Mars Tactics News

[p]Hey guys, thanks for checking in on the game again. This quarter is when the strategy layer design finally came together for me. The latest build has not yet been tested, but based on my own time with it I think I've got the right recipe.[/p][p]So I'm happy to finally share details publicly about the strategy layer design. I prepared this video for playtesters to get them up to speed with all the new mechanics. If you are interested in a deep dive, feel free to take a look. [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]And if you don't have time to watch it, here's the TLDR[/p]

• [p]The core strategy layer game loop was ripped up and re-designed to front-load rewards. Each battle will offer [/p]
  • [p]immediately useful rewards like soldiers, guns, logi capacity, research topics, etc[/p]
  • [p]immediately investable resource flows to shape long-term strategy[/p]
• [p]Resources design has changed from stockpiling to flows. After capturing infrastructure, you don't have to wait to slowly harvest the yield and grow your stockpile. Instead, you can immediately allocate the resource output flow.[/p]
• [p]Mars map has been re-organized, combining individual mines and outposts into bigger clumps of infrastructure you will battle over[/p]
  • [p]Civilian Infrastructure = provides soldiers and fuels labor and government efforts[/p]
  • [p]Energy Infrastructure = provides better weapons (for Labor) and cash (for Capital), and fuels research and spying[/p]
  • [p]Logistics Infrastructure = allows moving more soldiers and equipment across Mars, and strengthens your manufacturing operations[/p]
  • [p]Settlements = special campaign milestone locations with unique functions[/p]
  • [p]Points of interest = various hidden locations for special events and missions[/p]
• [p]Research can now be unlocked by capturing specific locations. So you can work through the research tree as usual, or jump ahead by winning battles. Another example of front-loading rewards.[/p]
• [p]Social currencies have finally been implemented. Used for various things, including paying salaries and unlocking long-term governance policies.[/p]
• [p]And lastly, the strategy layer changed from turn-based to real-time with pause.[/p]

[p]Mars now is organized into Civilian, Energy, and Logistics infrastructure sectors.[/p][p][/p][p]Government policies for Labor faction (very early implementation).[/p][p][/p][p]Labor micromanagement has been streamlined. But the consequences are the same. Your own workers will still turn on you if you allow them. (Yes, even in the Labor campaign.)[/p][p][/p][p]How will you treat your workers?[/p][p][/p][p]I don't know why but strategy layer feels better in real-time with pause. I wonder if that's why Xcom UFO Defense and Jagged Alliance devs did the same.[/p][p][/p][p]I'm now in the final stages of getting the new build into playtester hands. Hopefully it goes well and then I'll know better about demo and release timing.[/p][p]Thank you for your support and your patience. Last month marked exactly 4 years since I began sketching stuff in a notebook and wrote the first lines of code. I never thought it would take this long, but the project is still going strong. And most of all I'm relieved to make meaningful progress with the strategy layer. This was the hardest part of development so far and I'm really grateful for the community's help and support.[/p][p][/p][p]-Yuji[/p]

Hey guys, thanks for checking in on the game.

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:

[h2]Gunsmith[/h2]

• 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.
  [previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Infiltration[/h2]

• 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.
  

[h2]World Map, Logistics, Research[/h2]

• 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

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

1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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

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

Recent marketing stuff:

• PC Gaming Show Trailer (June 2024)
• Dev Log #04: Grenades
• Dev Log #05: Destruction
• Dev Log #06: Shooting and Ballistics
• Dev Log #07: World of Mars Tactics (coming soon!)
  

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.

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.

[h2]Chance-to-Hit[/h2]

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.

[h2]Realistic Weapons[/h2]

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!!

-Yuji

Prior dev-logs:

• Dev Log #01: Vision
• Dev Log #03: Personality System
• Dev Log #04: Grenades
• Dev Log #05: Destruction