Occupy Mars: Prologue cover
Occupy Mars: Prologue screenshot
Steam
Genre: Simulator, Adventure, Indie

Occupy Mars: Prologue

DevLog #57: Release Date Announcement

Greetings, fellow Martians!



We wanted to share some exciting news about our upcoming game release and what we've been working on lately.

As many of you may have noticed, we've been updating our Steam Page and other official pages with more screenshots and information. We had to temporarily change the visible release date from April to Q2 (because Steam requires a concrete day announced at least 2 weeks before the end of the month and we didn't have that confirmed yet), but we can now happily confirm the official Early Access release date.

The game will be launching simultaneously on Steam, EPIC, and GOG platforms on May 10th, 2023!

We are in contact with the publishing teams of these platforms to ensure a smooth launch.

We have also released the Colonist FAQ thread, which answers many gameplay-related questions (beware of spoilers!). We hope it will be helpful once you get your hands on the game.

Additionally, we've launched the Steam page of the optional Occupy Mars: Supporter Pack DLC, which includes the soundtrack, artbook, and other artistic content that will be released with the game.

Our team is currently determining the final list of features that will be available in the Early Access release, which we'll share in our next devlog. All the other functionalities will be subsequently enabled in the future updates. We are working hard to ensure a smooth game release, that is also why we have paused our weekly streams recently - to focus 100% on delivering the Early Access build to you.

We appreciate your patience and support as we prepare for the Early Access launch.

See you on Mars on May 10th!

Best regards,
The Occupy Mars Team

DevLog #56: Kickstarter Summary, Early Access Progress & Tight Beam from Mars

Dear Martians!



Welcome to another DevLog - this time we have plenty of topics to discuss.

1. Kickstarter Summary



As you might know, our Kickstarter Campaign ended on February 17th after 31 days and it was a great success! Over 2662 Martians backed our project and we crossed the magical 400% Funded mark.

In total 13 Stretch Goals were unlocked with the last one: Automated Excavation being unlocked during the last few hours of the campaign!🥳



In the last few Kickstarter Updates you can read about:

2. Kickstarter Rewards



Now that Kickstarter had ended, we're preparing to send rewards to our amazing backers.
According to plan: most of the digital rewards should be sent in March, and the Physical Collector's Edition Boxes should be ready to send in May.



3. Early Access Build Progress



We are working hard on the final Early Access Build. There's still a few things to do in order to give you the news you're all waiting for – about Early Access release date.

Currently our internal goal is to release Early Access by the end of March or April. The final date depends on final testing and balancing the game. We'll make the announcement as soon as we're ready.



4. Freeplay Rebalance & Vehicle Building



In the last devlog we've shown the progress with New Inventory, Tutorials and Interior Lighting.

Today we want to show you the progress regarding Freeplay rebalance and Vehicle Spawning, as well as progress with the Tech Tree.

The Tech Tree in the game has been expanded. With many more technologies and blueprints to unlock. Those changes are connected with the game rebalance and with the way vehicles are spawned.

At the beginning of the Freeplay (Sandbox) mode player will start without vehicles. At first our Martian will have to survive based on the resources available in the landing capsule. First few nights will require sleeping in the capsule as well. But soon after, by unlocking new technologies and blueprints, he will be able to travel further and further away from the starting location, mine more resources, build buildings, new equipment and eventually also build vehicles.

We believe this rework will give a much greater sense of progression and satisfaction from gameplay.




5. Tight Beam From Mars: Episode 9 - Growing Plants



For those who might have missed it - we have released another Episode of Tight Beam from Mars. In Episode #9 we are focusing on Plant Cultivation where we explain the details about how it works in our game vs real simulated Mars bases. Watch the new Episode 9 below:


If you haven't seen the previous episodes yet, here's the full playlist.

In the next Episode #10 we will talk about Energy Production and Survival Events.

6. Occupy Mars: Colony Builder - Mobile tests started



We have started the tests of our mobile game Occupy Mars: Colony Builder.

Over 300 backers are already playing the Android & iOS Beta version, reporting bugs and helping us balance it before the release. We have also released a new teaser trailer of Occupy Mars: Colony Builder - you can watch it below:


7. Thank you!



Once again, we'd like to thank each and every one of you – our backers and everyone here on Steam who believes in us. It's thanks to you that this project has come this far and we have no words to describe how thankful we are for your support throughout all these years.

We're working hard to bring you a truly memorable experience.

Yours Truly Grateful,
Occupy Mars Team

DevLog #53: Beta status & 10th Kickstarter goal unlocked

Dear Martians!



Beta Status Update



As the recent build v0.99.9.3 was met with positive reception and our playtesters have noted a vast improvement over the previous build, we’re moving this build from the public_testing branch to the default branch on Steam.

To whoever has yet to update the Beta to the latest version, we recommend starting a new game as saves from the previous versions might not work properly after the update.



We thank all of you who participated in Beta for all the feedback and bug reports we have received from you so far. Occupy Mars: The Game has come a long way since we first started Beta and it’s all thanks to you. We now have a much better understanding regarding what requires our attention. That’s why we’d like to let you know that this update is the final update for Beta. Any more days spent on improving the Beta would delay the long awaited Early Access. That’s why we think it’s about time to move on to the next stage. From here onwards, we’re focusing solely on preparing a final Early Access build.

Known Issues in Beta v0.99.9.3:

  • rover door can be opened partially and blocked in that position if player instantly after clicking on the door uses hotbar to pull out any tool. That can be reversed by doing the same thing,
  • when player puts partially crushed rock in the tipper, sometimes it doesn’t crumble. In that case try to grab it and put it again in different spot in tipper,
  • sometimes player can see "holes" in the map in places when two parts of the map are connected. Saving and reloading fixes problem,
  • some weather effects can affect the player even if he is inside a base,
  • abandoned bases may disappear and appear after loading the game,
  • there might still be problems with rover extensions and/or skill points in tech tree,
  • in some PC configurations players can experience significant drop of FPS in FPP mode,
  • inability to skip sleeping in some rare cases,
  • seed machine can sometimes duplicate seed tanks,
  • some parts of abandoned bases don't disappear when the base is scrapped.

Important notes:

  • there are several smaller but non game breaking bugs in the tutorials, there will be different tutorials in the full Early Access build so please don't report bugs regarding those,
  • there are several non critical bugs that do not break the game but may cause inconvenience for the players, both of those categories will be fixed for EA,
  • if you are playing on save from previous version building connectors will need to be removed and replaced due to the fix to stop you going outside through them,
  • as we introduce new tutorials and campaign mode we have to shift focus from the beta version to prepare the build for Early Access.


Kickstarter Progress



We did it! We just crossed the 80 000 CA$ stretch goal, which means that “Dexter'' goal has been unlocked! A crafting mechanic will be added to the game, which will allow you to create chemical compounds!

It’s the 10th goal of this campaign and we’re only now halfway into the campaign. In 2 weeks, we’re already 265% funded and we have 17 days left!

Just look how far we’ve come!



Next stop – “Liftoff!”, which will unlock once we gather another 10 000 CA$. Can we do it?

Big thank you to over 1 680 Martians who have supported the project so far! There are still plenty of goals waiting for us, so let’s keep going!

Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

Occupy Mars The Game campaign is 100% funded!

Dear Martians,



Are we there yet?





Yes, we are!


Thanks to all our amazing backers, Occupy Mars: The Game Kickstarter campaign has been funded in less than a day! Polished Early Access stretch goal has been unlocked!

Thank you so much, we’re overwhelmed with all the support we have received! The funds gathered so far will help us cover costs of promoting the game prior to its Early Access release and make it possible to give you an even better game on the launch day!

Currently, there are over 650 Mars enthusiasts supporting our project! We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We’re now sending out Beta keys to all backers who have “Instant Steam Access to Occupy Mars Beta” included among their pledge rewards. We are still improving the Beta and the next Beta build update should be ready in a few days, it will be automatically updated on Steam.

Let’s keep going! Can we reach the next two stretch goals?





We’d also like to thank each and every one of you who spreads the word about the game. It’s also in big part thanks to you that we were able to reach the first goal!

Let’s make this game amazing together!

Click here to go to Kickstarter page

You can rewatch Kickstarter launch stream on Twitch, YouTube and Steam.

If you’d like to talk about the game or Kickstarter, reach out to us in discussion thread or visit our Discord server.



Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

Devlog #51: Occupy Mars Kickstarter Campaign is now live!


Dear Martians!



We’re excited to announce that today – 17 January – we’re launching a Kickstarter campaign for Occupy Mars: The Game!

Click here to go to Kickstarter page



Kickstarter staff has recognized our love and effort poured into the project and awarded the campaign with Project We Love badge! ❤️

As you know, we’ve been working on the game for a long time. The last few months have been particularly intense as we launched the Beta and our amazing community has been helping us with finding and squashing bugs – all to bring you the most polished Early Access version possible! :)



Now that this stage of development is nearing its completion, we need to make sure the game reaches as many players and aspiring Martians as possible. This is the main purpose of our Kickstarter and the funds we gather from this campaign will be used for promoting the game prior to its release in Early Access.

This is where you all come in! Your support has carried us this far and on this last lap, we ask for your help one more time! Give the campaign your support and spread the news wherever you can! By choosing an appropriate pledge on Kickstarter, you can get access to the Beta along with the Early Access version of the game right on the day of its release. If you have any friends who might be interested in the game, let them know about it as well!

Our campaign will last for 31 days. Early Access release date will follow soon after the campaign’s end. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the discussion thread and if you’d like to talk about the game or Kickstarter, drop by our Discord server.



Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

Devlog #50: Beta Update & Kickstarter Status
Here is the previous devlog that has been published last month on Occupy Mars: The Game page:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/758690/view/3480747995742366774
It includes the roadmap, Kickstarter announcement and answers many of the questions we received from our community.


Hello, Martians!



Welcome to our 50th Monthly Devlog! We have just released the long-awaited Beta Update v0.99.2 which includes big changes such as:

New Interaction System



An important rework of the interaction system has been completed and playtesters can now check it out. It was a very important milestone on our roadmap to Early Access, which should address one of the most frequently reported issues - to make the controls more responsive and more user friendly.



The most important thing you should know about the New Interaction System is that now:

* pressing 1x LMB = picks up an item to your hand, and then:
--- the second time you press LMB = it will collect the item from your hand into your inventory
--- if you are holding any tool then of course the LMB will intuitively use that tool
--- press 2x LMB quickly (or hold CTRL+LMB) to take the item from the ground directly to your inventory (no more hold and wait!)

* pressing 1x RMB = stop using tool or drop other item from your hand on the ground
--- you also need to press RMB to cancel any action such as sitting in the Vehicle or Workbench
--- keep in mind that the ESC button will no longer work to cancel actions because we've introduced...

New Pause Menu



After carefully analyzing your requests and after many discussions we decided to add the new ESC Menu.
- All the game settings, saves and control settings were moved from the Tablet to the new Pause Menu
- You can now press ESC at any time during the gameplay (except a few places) to open the Pause Menu which is separate from the Tablet functionality.



New Main Menu Experience



Today we also have something special for you: the new main menu you know from our last weekly streams has been merged with the Beta branch so now you can admire it in its full glory. We've also uploaded a music video from it - a 4K artistic experience - you can watch it now on our YouTube channel:


If you love it like we do, you can listen it on repeat here ➡️ https://pls.watch/#v=uOsiigPeF1I 😉

Beta Update Changelog


v0.93.3 -> v0.99.2

New features:

  • New Interaction System
  • New Pause Menu
  • New Main Menu Experience
  • Added small 3D Printer in Landing Capsule
  • Added small CO2 Scrubber in Landing Capsule
  • Added text captions to voice notification system

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed Pump UI values going out of frame
  • Fixed infinite lightning storm sometimes happening
  • Fixed starting capsule light, power and oxygen
  • Fixed battery building collider limitations
  • Fixed the wind power of dust devils
  • Fixed water tank changing color after detonation
  • Fixed resetting vehicles in hangar
  • Fixed hand-holding position of multiple objects
  • Fixed 3D printing UI and dropdowns
  • Fixed vehicles getting explosion damage
  • Fixed Rover driving slower when full
  • Fixed overwriting autosave/quicksave
  • Fixed ores spawning in caves of Olympus Mons
  • Fixed sleeping in landing capsule chairs
  • Fixed meteor shower giving mechanics experience
  • Fixed Air compressor Tool
  • Fixed radiation Geiger sounds
  • Fixed rocks loading on trailer during world shifting
  • Fixed some player animations (jumping, crouching, interactions)
  • Fixed postprocessing on screenshots of saved games
  • Fixed saving loot items from destroyed bases
  • Fixed saving player inside caves
  • Fixed holding more than one item in hand
  • Fixed dirt on Rover after sandstorm
  • Fixed Rover trailer self detach
  • Fixed damaging crusher after parking Rover on it
  • Fixed Rover welder with/without container
  • Fixed mouse acceleration setting save
  • Fixed lightsource in HQ and other buildings
  • Fixed saving game during repairing pcb board
  • Fixed Well UI screen interaction
  • Fixed battery capacity calculation after destroying battery upgrades
  • Improved Heavy Rover wheels
  • Improved DragBuilder interactions
  • Improved interior lights in buildings
  • Improved buildings Lobby, Cantina and others
  • Improved graphics option (added TerrainPixelError)
  • Improved player hands animations
  • Improved text massage panel on the right
  • Improved quality on lower graphics settings
  • Improved small pickable rocks, more pickup types
  • Optimization of GPU materials instancing on dynamic objects
  • Balance Fix - Dust on solar panels disappeared too quickly
  • Multiple translations improvements
  • ...and more

Known Issues in this version:

  • Composter is not working in this build.
  • Once you dump rocks from the trailer into the crusher you need to save & load, otherwise you won't be able to load the trailer with rocks again.
  • The New Interaction System should also work with gamepad controllers however we didn't have time to properly test it yet, let us know if there are any problems.

  • Warning! Do not play with headphones as there are a few sounds which are too loud playing during the loading of the game as well as during the game when new terrain chunks with abandoned bases are generated.


  • Warning! Before playing please reset your controls settings to default in main menu after updating to this version, otherwise new interactions may cause strange issues.


The above mentioned known issues will hopefully be fixed in the next 0.99.x build. Please let us know if you find any more issues.

100th Development Sprint!



Our plan currently is that builds up to version v0.99.x will be the last builds for the beta, and builds v0.100+ will go only to the main game Early Access branch so that we can focus on the main game release and make sure everything is polished there.

Build v0.100 is a great milestone - it means that we have completed over 100 2-week sprints while working on the game since the beginning. Looking back at those 5 years, it’s hard to imagine the amount of work we’ve put into it, we hope you will enjoy it. For the next build, we'll be focusing on the most important Tech Tree and Balance changes necessary before Early Access Release.

Kickstarter Status



As we promised in our Previous Update, we’d like to let you know about the status of the upcoming Kickstarter campaign as soon as anything clarifies.

Just before Christmas we've learned that another Kickstarter campaign for a different game was started on the same partner account so we need to wait until it ends. We were surprised by this but, after talking to advisors experienced with Kickstarters they said it's a good thing because campaigns during Winter Holidays historically aren't as successful and that January is better time. So after talking it over, we’ve accepted this fact since this is better for the game as well.

So we can finally confirm that our Kickstarter campaign will launch on January 17th. That also means that Early Access release will come later than January 2023 (after the Kickstarter finishes). As for our talks with potential international publishers (mentioned in the last devlog) they are still ongoing so we'll keep you posted once we have some more information about it.

We’ve also made a small update to the game’s official page - added a countdown for Kickstarter Launch:



More beta invites



Each new Beta build comes with new Beta invitations, so we're giving access to the Beta to more players. As we feel this update is particularly important, we’re now granting access to the Beta to additional 7 000 randomly chosen players from those registered in the Steam Playtest system. With this, 10 000 players should now have access to the Beta version! That's a lot!



To all of you who find Occupy Mars: The Game Playtest version in their Steam library – we hope you'll enjoy the game and please remember to give us your feedback!

Sharing your feedback



A separate Sub-Forum on Steam called Beta Discussions was created for those who have access: LINK
After playing please also remember to fill our Beta Survey: LINK

We also have dedicated channel on our Discord server!



Sorry we were unable to post this before Christmas but all this clarified on the last moment and also some of us got sick (Flu Season), but now we are back at work with full speed! :)

Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

DevLog #49: Transparency Update

Dear Martians!



In case you missed the devlog #49 published back in November on Occupy Mars: The Game page, we're reposting this devlog here. The latest devlog is #50 and you can find it here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/758690/announcements/detail/3644005452181833481

In this post we want to lay all our cards on the table with the hopes that it will clear up any confusion or misconceptions that may have arisen over time. Also we want to show you our plans and what's ahead.



Our goal was always to make this game with the community and for the community and this goal hasn't changed since the beginning, however the road to get to this point was long and bumpy, and we weren't aware of many challenges related to building such a complex game when we first announced it.

Yes, the game was announced way too early.
Yes, we made mistakes in communicating with players.
Yes, the development took us way longer than we expected.
Yes, we've set ourselves deadlines in the past which we weren't able to meet.
Yes, we've overcomplicated a few mechanics and had to redo them many times.
Yes, we didn't have enough funding or experience when we started working on such an ambitious project.
Yes, we were naĂŻve at the beginning. But we treated those stumbles as a learning experience and we never stopped working on the game.

Our story



We started working on the game in 2017 and the first specific release date we've set for ourselves was in 2019, but then we started to find more bugs and we quickly realized that without any demo or beta version we don't know if players will enjoy our game at all. We decided that making a Demo (preferably in the form of a free-to-play prequel - The Prologue) is the best way to gauge the interest in the game and to gather feedback about the gameplay as well as performance on different machines.

Aside from a few issues to fix, releasing The Prologue in 2020 was a success - both in terms of gaining the community's interest and the percentage of positive reviews. Our plan at that time was to release the Early Access a few months after the Prologue with all the buildings available at the time unlocked and without translations other than English. But an overwhelming feedback from players and from investors made us realize that the expectations for this game are a lot higher and that with additional funding we were able to gather, we could not only add translations, but make this game a lot better overall - that's why we decided to postpone the 2020 Early Access release.

Then we focused on: updating the Prologue, making the workshop in-game bug reporting system, fixing reported issues and adding translations to the prologue. Later we switched our focus to upgrading the main game - especially the graphics, upgrading the engine version and re-making, among other things, new vehicle physics, detailed player creator and a new, more realistic terrain system. Basically the whole game was reworked to be better, more detailed and more realistic but it took more time than expected.

Fast forward to 2022 - a year of Occupy Mars: The Game Early Access release (as we initially planned). In the first quarter of this year we launched Beta Playtest Signups and over 30k people signed up to the Beta in less than a month. We can't select which of those people gets Beta Access, we can only select countries and type the number of people. After overwhelming feedback from the Prologue we knew that for the Beta we needed a slower approach. We prepared detailed feedback forms and started letting people in – a few hundred more with each build – in order to have time to read their feedback after each build and fix reported issues.

The majority of people were still waiting for access mostly because translations for languages other than English were not ready and also because we realized we need to completely re-balance the Freeplay sandbox mode to allow more gradual progress of Technology Trees (not easily doable in the Early Access phase - doing so would make the gameplay completely different, and such an update would render all previous saves invalid, which we wanted to avoid). This turned out to be another daunting task which consumed many months of this year. Simultaneously our team grew and we divided our work into sub-teams (one focusing on the campaign mode which was not enabled in the beta, another one on the core functionality, another one on the initial Co-Op mode development etc).

Suddenly we are in Q4 and we were strongly advised (by people much more experienced in the gaming industry) against releasing in the "hottest AAA timeframe" which is around Christmas / last months of the year. Meanwhile we also had to prepare graphics materials and build pipelines in preparation to simultaneous launch on Steam, Epic and GOG. Therefore Early Access release has been moved to Q1 2023.

The case of Publisher - do we have one or not after all?


This story is also more complicated than it seems. Most people don't know that PlayWay is not a typical publisher. They help companies like ours at an early stage, they share their know-how but they don't "Publish" the game for us in the normal meaning of the word - we Publish it on our account with their guidance and advice, but we are still a small team without a marketing budget.

That being said, we don't rule out the possibility that we will look for another / external publishing partner because we are aware that without a marketing budget for advertising on release - all these years of development may go for nothing if not enough people know about the game.

We want to keep expanding this game after the Early Access release and add the Co-Op mode, but for that to happen the release needs to sustain us financially well enough so that we can keep the lights (and computers) on for the Mars team for the next 6-12 months. If we find a publisher who can support us, there is a possibility the game will get delayed to fulfill publisher's suggestions.

Beta Status



The Beta is still ongoing, we are still working on translations and the rebalance changes mentioned above and we will open the beta to more players when it's feasible for us to do so. The game will be much better after those updates. The beta will be finally disabled the day before the Early Access launch. You can follow the beta changelogs here.



Upcoming Kickstarter



We have prepared a Kickstarter Campaign to be launched very soon which will help spread the word about the upcoming release of our game. It will also help us determine the next steps. Depending on the unlocked campaign goals we will set the priorities of updates after Early Access release.

Preparing the Kickstarter campaign was also an opportunity to create unique perks and rewards that we want to make available to you as a thank you to our loyal community. Make sure to follow the Kickstarter Page to get notified on launch.



Roadmap



That's not all, because we are working on a Detailed Roadmap [WIP] showing much more information about game's current state and what functionalities and mechanics we plan to add in the future.

This is only the first version of the roadmap, we want to update it together with you - our community, and it will definitely be updated after the Kickstarter campaign.



Weekly Streams



Since March 2022, every Thursday evening (at 5pm CET) we are doing regular weekly streams (Chat & Pizza with developers) on our Twitch and Youtube channels where we are showing progress of the game and where curious ones can take a peek at the current state of the game. For example our last stream:
https://youtu.be/n43hHliMy2M?t=622

Monthly Devlogs



We'd also like to remind you that the Monthly Devlogs are also a thing and we'll keep publishing them on Steam. The Devlogs are dedicated to Early Access content, and generally what's happening in the team, not only about the Beta. Scroll down to read them all here. For example our last devlog:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/758690/announcements/detail/3410939663290390665

Summary



So this is our story, sorry for a longer devlog than usual.
As you can see it was rough - but we've made it so far and we have no intention of giving up now!

And now we are entering the final preparations for the Early Access release.
We want all of you to enjoy this game and expand the Early Access together with us.

We aim to give you the best game we can, but we are aware and ready for the needs for improvements that might arise after our Early Access release. The game won't be perfect on release (that's what Early Access is for after all, to iron out such problems), but we want to focus on the future and be as open and transparent as we possibly can. We know we did a lot of things wrong, but this update is our first step towards repairing that.



Yours,
Occupy Mars Team

Vote for Occupy Mars: Prologue in the Steam Awards 2022!

Dear Martians!



The Occupy Mars universe has been in the development process since 2017, and from the very beginning this project has been our tough and very demanding love.

Your feedback has made this game much better, but thanks to it we also know better what you expect from the full version of Occupy Mars: The Game, which will be released soon. Thank you!

If you feel the deck of feelings contained in this project please vote for the Occupy Mars: Prologue in Labour of Love category.



P.S. Remember to follow the full game as important announcements are coming!

Devlog #48: Progress & Mars Society Convention

Hello, Martians!



It’s time for us to report on our development progress since our last devlog.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/758690/announcements/detail/3258938103877676844

If you’re watching our streams on Twitch, you might be familiar with some of these features. Nevertheless, we hope this devlog will give a better picture of the game’s current state.

FOUNDATIONS



We have implemented foundations into the building system. They come in various shapes. In the future, the system will be improved to allow building on those foundations.



UI CHANGES



Pop-up notifications have been added to many options in Main Menu and in tablet UI, with one of the most important ones being an additional window “Do you want to leave the game?” requiring final confirmation from the player. Moreover, with new features and new panels added to tablet UI, interface’s overall design has been polished to make sure it’s consistent across all panels. Main Menu has been rearranged and modified according to players and our testing team’s feedback to make it easier to navigate and more legible.



INFOPANELS



Information about missions and tutorials has been moved to the Tips panel for easier access. Tips panel will now feature tips along with your current tasks.

DETAILS



Arrows have been added to ghosts of various objects in building mode to indicate where the plug is and to help players place those objects with that in mind.



Tools upgrading system and plant models have been improved. We also continue polishing astronaut’s animations. A sorting mechanic has been added to better organize the contents of your inventory.


TECH BOARDS



Special Tech Boards have been included in the game. They are spread all around Mars and give a boost to your Tech Tree abilities. Highlighting mechanic has been added to make it easier to locate them when you get close enough. After finding Tech Board and interacting with it, its data is automatically downloaded to Tablet, where you can find information about Tech Tree points you’re earned.



CABINETS



It’s now possible to build a cabinet inside the buildings. Various items can be safely put there. This cabinet’s purpose is to give you some place for storing your items. While it will definitely help with keeping your base tidy, you have to remember that it won’t prevent your food from spoiling.



GREENHOUSE UPGRADES



Greenhouse Tutorial has made it back to the game and domes now come with soil management mechanic. It’s possible to build a composter which will allow you to make use of any leftover materials to improve the quality of your crops.



ALERTS



New music track has been added to let you know when your buildings have been damaged and require immediate attention. What’s more, flickering red lights inside the damaged buildings will alert you about the danger.



We are now working on improving tutorials. Electricity system tutorial in particular will require an overhaul to introduce players to functionality of circuit breakers.

ROCKET LAUNCHER



Lastly, we have added the long awaited anti-meteor rocket launcher! If you’re fed up with sleeping through meteor storms and you don’t like the idea of fixing your base afterwards, this rocket launcher allows you to shoot down threatening meteors before they hit your home.



MARS SOCIETY CONVENTION



That would be all we have to show you for today. However, we are preparing a few big announcements for you. In just a few more hours, on October 20th at 2 PM PST our CEO will participate in the Mars Society Convention with a presentation about Occupy Mars development. Check out the event’s website if you’re looking forward to Occupy Mars: The Game, keep your eyes on our social media profiles and News tab here on Steam!

https://www.marssociety.org



Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

Devlog #46: Survival Fest & Development Progress

Hello, Martians!



Today is the last day of the Survival Festival. Now that more players have tried out Occupy Mars: Beta and Prologue, let’s talk about development progress of the upcoming Early Access release! We’d like to show you a few things we’ve been working on.

Updated UI


We mentioned a few times in the past that we were reworking the UI, adding new interfaces for many new features that weren’t in the game before and polishing the existing ones. In the previous devlog and during our streams, you could see the new Sleeping panel. This time, we’d like to show you:

New Messages Panel




New Inventory




And last but not least, menu of one of the more complex features in the game…

Tech Tree – work in progress




More options and customization


Now, you have even more options to adjust the game to your needs! To be more specific, there are many more options visible in the Graphics section right off the bat. Some of those could be accessed in the main Quality tab, but now they are split into more visible individual settings.

Here is what you’ll be able to set:



Let us tell you about the "Always render environment" option. Terrain rendering allows you to decide whether you’d like to have the terrain visible from inside your buildings or not. It mostly affects the buildings with windows – if the option is checked, you will see the view outside your window. If the option is not checked, scenery outside will be replaced with simulation – not necessarily accurate to your surroundings, but believable enough to not bother you much.

It’s a very useful feature optimization-wise as it allows you to reduce GPU’s usage and make the game run smoothly if you experience lag in the game. Losing that nice view from your window is a minor loss in comparison. :)

There were also some issues related to saving on specific devices – we have changed the way the game is saved and hopefully, that will solve those issues.

Time (and testing) will tell!

Mechanic improvements


We continuously improve existing game mechanics. The controls of Seed Tool and the Air Pressure Tool have been slightly changed. After taking out the tool, you can now press Up and Down arrow keys to choose the magazine you want. Menu to the right gives you an overview of seeds you have.



We’ve been further improving mechanic of drilling and rock mining. Rock analysis with the upgraded Spectral Detector on 2nd and 3rd level has also been vastly improved.



We have also made changes to temperatures and adjusted damage player receives due to low temperature. In the past, player was receiving set amount of damage throughout time frame of 5 PM and 6 AM. Now, damage received is proportional to temperature. Time no longer matters. At -40 Celsius degree player starts receiving damage. The lower the temperature (usually at night but not necessarily), the higher the damage.

Another useful feature is a list that you can keep on your screen to help you keep track of materials you need for building. All you need to do is to go to Tablet menu, choose a building from a list of building and click on in with right mouse button. A list will appear to your left which will remain there even after leaving the tablet menu.



Quality of life improvements


Alongside all of this, we have made some quality of life improvements – not as spectacular, minor additions and some readjustments, but with everything else, they should improve the gameplay experience. Mouse sensitivity has been corrected, as well as camera movement during sleeping animation. Full controller support has been included in the Main Menu. Moreover, during tutorial missions, you can view the gamepad controls. When choosing your landing location on Mars globe, you can manually rotate the globe.



Some music to soothe the soul


We’re working on a certain feature which will allow you to listen to your own music in-game – a radio! It’s still a work in progress and a subject to change, but here is overview of how it works for now:

Before launching the game, just add your favourite songs to an appropriate folder. They will all appear in a menu on the Tablet, from where you can arrange them into playlists.



Once you’re done, all that’s left is to build a radio and place it in your preferred place. Music will play automatically whenever you’re in the radio’s range and if you’d like to stop the music, just click on the radio. You can destroy it and thus move it to your Inventory if you’d like to change its location later. All your playlists are saved, so you can come back to them anytime.



All these improvements are developed alongside fixes for the Beta version. Even more content is coming as a lot of these new features are work in progress. We have yet to tell you about the rocket launcher, but that’s a story for another devlog as we’re still working on it. :)

Previous devlogs


If you're catching up with development on Occupy Mars: Prologue page, you might notice that devlog #44 and #45 are missing – that's because these 2 devlogs were mostly focused on Beta status. You can see read them here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/758690/announcements/detail/3360263387975427018
https://steamcommunity.com/games/758690/announcements/detail/3360263388001738354

Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team
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