Mars Tactics News

In conjunction with events including Gamescom, we'll be streaming gameplay footage to the store page here on Steam.

If you'd like to discuss Mars Tactics, come join us at Discord! https://discord.gg/F6wjAh9B4S

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727760

Hi everyone, it's Yuji again for a monthly dev log update. Today I'll talk about permadeath in Mars Tactics and how it differs from other games in the genre.

I'm designing Mars Tactics to be a difficult game. On Mars, death can strike anyone at any moment; none of your units -- not even veterans decked out in the best armor -- should ever truly feel 100% safe. However, losing a unit is especially punishing in Mars Tactics because of the game's unique progression system that creates special one-of-a-kind units. (More on the progression system in a future log.)

So in designing how death works, I wanted to balance the tension of possibly having your units taken from you on any turn while still giving players recourse so that they don't feel cheated by a bad dice roll.

[h3]How it works[/h3]

When a unit's HP drops to 0, they fall to the ground and all their weapons (including throwables such as grenades) are knocked from their hands. During this downed-but-not-out (DBNO) state the unit has just 1 AP limiting their mobility, but they still can:

• Lay still and wait to be rescued
  
• Crawl to safety to be revived by teammates
  
• Crawl to grab a weapon and fire it from a prone position (or grab and throw a grenade)
  
  

Marketa probably won't make it out alive. But at least she will take a baddy down with her.

The key thing is the enemy AI will only target DBNO player units who performed an action in the prior turn. That means if your downed unit lays still they will not be fired upon, and at present there is no death timer for DBNO units.

During my playtesting this has created interesting situations. For example, I kept a downed unit laying still behind enemy lines. Then when the opportunity was right, she crawled to grab a rifle and shot an enemy unit in the back. She was ultimately finished off, but it was an epic moment.

[h3]Pollice Verso[/h3]

Enemy units follow the same rules after being downed. Most will try to crawl to safety. Others will be more brave. As the player, you're free to deal with them as you wish and you can shoot them at any time -- not just after they performed an action. You have many tactical and strategic choices, such as:

• Finish them off and earn experience for your units
  
• Bait other enemy units to come to their rescue, creating ambush opportunities
  
• Keep downed enemy units alive until the end of battle and take them prisoner
  

After battle, captured prisoners can be interrogated for intel or healed back to full health. Showing mercy might convince them to join your cause but there's a chance they will escape and rejoin enemy ranks.

Finishing off an enemy gains your units big experience points. But taking prisoners can also bring benefits.

[h3]DBNO[/h3]

Crucially, DBNO units cannot flee from battle. A unit downed near the edge of the map cannot crawl out of the battlefield, and if your squad flees the battle without reviving your DBNO units, they might become available for rescue in a later mission.

Lastly, when your units are permanently killed, depending on their rank their deaths can be "spent" to acquire various long-term bonuses after battle to help with your campaign. This is another way to reinforce the link between the tactical and strategy layers that I explained in last month's dev log. More on this in future when I go over the strategy layer in detail.

As always, things are subject to change based on feedback during playtesting, but my hope is that giving players options after a unit is downed will create room for interesting decisions and deter save scumming.

That's all for today's dev log - thanks for reading! See you in a month for the next log, and if you're looking for more regular updates, check out my Twitter or join our Discord for WIP screenshots and videos.

Hi I'm Yuji Nakamura, the creator and solo developer of Mars Tactics. In this dev log I want to introduce the main design principles of my game.

The ideas behind Mars Tactics have been kicking around in my head since I was kid, when I began jotting down favorite game mechanics in a Windows 97 spreadsheet. When I finally sat down a year ago to plan my "dream" tactics game and define its scope, all those ideas were distilled into 3 core design goals:

1. Make each battle feel like its taking place in a big, interconnected world
   
2. Set players loose in a destructible sandbox and remove the guard rails
   
3. Celebrate the stories that emerge in the chaos
   

[h3]Connecting Worlds[/h3]

I love tactics games, but sometimes battles can feel like they're happening in a vacuum. Sure, there's a story threading each mission to the next, but there can be a lack of continuity from one battlefield to another. That's why in Mars Tactics I want to tightly integrate the strategy and tactical layers and make each battle feel connected to the rest of the world.

Specifically, in this game both the strategy and tactical layers exist on the same grid - to begin a battle move your squad to the enemy's position on the world map, and once you arrive the camera zooms in on that grid tile and the battle begins. If the enemy squad escapes combat by fleeing east, then back in the world map they will appear one grid tile to the right. It's all fluid, realistic and interconnected.

What's more, positioning your squads before and after each fight will trigger important consequences during combat: friendly or enemy reinforcements and where they come from, available escape routes, as well as ambushes and various buffs and debuffs to troops on the battlefield. With this design, I want to add a deeper layer of strategy and variety to each battle, but also create more meaning and context for each engagement. I'll be sharing more about this in an upcoming dev log.

Yankee and Echo squads setting up an ambush in the strategy layer.

[h3]Tactical Creativity[/h3]

Many tactics games already feel like you're playing in a sandbox -- enemies spawn randomly, the terrain is unpredictable, and you have many ways to win. But with Mars Tactics I want to take this to another level. Here are some examples:

• Shoot at anything, not just enemies. (And I really mean anything.)
  
• Throw equipment or unprimed grenades. Link throws to daisy-chain across the map.
  
• Change loadouts during battle if you find better loot.
  
• Reshape the battlefield by blowing up buildings, vehicles and cover.
  
• Blow a hole in the ceiling, then throw a grenade in that hole.
  
• Use NPCs for cover.
  
• Hijack civilian drones or cameras for recon.
  
• Immobilize an enemy then use them as bait.
  
• Drag immobilized troops to safety. Troops can keep shooting while being dragged.
  
• Send in cheap unarmed rookies and hope they can find a gun -- or at least be useful distractions.
  
• Enter a battle just to steal equipment, then run away.
  

To make all of this possible I'm untangling many common hand-holding systems. It's a risky move that will require balance and iteration, but I'm betting players will ultimately appreciate the freedom to be creative.

Shot took out the enemy and the fence behind them. And yes, you can grab that rifle to swap weapons.

[h3]Chronicle of Cool[/h3]

Sandbox games can generate awesome stories and characters, but after a while it can be easy to forget what happened. So in Mars Tactics I'm doubling down on emergent gameplay while adding ways to capture and remember the cool moments.

For starters, your troops develop traits and skills based on what happens in battle -- a system I call "emergent personalities" that replaces traditional progression trees. For example, if you keep throwing grenades with a rookie, eventually they'll grow into a grenadier. And if that rookie pulls off something really cool like blow up 4 enemies in a single turn, they'll unlock a special powerful ability. There are 80 such abilities in the game right now and I'm working to create more.

Units can also be permanently injured, which creates both negative and positive perks. Overall, I'm designing these systems so on each playthrough you'll develop a group of scrappy misfits like no other.

And to help you remember all this, every soldier will have a detailed bio page so you can go back and look at what happened in each battle. In fact, I'm working on a system to let you save, replay and share your favorite battles. It's a huge technical challenge, but I hope to tell you more later this year or next.

Sorry ladies, still working on female portraits.

Well, that's it for this time. There are other features I haven't mentioned such as Grand Warfare – big battles involving dozens of units and support such as airstrikes and artillery – but I'll get to them in the future. Also excited to share more about the capital vs labor theme. I'll try to post at least one dev log a month going forward until release, but if you want more regular updates, check out my Twitter or Discord for WIP screenshots and videos.

Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone! Join me for a look at the combat mechanics in Mars Tactics, my turn-based tactical combat game. Development is still at an early stage but a lot of the systems are falling in to place. Looking forward to showing them off to you.

Hi everyone! Join me for a first look at the combat mechanics in Mars Tactics, a turn-based tactics game I'm making. The game is still at an early stage but a lot of the mechanics are falling in to place. Looking forward to showing it off to you.