This quarter I worked to address feedback from the December playtest. The development plan outlined last time was completed and I'm now polishing things ahead of the next playtest in April.
Here's a look at how the game is evolving:
Gunsmith
This was a key thing missing from the December playtest. It's part of the progression system and allows the player to create increasingly stronger gun blueprints.
Gunsmith was tested standalone in February. The results were very positive. I'm happy to confirm this mechanic will definitely be in the game. Check out my video for a glance at how it works and what the guns feel like in battle.
Infiltration
Players also said the strategy layer lacked direction. The game dumped you in its sandbox without enough guidance.
To address this, you can now covertly send soldiers into enemy-held locations. They will expand visibility of hostile activity, discover missions opportunities, and become sleeper cells who can be activated during battles there.
Propaganda is also a big part of Infiltration. Labor soldiers (posing as civilian workers) can rile up the locals and trigger chaotic riot battles. Capital soldiers (posing as undercover rebels) can work to destroy the Labor "terrorists" from within.
However, your soldiers are always at risk behind enemy lines. If captured, you can try to uncover where they're imprisoned and stage a daring rescue mission.
World Map, Logistics, Research
The world map now offers more clear goals and less sandbox slop.
Logistics are now less abstracted and more literal.
The research tree now offers more immediate rewards and less hoops to jump through.
So that's where I'm at. Let's see how the playtest goes. Once things are feeling good, I will work on the demo. And then GRRRRRRRR toward the release.
Thanks again for all your support and patience. Let me know what you think of the Gunsmith video above. I was thinking the next dev log (about lore) might be better in video format than text.
-Yuji
Dev Update FY2024 Q4
Hi everyone! It's the end of the quarter, so let's take a look at how development is coming along.
The big news is the strategy layer playtest finally kicked off this month. I've been dying to get the iteration cycle going. As you guys know, I rely very heavily on the community to guide development. Your feedback is why the tactical layer has been a success. And that's why it's a big deal that the strategy layer playtest is finally underway.
As expected, the first few builds were very rough and the testers struggled a lot. However, their feedback was invaluable. Beyond just finding bugs and improving mechanics, they helped me understand and improve deeper structural problems with the game loop. Here's a summary of testing so far and the next steps.
The playtest included the opening months of the Labor campaign and 70% of the core systems: squad movement and zone-of-control, recruitment and unit management, base-building, labor management, supply chains and logistics, and research. It also introduced a few big things to the tactical layer.
On the whole, testers found the campaign to be buggy, sluggish and lacking direction. The strategy layer had too much "4X" resulting in long down-times between battles. However, most players agreed the systems promised depth and that the overall design was in-line with what they wanted from a strategy layer.
On the tactical front, the feedback was much more positive. Players enjoyed the new melee weapons. Friendly AI units were very popular. And the new morale and surrender mechanics mostly fit in with the existing combat systems.
Development and playtesting is continuing with a focus on
Tightening the core game loop and reducing down-time between battles. For example, capture ice mine -> extract water -> construct algae farm -> support larger population -> boost soldier recruitment. On paper, this sounds reasonable. But in the game, it all felt slow and bloated. So I'm cutting fat and connecting campaign progress more directly with battle results.
The strategy layer will always be a sandbox, but my initial designs offered players too little direction. So I'm trying to give the campaign more structure, especially how missions are generated. This includes a new mechanic that lets you send operatives on covert ops behind enemy lines to gather intel and discover missions.
Finish adding remaining systems, especially unit and equipment progression. The most critical missing element is the Gunsmith mechanic, which enables players to homebrew custom Redox guns and bring them into battle. This feature drives Labor's campaign progression, creating that "one-more-turn" loop as the worker rebellion grows stronger and stronger.
Anyway, this is probably TMI for most readers since the game is not even out yet. But I know some of you are following development very closely, so I thought a transparent view of the design process would be interesting.
Overall, my goal for Q1 is to continue testing the hell out of the strategy layer. Once things are feeling good, I will release a demo for the public to get a taste. And then it's just push push push toward the release.
HUGE THANKS to the Discord community for all their incredible feedback! The playtest is managed on Discord so if you are interested in playtesting and have the patience for bugs and jank you can sign-up for access there. I am opening up access slowly over-time with each new build.
Thanks for sticking with me this year! Wishing you happy and safe holidays.
-Yuji
Dev Update FY2024 Q3
Hey everyone! It's been a few months since the last dev update. Like every good little capitalist 😇 I try to keep my stakeholders appraised every quarter.
FY24 Q3 Executive Summary
Continued intense work designing and implementing the strategy layer. GRRRR!
Continued adding features to the tactical engine, including NPCs and larger maps.
Continued adding cross-layer mechanics, including POWs. Capturing enemies in battle and forcing them to work in labor camps is such a JOY!
Continued improving enemy tactical AI. They actually work as a team now. Be afraid.
This month finally began internal testing of combined strategy layer + tactical layer: the full loop!
On the marketing front, released a new trailer and posted new dev-logs (see below). And check out the new Steam capsule artwork prepared by my publisher Hooded Horse.
Near-Term Outlook
Closed playtesting will begin soonTM.
After playtest build is stable, I will release a permanent demo that includes the strategy layer.
Then it's just powering toward the finish line. GRRRRRR!
Lastly, the Tokyo Game Show begins tomorrow and kicks off the biggest week of gaming here in Japan. Given all the buzz around town, I feel compelled to share something special with you guys. So here's a first look at a new ground vehicle.
The Mars Rapid Response Vehicle (MRRV). This is the civilian variant.
The corporation first brought these over to Mars for work use. They're designed so laborers can quickly hop in and out in their suits -- no pressurization needed -- to race to an accident or an emergency. After the conflict broke out MRRVs were adapted for warfare. I will share the non-civilian variant and more details about vehicle mechanics in a future dev log. This game is focused on infantry combat, but vehicles will play a role.
Well, that's it. Thank you for your patience! It felt good to finally begin testing the entire loop. A lot of work is remaining, but with enough GRRRR we'll get there. See you next quarter. -Yuji
Disclosures: All forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. I might not actually be a capitalist. Go Padres. You should watch For All Mankind. And listen to DJ Phil's new EP Boarding Pass. Check out this insane fanart by ZOHEI. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective organizations with which they are associated. Haha you read all the fine print, this game is definitely for you.
Dev Log #06: Shooting and Ballistics
Hi everyone, this month let's take look at shooting and how chance-to-hit is calculated.
A big part of the tactical sandbox I'm trying to build is letting you shoot physically persistent bullets anywhere you want. Not just at enemies or predetermined targets, but literally at any position on the battlefield.
Besides just being fun, this freedom makes shooting more interesting. It's no longer about just hitting a target. Things like fire superiority and suppression become just as important. For example, in this game there's no special "Suppression" action or ability. You just point and shoot, and bullets flying close to someone will apply suppression to them.
This enemy is hiding behind good cover, but you can shoot at the air above or next to them to apply suppression.
And with physical projectiles you have to be mindful of the background. If a bullet misses its target or a rocket veers off course, it will keep flying until it hits something. As the great Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) said in the movie HEAT: "Get clean shots. Watch your background!"
The poor Martian civilian workers are always catching strays.
Chance-to-Hit
That said, this is still a turn-based strategy game. So chance-to-hit is calculated using dice. However, it's done in a way that reflects the physics of the tactical sandbox.
When aiming your gun, the game generates 100 trajectories from the barrel tip toward the target's center of mass, forming a cone. The diameter of the cone is based on various factors including the shooter's skill. So when the game shows you have a 49% chance-to-hit, that means 49 out of the 100 trajectories are intersecting the target's hitbox.
The cone as shown in debug mode. The idea is to combine dice with physics-based ballistics.
Next, when you pull the trigger, the game rolls a D100 die and picks one of the trajectories for the bullet to follow. For example, with a 49% shot, if you roll 49 or lower the game will choose a trajectory that hits the target, while rolling 50 or higher will result in a miss.
Finally, in the case of burst or auto-fire, for most guns the game also rolls "recoil dice" for every subsequent bullet in the shot. Each recoil die can produce a positive or negative value depending on the shooter's skill. This is added to the prior bullet's value and a trajectory is chosen based on the cumulative total. The idea is that the soldier is rolling dice to try and control the recoil.
The battle log shows the first 4 bullets missed, but the last 2 hit as the shooter fought the recoil to bring the spray back on target.
Realistic Weapons
What I love about this whole system (shoot anywhere + persistent bullets + dice + physics) is how guns naturally take on their real-life roles. For example, the LMG is excellent for suppression not because of some special flag or ability, but because of its high fire-rate and large magazine. And the system doesn't arbitrarily limit your tactical options. There's nothing stopping you from using other guns for suppression too -- it'll just take more shots to pin an enemy down.
Another example is the shotgun. It doesn't need recoil dice because it fires all bullets at once (buckshot). So each bullet rolls its own D100. This is a big deal because rolling many independent dice means statistically there's a higher chance that at least one bullet will hit. In other words, similar logic to real-life.
The shottie is great for taking down drones, which are small and hard to hit but take just one bullet to bring down.
Well that's it for this dev log. I look forward to your thoughts and questions in the comments!
Follow and Wishlist here for these dev logs to appear in your Steam News section (they do not appear on the store page). You can also follow me on Discord, Reddit, Twitter or Bluesky. Lastly, if you just want an email alert when I make a post on Steam you can sign up here. THANK YOU FOR YOU SUPPORT!!
Hi everyone, today's topic is destruction which is a big part of Mars Tactics.
Almost everything on the battlefield is destructible, even the terrain itself. For example, if your troops are pushing into an area with no cover, they can throw a high-explosive charge to create a foxhole to dive into.
Explosives are abundant on Mars as they are used extensively in mining operations.
And when defending an objective, your troops can create trenches to fortify their position. Of course, AI troops are aware of landscape changes and if given the chance will use your trench against you.
Rebel workers in a trench keeping watch for corporate forces. Big trenches like this are not trivial to make -- this one was created by a strafing airstrike run.
Use the Environment
Besides grenade and bombs, environmental objects can also trigger small and large explosions. The game will communicate which objects can explode, so keep that in mind when taking cover.
Chemical tanks can be damaged by direct fire or remote hacking. The blasts are powerful enough to leave craters.
For some special objects, explosions will rip them apart creating debris that can be used as cover. Falling debris may push units and even hurt them, although never fatally.
Construction crane blows up into smaller pieces, each of which become cover. Please note this feature is still in the experimental stage.
Permanent Damage
Destruction is permanent across the world. When you revisit battlefields, you will see familiar craters and trenches (although they will be eroded over time by sandstorms). Likewise, damaging buildings will reduce their productivity in the strategy layer, until repaired. Infrastructure is precious on Mars, so you should weight the cost/benefit of using destruction.
Preserving detailed destruction data across the whole world map creates gigantic save files. Optimizing this has been a very big challenge.
Not Minecraft
All of that said, I just want to be clear that explosions and destruction are not themselves the end goal of gameplay. They are just one aspect of infantry combat. To that end, you cannot dig tunnels or create caves. And destruction only goes a few layers deep (every map has an indestructible rock bed). And some objects and ground types cannot be destroyed.
Underground facilities like these are heavily fortified and cannot be destroyed. (On Mars everyone lives under the surface to escape radiation.)
So the goal is not to re-create Minecraft, as cool as that would be. The focus of Mars Tactics is firmly on turn-based infantry combat. But I hope destruction is a useful and fun part of the tactics sandbox that allows you to be creative.
Timelapse of a hilltop fortification slowly getting decimated.
Well, that's it for this time. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. This game takes place just 20 years from now during the very early stages of the corpo-colonization of Mars, so there's no terraforming or much human settlement. That means you should expect to fight through lots and lots of sand maps. But I hope the destruction system will help make each battle more memorable and fun.
Follow and Wishlist here for these dev logs to appear in your Steam News section (they do not appear on the store page). You can also follow me on Discord, Reddit, Twitter or Bluesky. Lastly, if you just want an email alert when I make a post on Steam you can sign up here. THANK YOU FOR YOU SUPPORT!!
-Yuji
Dev Log #04: Grenades
Hi everyone, today's dev log is about grenades, which work quite differently in this game compared to others in the genre. Let's dive in so you're not surprised the first time you play.
In many turn-based tactics games, grenades are a tool against randomness. If you miss your shot, the trusty grenade can save you. But in Mars Tactics, grenades require more effort to use. In return, they provide you with more tactical options.
At the core of the design is a mechanic that makes units automatically scramble away when a grenade is thrown at them.
Targets run from a grenade.
But dodging an explosion is not a free move. It costs an action point. So one way to counter is to suppress your targets first, which reduces their AP.
Targets are suppressed first, then eliminated by a grenade.
Chucking a grenade can also force targets out of cover and into potential firing lanes.
Units take into account where a grenade is thrown from. This gives you some control over where they will run away to.
Keep in mind this mechanic applies equally to AI and player units. If a grenade is thrown at your units, they too will run away automatically. I understand you might be concerned because this takes control away from you. But I've spent a lot of time making sure units run away intelligently, taking into account the terrain layout, where a grenade is thrown from, where it lands and the position of enemies. And after a lot playtesting since last year, I think it’s working very well.
Plus, you’ll have other tools to defend against grenades, including special equipment and unit Traits. Here's an example of a soldier with a Trait that throws grenades back if the unit has enough AP.
Soldier with a special Trait throws a grenade back.
Lastly, I just want to remind you that despite your best efforts, your units will die. And that's expected. By design, death is a big part of this game. I want Mars to feel like a meat grinder, not a battle of superheroes. To that end, I'm balancing the game so that the loss of a single soldier will not derail your campaign.
Well, that’s it for this dev log. Look forward to your thoughts in the comments. There's actually a lot more to talk about grenades (different types, physics, throwing accuracy, etc), so I will probably write a part 2 later.
If you don't want to miss future dev logs (they do not appear on the store page), be sure to Follow (and Wishlist!) the game here and these dev logs will appear in your Steam News section. Or you can follow me on Discord, Twitter or Reddit where I always post a link to these. Lastly, you can subscribe to the newsletter if you want an email alert when I make a post.
-Yuji
PS: A very special thanks to DCello for sharing the idea for this mechanic.
Quick Dev Update
Hey everyone, it's been over half a year since the Next Fest demo so I wanted to give you a quick update on what I've been working on.
First, I'm happy to say the game is now in alpha. This means I'm done designing new mechanics and am focusing more on improving everything + adding content. It also means I can post more things here on Steam. If you remember, I began dev logs 2 years ago but it was so early in development that what I wrote about quickly went out of date. However, now I'm ready to share more so expect a new dev log in June.
So what have I been working on during winter and spring? The strategy layer has been 90% of the focus. It took much longer than expected because it's super important. Feedback on the tactical layer has been fantastic, but that means nothing without a good strategy layer. That's why I took extra time to working out the mechanics -- economy, logistics, labor policies, procedural events, squad management -- until they felt right. I'll start sharing more details soon but be sure to watch the PC Gaming Show on June 9th for a preview.
Meanwhile, here are some other dev highlights from the last few months.
Melee weapons and kicking
Morale and surrender mechanics (for both player and AI)
Robots and drones
Artillery/mortar mechanics (still not sure if we need both tbh)
Improving AI, esp teamwork logic when attacking/defending specific objectives
Redesigning UX (building on the painful but important lessons from Next Fest)
Well, that's it for now. Thanks for supporting the game and being patient as I take my time cooking things up. Hope you will tune in on June 9th!
-Yuji
(PS: These post do not appear on the store page unfortunately, but you can click Follow here and they will appear in your Steam News section. Or you can follow me on Discord, Twitter or Reddit where I always post a link to these. Lastly, you can subscribe to the newsletter if you want an email alert when I make a post.)
Mars Tactics Lands on Digital Tabletop Fest 4: Roll of the Dice!
Digital Tabletop Fest 4: Roll of the Dice is a collaborative celebration of tabletop-inspired games and the dedicated developers behind them. From March 7th to March 11th, there will be demos, previews of upcoming titles, and panels with developers.
Mars Tactics fits right in with its focus on a challenging, turn-based approach combined with strategic gameplay. On Mars, you command deeply customizable soldiers across destructible battlefields.
Every commander across the mysterious red planet must manage their supply lines wisely and make strategic decisions to determine the war's outcome.
Wishlist Mars Tactics today and join the fight in 2024!
Hello everyone! Next Fest is over but I'm extending the demo for a week until Oct 23. And as a special thanks to those of you who enjoyed it despite the jank and bugs, I've added some extra content for you. New version is 0.2.28 and it is available now.
(If you are wondering why not just leave the demo up, it's because I find the quality unacceptable. And content makers will make videos using this. When the game is in better shape closer to release, I will upload a permanent demo up.)
New Stuff ✊ New mission "Break Free." Instead of being rescued, the prisoners break out by themselves and use their FISTS to overpower the guards. 😡 New mission "Outpost Defend." As Capital, you're defending the outpost against worker terrorists. This one is VERY HARD and intended for those who have completed everything else in the demo.
Balance 🔰 Cost to escape lowered from 4 AP -> 2 AP. I'm still not happy with this design so this is just a temporary tweak until I figure out how to make escape more interesting and tactical. (Phenomenal View) 😨 Fearless Trait (unit cannot be Suppressed) will not protect from flashbangs. (Abloobloo) 🛩️All units will run from airstrikes a little earlier, increasing chance of survival. As always, Suppress them to pin them in place.
QoL 🎨 Suppression wheel colors tweaked: turns red when Suppression below 100%, purple when below 200%, and black when below 300%. (therewolfmb) ✨ Various UX improvements (Sparalem, Kirrim, SwfDelicious)
Bug Fixes 🐛 Fixed bug that sometimes caused grenades to not explode. (Beaglerush, James) 🐛 Fixed bug where Mission 2 said you failed even if you successfully stole the dropship. (Agent O.Y, Chernobog, Braylord) 🐛 Fixed bug that displayed chance-to-hit behind other UI elements. (Maltavius) 🐛 Fixed bug that caused enemies to flee too quickly (Unoriginal_NameYT)
Thank you everyone for your help and patience. I appreciate if you can continue giving me feedback.
- Yuji (Manhole)
Battle for the Red Planet
As part of Next Fest, Mars Tactics will be streaming a gameplay tutorial video on the store page. Come take a look and try out the demo!
