is going. I think we are going to move to a node-based visual system that is kind of a drag-and-drop between drop-off and pick-up points.
Confusion From Last Week
Last week there were a few comments about the manual craft bench and how everyone hates the idea. I didn't do a good enough job explaining it exactly, so I'll clear that up now. Manual crafting (holding down a button for the crafted item to complete) is ONLY on the Home Base Craft Bench. This is to encourage you to build machines and buildings for automating the creation of items. A few people mentioned that it would be nice to include a feature where pressing a button like space will hold it down for you, while you are there and have the UI open, which is a good suggestion and I will likely include that.
That is all.
If you want to keep up with development, join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg
Take Care, -Jake
Devlog #19
The past 2 months have been extremely busy.
My second baby boy was born and my wife and I couldn't be happier with how well he and his older brother are doing. Despite some sleepless nights, progress on the game has been moving forward. There's a lot to share with everyone.
Unity X Havok
First I just want to mention that Hostile Mars was featured in Unity's latest blog post regarding the Havok Physics engine now being supported for production in Unity. I am flattered they thought Hostile Mars was the best game to showcase Havok Physics with Unity's DOTS system. We had an interview and they actually wrote a really awesome overview of the game. Check it out here: https://blog.unity.com/technology/havok-physics-now-supported-for-production
Mechanics Overhaul
Being in the pre-alpha stage, a lot of mechanics aren't polished to a point that is satisfying. I spent a good couple of weeks identifying the most performed actions in the early stages of the game and tried to focus on how to polish them up and make them more enjoyable actions to perform.
During this exercise, I took the focused mechanic into a completely new game build where it was just the mechanic itself, and I altered and adjusted until the mechanic was fun on its own. Thanks to Jason Storey for the guidance on what he thought was wrong with the game. Always feels good to have him tell you why the game you've worked on for 5 years isn't good :)
This led to a complete overhaul of the player harvesting nodes, the player adding ammo to turrets, and the craft bench.
PLAYER HARVESTING
Lots of changes here. No more single-button interaction into a set animation to harvest nodes. First of all, the hammer has been replaced with a mining gun. This electromagnet-driven spike gun breaks rocks apart with ease (and can be upgraded to break through more advanced materials as well)
When harvesting a node, the player now has complete control of each impact on the rock. As the player continues to mine more nodes, the weapon heats up and hits harder. There is a visual indicator for this in the form of a progress bar. As you string together more hits, the gun does more damage. It can be upgraded to unlock 5 different stages of increased damage.
Also introducing "Backpack Robot 1" (for lack of a clever name at the moment, any suggestions in the comments are welcome :) ). "Backpack Robots" opens up a whole new topic in the game and I will get to that next week, but for now, just know that backpacks will have multiple robots integrated into them and that they are used for various tasks to help you.
This bot will come out to collect any pickups or scraps you collect when mining or picking up items.
There are still a few finishing touches to add to the impacts and gun itself, but I'm happy with how it turned out and it feels really satisfying to collect resources from a group of harvest nodes.
TURRET LOADING
Another early game task that happens quite frequently is loading ammo into turrets. previously it was just a button press and a sound effect, nothing especially satisfying.
Like with the mining mechanic, I took the act of adding ammo to a turret in its own environment separate from the game, and tried to make it more satisfying. I messed with a few different things, like mini-games and delayed button holds, but anything that slowed the player down felt a little counter-productive as this act is mostly done while in combat, so sitting to reload a gun isn't satisfying at all, Instead, I added an animation with the ammo flying out of the backpack into the turret, which you can continue to do even if not still looking at the turret, which plays really nicely when trying to reload a bunch of turrets while enemies are on the way.
This way the player doesn't even have to stop to reload, he can pass by and hold the button down while continuing to run.
I added a small world space UI that shows the ammo amount that has been added, so you know how much ammo is in the turret when it is out of view.
WILDLIFE COMBAT
Combat with wildlife robots is the next mechanic that had yet to be happy with how it was playing. This was given some major attention in the form of new enemies with different behaviors, weapons, and attacks.
The current enemies that you find when exploring the martian surface were all pretty much the same. they would walk toward the player and either shock, blow up, or shoot projectiles. This is meant for some of the enemies, but it definitely doesn't allow for any interesting combat situations or any type of decision-making by the player. It's just "see an enemy and shoot it".
We've added a number of new scrap wildlife bots that have different attack types, distances, ranges, damages, and movements. The idea is to create interesting scenarios where the player must choose which enemies are the biggest threat in the environment they are fighting.
For example, there is a tank-like enemy that shoots a chaingun-like plasma weapon dealing damage through a hit-scan. In an open area, this would likely be a very large threat, as it almost never misses and a ton of bullets are fired in a short amount of time (after a significant charge-up sequence). The same enemy, if faced in a narrow corridor with a lot of objects to take cover behind, might be the least threatening enemy.
Another enemy shoots electric orbs at the player, almost like a grenade launcher, and would deal significant damage to players hiding or staying stationary. And another that is sort of a sniper class enemy that sits on the sides of cliffs. I hope you can see the dynamic combat that I hope this will create and make every scenario a little different.
Here are the new enemies:
Chaingun Tank
Ground Drone
Orb Launchers
Wall Jumpers
Flying Drone
Scrappers
These don't attack the player so I'm not really sure what they are doing... but there has to be something they're good for. Maybe you can figure it out.
HOME BASE CORES
This one is big. It dramatically changes how combat close to home base goes down. Previously, all enemies would attack one side of the Home Base when they were close enough to do so. Considering the massive amount of enemies that can be in a wave, this led to some serious mobs clumping up at home base which was very hard to recover from and many of them wouldn't have a clear site line to the target anyway so they would just be blasting away at their own bots.
There were a couple of problems with this method:
Hard to recover if many enemies made it to Home Base Enemies would attack each other not clear where the enemy was attacking no penalty for killing the enemy once it arrived at home base besides damage to home base (which not many were doing)
I think the solution fixes all of these things. This is a Home Base Core:
It is the primary energy source of the Home Base and the attack point for the enemy. The difference is that they do not attack with their normal weapons as they do the player, they attempt to reach the core and initiate an overcharge sequence, blowing themselves up and doing damage to the core. So basically they will arrive 1 by 1 and damage the cores after a second or so of charging up.
This is much more in line with many other Tower Defense games where once the target reaches their destination, the damage is dealt.
There are 4 cores that surround Home Base, each with a certain amount of hitpoints. As you progress through the stages, more will pop up which gives more targets for the enemy to attack and destroy before Home Base is lost. So the further you progress, the more targets the enemy must destroy, which scales nicely with the massive wave counts in the late game.
CRAFT BENCH
The next thing that was "juiced up" was the Home Base Craft Bench. Before this machine acted like any other, a queue for creating multiple items would be stored in an output container, waiting for the player to return to pick up. This is no longer the case.
The Craft Bench now is a manually pressed machine that does not have the capability to queue up items in the input, so it is just for crafting items while the player is interacting with it. The UI is still being worked on for it but here is a peek at the button itself in action:
This isn't everything that has been done in the past weeks, and I'll leave you with a few notes about what will be discussed for next week's Update:
The main menu needed a complete overhaul to really get it to the quality level I feel it needed. Here is a quick peek at it (there are still a few finishing touches needed to improve visibility) :
As I mentioned before, the player backpack will be loaded up with multiple robots to help you out, I'll go into more detail next week about the backpack types.
Another big addition to the game involves a camp of (friendly?) robots that seem to be asking for a lot of items from the player, I wonder what they will give in return?
And the last concept to be discussed in next week's update: Robot Ranching.
That is all.
If you want to keep up with development, join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg
Take Care, -Jake
đŸ¤–Automation + Combat Base Builder. Hostile Mars demo playthrough.
Calling All Explorers!
Ready to fight against endless hordes of robots hellbent on your destruction? Itching to explore the dusty red cliffs of Mars as you automate your base’s defenses to survive the next wave? Strap on your space boots, because the red planet is waiting for you!
Join us on the dusty plains of Mars as we play through the new and improved demo today, October 3rd!
Hostile Mars' demo is now up and running for a limited time! Check it out!
As always, we would greatly appreciate any feedback and/or details about any bugs or issues you encounter during your time spent on the red planet. We have a special channel in our Discord to report bugs and provide feedback about the game.
Thanks for playing and we'll see you on Mars!
-Hostile Mars Team
đŸ”´Hostile Mars - Check out the New Demo & Gameplay Stream during Next Fest!
Greetings Explorers!
Ready to fight against endless hordes of robots hellbent on your destruction? Itching to explore the dusty red cliffs of Mars as you automate your base’s defenses to survive the next wave? Strap on your space boots, because the red planet is waiting for you!
Join us on the dusty plains of Mars as we play through the new and improved demo today, October 3rd!
As always, we would greatly appreciate any feedback and/or details about any bugs or issues you encounter during your time spent on the red planet. We have a special channel in our Discord to report bugs and provide feedback about the game.
Thanks for playing and we'll see you on Mars!
-Big Rook Games
Devlog #18
Quite a few things have been going on since the last update!
I'll show some of the changes and additions that have been worked on in the past few weeks. After that, I have some thoughts to share about the last playtest and why I feel that it didn't go well.
Some New Stuff
Spawn Effects
Added an effect for spawning objects, making it a little bit more enjoyable when placing objects.
Object Visualizers
Machines have a "quick view" window that shows the progress of that machine without having to go into the machine's menu. The same concept is being applied to traps and turrets with Object Visualizers. These will show health, ammo, power status, and any other useful information about an item without having to go into the menu.
Scrap Melee Trap
A new melee trap has been added which does high damage to hover bots and will initially be one of the first traps the player will be able to build.
Building Damage
Health on buildings, traps, and turrets is finally enabled. All of them can be repaired manually by the player with a button while looking at the object, or by Ally-Bots later on in the game (which roams around Homebase and repairs damaged stuff). The repairs cost different amounts of materials based on the 'Stage' the object comes from.
For example, Scrap Stage objects will require Scrap Metal while Iron Stage objects require Iron Plates. They will also require some repair-specific items in many cases, such as Machine Parts and Electrical Parts, which are new to the game.
We are also working with a new system that handles streaming the objects and terrain, allowing for more detailed environment areas and giving the room to add new terrain sections when needed.
Tech Tree
Ultimately I want the tech tree to be like it is, a custom chart displayed in an easy-to-read layout. With so many items being added to the game it is starting to become a bottleneck adding each new item one by one. For this reason, I decided to implement a new system that automatically sorts all the technologies by Available to unlock, unlocked, and locked.
When a technology selection is clicked then it will show a chart with the prerequisites and what is unlocked as a result of unlocking that tech.
This will remove an entire step of skill tree grooming each time a new item is added, meaning a quicker turnaround with adding content. I am open to the idea of keeping it this way if it doesn't hurt the experience at all but do feel that it will be better as a traditional skill tree later on.
Proof of Concept
Main Menu
The different UI elements used throughout the game needed to be cleaned up a bit. I've redone some of the menu elements and changed the look of the main menu:
Save System
The save system was (mostly) functional but very clunky, and the way that each save was "static" in a sense made it prone to overwriting with new builds. I've rewrote how the save system works so you name your own saves. No longer are there only 3 save spots.
Power System
I restructured a lot of how the power system works to fix a few of the lingering issues with battery-powered items and items that spawn when loading a saved game. The UI Tab now shows where the device is drawing power from and the remaining battery charge.
Bug Fixes
I've also sorted out a large number of bugs that were found during the playtest, so a huge thank you to anyone that was involved with that. I wouldn't be able to successfully make a quality game without help playtesting, considering the number of people working on the game. I am looking for a part-time QA lead, so if you know anyone with experience that might be interested, please let me know.
The Problem With The Playtest
A few weeks back was the Hostile Mars Prologue playtest. A lot of people played the game over the few weeks it was publicly available. Over 2500 people participated and the feedback is always extremely valuable and encouraging to the future development of the game.
After closing the playtest, I really dove into the prologue playtest and tried to figure out why it didn't feel "right". I was disappointed with how it turned out and I feel that a number of things could have been done better.
Ultimately, I believe that creating a build with an attempt to focus on a particular system of the game doesn't always work.
I wanted to see how wave progression performed and focus on that specific aspect, so I gave a bunch of items to the player and made building elements much quicker than normal. This undermined a lot of what makes Hostile Mars what it is and stole the rewarding nature of unlocking and building items from scratch.
It was also lacking an interesting hook to drive the player to advance and make interesting decisions. There were really no decisions. It was only to defeat the enemies and lay down the items provided.
The enemies still have not been fully fledged out yet either, giving all enemies a simple point-and-shoot interaction. Again, the player has no decisions to make. Each weapon just does damage and the only decision is which gun to use, but really, there are no consequences or choices within even choosing which weapon to choose.
This is definitely not intentional. In fact, the entire premise of the enemy and weapon system is to introduce different problems for the player to solve in interesting ways. Different enemy types will behave differently when in groups or when solo, they will have different behaviors based on the enemy types that are nearby, and they will have strengths and weaknesses between different trap and turret types.
As for the main driving force of the story progression, that has not been introduced in the playtest either, so really it is a sandbox of how damage-based traps and turrets deal damage against damage-prone enemies. And it turned out really stale as a result.
I've decided to go in and implement some of these things that need to be integrated into the game. A lot of it is "done" to where I have the concepts and implementation working in a test scene, but not integrated into the game system as a whole.
To do this in the most effective way, I've been working on environments that allow for quick iteration and testing of newly implemented systems and features. I spent about a week refactoring some of the codebase that provided a lot of resistance when testing and created a sandbox scene decoupled from a lot of the other systems, which took a bit of work.
There are tons of systems integrated together and dependent on one another in the game, and I caught up on a lot of technical debt from implementing some of the game like this.
I've also reworked how items get initialized in the game. There have been quite a few issues regarding power and colliders among other things, and the new system makes it much easier to identify objects that are incorrectly initialized, which should lead to much more stable items in-game.
Today it is looking a lot better. Most of the systems can be enabled or disabled without affecting the other systems in the game, which allows for much better development cycles, along with making it easier to pinpoint bugs as they appear during integration.
Finally, a few first-look pics at things being worked on:
If you want to keep up with development, join us on the Discord: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg
Take Care, -Jake
Hostile Mars Prologue Demo Is Here!
Greetings Explorers
Our Prologue Demo Is now available for you to try! The Prologue Demo will run through till the end of August.
Look for the play-test button to download and try more of the wave-based defense features of Hostile Mars, also reminder that this Demo is for the Prologue, which releases on the 30th of September. We would love feedback about this specific build that will focus more on combat, Each wave that you complete you will receive rewards, this is different from the main game for now.
BUGS AND FEEDBACK We would appreciate any feedback and details about bugs or issues you encounter. There will be a forum post with ways you can report bugs and will have special channels for feedback in our Discord https://discord.gg/HcHcDjxe
We hope you enjoy this new Demo, but just a reminder that it is a very in-progress build, so there may be more bugs than you expect in the first few days.
We posted lots of FAQs in our last devlog, but this is just a recap of why we are doing this Demo now.
Why a prologue? We decided to have a Prologue up permanently in response to your previous feedback about having a more extended period to try Hostile Mars.
Why a demo for a prologue? A Demo for the Prologue will allow us to gain feedback on the combat and wave mechanics at this stage. Prologues are also vital in getting players to try and buy a game, so even a Prologue must be in the best state it can be.
Why not just a public Demo for the full release? Hostile Mars has many different aspects, tower defense, exploration, and automation, and we feel a short Prologue will be more beneficial to give people an idea of the game and to give us feedback on specific mechanics. We also plan to have closed play-tests still to help develop other particular areas which signups to our email and some discord members will be invited too.
So when is the actual Early Access release? we have been aiming for a late summer release but feel a small amount of extra time will mean a more successful early access launch, we are not ready to announce a specific release date yet, but we are planning it very soon after the Prologue goes live.
Will a Demo slows down the development of the Early Access launch? No. Some things need more testing, and as a primarily solo-made game for the last three years, we must get more feedback from playtesters and demo users. It does take some time to get a workable build stable and then polished enough for a Demo/Prologue, but the feedback we will receive is vital in ensuring the early access launch is as smooth as possible.
If your a content creator do join our Discord and share your links or tag us on twitter @hostilemarsgame and look out for some competitions to win full game copies of Hostile Mars.
Thank you once again for all your support and we cant wait for you to try the Demo and let us know what you think.
Hostile Mars Prologue/Public Demo News!
Exciting news explorers!
We recently told you we would be part of the next Steam Festival in October. As part of this, we have decided to launch our full prologue on 30th September and to have a demo running even sooner! This demo will be available on the 19th of August and will be live and playable through the end of August. The demo will be a much more combat and wave-focused slice of Hostile Mars, giving new players a chance to experience some of the core aspects of the game but in a quicker fashion.
Some of you may have some queries regarding this and the release date of Hostile Mars, so hopefully, the following FAQ will help.
Why a prologue? We decided to have a prologue up permanently in response to your previous feedback about having a more extended period to try Hostile Mars.
Why a demo for a prologue? A demo for the prologue will allow us to gain feedback on the combat and wave mechanics at this stage. Prologues are also vital in getting players to try and buy a game, so even a prologue must be in the best state it can be.
Why not just a public demo for the full release? Hostile Mars has many different aspects, tower defense, exploration, and automation, we feel a short prologue will be more beneficial to give people an idea of the game and to give us feedback on certain mechanics, we also plan to have closed play-tests still to help develop other specific areas which signups to our email and some discord members will be invited too.
So when is the actual early access release? we have been aiming for a late summer release but feel a small amount of extra time will mean a more successful early access launch, we are not ready to announce a specific release date yet, but we are planning it very soon after the prologue goes live.
Will a demo slows down the development of the early access launch? No. Some things need more testing, and as a primarily solo-made game for the last three years, we must get more feedback from playtesters and demo users. It does take some time to get a workable build stable and then polished enough for a demo/prologue, but the feedback we will receive is vital in ensuring the early access launch is as smooth as possible.
Hopefully, that will clear up any questions you may have. We are striving to make Hostile Mars as good as it can be for the Early Access launch, and we feel a prologue and demo will help with that. If you have any feedback, do let us know. We can't wait to see more people playing Hostile Mars and appreciate all the support we have received so far.
Jade - community manager
Nearly 40,000 Wish Lists + Latest QnA
Hello explorers!
First, thank you so much for supporting Hostile Mars so far. We are nearly at 40,000 wish lists (39,516, To be exact) which is enormous for any game. That number shows us that Hostile Mars is unique and has a place amongst players. Of course, we have a long way to go, but celebrating milestones with our community is paramount. We are still aiming for more, so please do wish list the game and share our steam page with friends.
And so onto our latest QnA, all from our Discord. Join to see exclusive Discord-only streams and chances to win alpha key giveaways - https://discord.gg/U5r5zZgsyv.
I was curious to know if any other types of storage will be added than the chest. Yes, there are bigger storage chests. - Jake
What will be the late-game win condition in Hostile Mars? Over 9000 waves? The win condition for the story will be establishing an operational mining drill on Mars, but the waves will continue to grow infinitely more extensive and robust. - Jake
How deep will automation go? Will I be to collect automatically and scrap robot drops, craft, and refill power/turrets? The player can automate everything from resource gathering to item manufacturing, base repairs, pickups, recycling, and distribution. Pretty much everything except exploring to find new technologies and placing turrets and machines. - Jake
What was your main inspiration for the game? Gaming has been a big part of my life, and I've always felt compelled to contribute back to the industry that brought me so much joy and creativity throughout difficult times. My goal is to use the skillsets I have developed through my career to creating something another person can enjoy, in hopes that someone may find joy when facing difficult times in their lives, or to inspire creativity in another to pursue what they are skillful and passionate about. I believe that anyone can do anything with the right motivation and execution. I've always wanted to make a perfect game that has depth and pushes others' creativity. I know that this is that game, and it can be great with the proper iterative development process. - Jake
Will it be free or what will be the price of the game $20 at Early Access. - Jake
How would I become a play tester? Stay active in Discord! - Jake
Is there going to be a storage system that can be hooked into the central system for easier access to that inventories Not sure exactly what you mean, but there will be sidekick bots that follow you around, one of them being storage crates, which expand the player's inventory when exploring the environment. - Jake
Is auto mining resources in this game? yes, there will be auto mining via placeable robots. - Jake
Will there be a creative/sandbox mode? Eventually, yes. But it won't be a priority until after multiplayer is developed. - Jake
Will the game feature different characters and ways to modify how the player character behaves and plays? The primary character model will be a choice between male/female. The tech tree will contain abilities that change how players move and their traits. Armour will play a role in these things too. - Jake
What will the boss fight be like? The boss fights will be a wave with a large enemy and, depending on the wave, other enemies that spawn with them. They will be harder to take out and have the potential to do much more damage to your base. - Jake
When the game comes out, will it come out in demo version or full version? The game will initially be released as Early Access and continue to be developed until the full 1.0 version. - Jake
Will there be cosmetics? I plan on it, but it won't be a priority until after Early Access, Multiplayer, and console ports. - Jake
Will the game be released on Xbox in the future? Yes, I plan to release the game on Xbox X/S and PS5. - Jake
What inspired the creation of Hostile Mars/will there be a storyline Here is a small snippet of the lore and story (Can find the full write-up in Discord). It is the year 2096. As humanity slowly recovers from near-total environmental disasters due to climate change, things are just beginning to return to something resembling normalcy. In this time of gradual rejuvenation, several mega-corporations are reaching for the stars -- or, to be more accurate, the planets -- seeking valuable elements and compounds unavailable on Earth... On Mars, two longtime rivals -- RetroGrade Industries and Paragon Technologies -- are vying to lay claim to a tiny, highly coveted area of the red planet ideal for mining. During this period, territorial disputes between mega-corps are mediated and resolved by the Alliance of Governments. A complicated legal code regulates who has a legitimate claim to any area outside the Earth’s atmosphere. In this case, it will be determined by which company establishes a working site first and keeps it going. - Jake
How often will attacks come, and will they affect what the player builds or does on the map? The waves you trigger yourself, but there are roaming smaller amounts of enemies and maybe more surprises. - Jade
Will there be an SDK for modding? We may look at modding down the road in early access, but we are unsure of a complete SDK. - Jade
Will you add digital storage, like refined storage in Minecraft, and if so, a wireless version? With the emphasis on automation, Teleportation of resources may diminish the point a little. Our delivery bots have got to have some work, right? - Jade
how many players are in multiplayer? Early access launch solo, during early access co-op 1-4 players. - Jade
Keep the questions coming by joining The Hostile Mars Discord, and stay tuned for next week's Devlog as we are announcing something very exciting. - Jade, Community Manager
Early Access Price + Steam Fest Demo
Exciting news, explorers!
EARLY ACCESS LAUNCH PRICE Today we are confirming the PRICE of HOSTILE MARS when it launches into early access later this year.
$20.00 (U.S Dollars) and equivalents in your region. Once Hostile Mars exits early access, the price will go up, but we think $20 is a fair reflection of the game when it begins its early access journey. RELEASE DATE WHEN? Although we officially revealed the price today, we need more time before announcing a concrete release date. We don't want to give umpteenth releases and not be able to hit them but rest assured, sometime this year is still the plan.
STEAM OCTOBER NEXT FEST The next steam next fest takes place on October 3rd - 10th, and we are pleased to announce Hostile mars will take part. This is a big deal for hostile mars, giving another chance for players to try the game as we will have a free alpha demo and extra exposure. We will still be running closed alpha tests before then, with our next closed alpha in late August, and will post details on how people can take part nearer the time.
Next week more QnA answers from our discord, do make sure you have joined if you want to ask Jake anything about hostile mars https://discord.gg/U5r5zZgsyv.
-Jade
Next play test
Hello Mars explorers!
Lots of exciting things are happening this week. Jake announced the next play test would take place in late August. More specifics will be revealed in the coming weeks, but as previously announced, future play tests will most likely be closed, so please join our discord to stand the best chance of taking part and giving us vital feedback. https://discord.gg/U5r5zZgsyv
We now have questions and answer channel In discord. We will use these for our steam blogs here to keep you in the loop on all the important stuff as best we can. Of course, some things may require a little more thought, but we endeavour to answer a good selection of questions each week. So here is the first QnA.
How much will the game cost We will have more info closer to release, but as you would expect, being an early access game, it will be cheaper than a full-priced one. We most likely will increase the price once we leave early access.
Will there be more building options like half walls, ramps, etc.? no big plans for early access release, with a focus on combat and automation rather than a pretty base design; however, if we get enough player feedback, then we will take into consideration
What will boss fights be like? will they be harder than regular waves, or will you have to adapt how you play quickly to what the boss does or something similar to that There will be a variety of boss-type enemies; some appear at the end of a stage in the final wave, others will be at specific poi, and we have plans for sub-boss too! more details in future
Where can I find the development roadmap? Here is our pre-release road map at present. some things have changed slightly already and are a rough guide for internal rather than concrete plans, More long-term plans will be revealed nearer the release
Have you added/do you consider adding mod support in the game? I know that supporting mods takes considerable work from the dev team, but it adds tons of fan-made content and replayability to the game. Not yet. The focus will be on the core gameplay experience. We are open to the idea, but as you would expect, something to look at later in early access or towards full release! robot waifu mod, anyone?
What are the thoughts and plans regarding multiplayer? Multiplayer is something we will work very hard on. 1-4 player co-op is the plan at the moment. However, the early access launch will most likely only have a single player till some point during early access.
When will the Alpha client have the next updates? we plan on at least two more updates before the next play test. next week, adding in delivery bots, and a further update just before next play test
Will there be cake at the end? the cake is a lie
Any plans for vehicles or mounted weapon emplacements? yes! and yes!
I was wondering if there will be any transportation to get across the map faster than just running. there will be vehicles added in future
Will the game support macOS? (also will it support M1) we are fully focused on bringing hostile mars to steam early access, but we do have plans to bring it to consoles after full release for pc. We will evaluate other platforms as we go and let the community know
That's hopefully given you lots of answers, do come join our discord to ask your next questions and to potentially take part in the next play test, see you again next week -Jade (Community Manager)
