Occupy Mars: The Game News

We have some exciting news to share with you! Read about our plans below.

First and foremost we would like to thank you for continued support and amazing feedback we receive from you, especially on our Discord server. For those who weren’t following the development too closely - we want to assure you that Occupy Mars: The Game is in active development, and every day we are getting closer to the release.

As stated in the previous devlog 3 weeks ago, due to Coronavirus situation, we had to adjust to a new reality and switch to remote work. We will continue to work in this distributed mode for the foreseeable future until the global situation resolves. The virus mixed up our plans and development schedule but we believe the health of our team is more important.

Since the computers in our office are now not used we decided to join the fight and installed Folding@Home on many office machines to help find the cure for the Virus while we work from the safety of our homes. We’ve also created a Pyramid Games Folding Team so you can follow our progress here.



We are slowly ramping up the development again and we will use this additional time to make the game even better. We are currently focussing on improving the game’s performance, improving the UI and tutorial missions, adding translations and fixing bugs.

We know you can’t wait for Occupy Mars and we want to give it to you as fast as possible, especially due to the fact that most of you are stuck at home. That’s why we’ve decided to prepare a Free Demo / Beta version of Occupy Mars allowing you to test game mechanics and help us catch bugs before the reveal of our big game. Your feedback will help us polish the game and also test our recently finished dedicated Workshop Bugerporting System (WBS).

Let’s put out some fires in the beta version together ːsteamhappyː



The Free Demo / Beta version of Occupy Mars will be available as soon as we get approval from our Publisher and Steamworks. The beta will release first to our most active Discord members and then slowly to more and more people. We don’t want to announce exact days anymore as there are too many variables at play in these difficult times.

Stay safe, stay strong and help us make Occupy Mars the best Mars game possible!

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P.S. also remember to follow Rover Mechanic Simulator if you haven't already, as our second team is working on the Curiosity Update which will add the big rover and many additional hours of gameplay.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/

Today we are back with the new interesting content from the game for you!

Self-sustaining Martian Colony requires constant source of energy. Once you’ve built your first base you have to provide energy access to power your buildings and other facilities.



Electricity is needed to power the equipment and heating system inside the buildings. Of course you also need electricity to have a light inside your buildings. Take greenhouse, for example. In order to grow plants you have to provide light, which is the key element of photosynthesis.

What is more, sustaining life requires you to constantly pump out carbon dioxide that easily accumulates in hermetically closed quarters. Electrical power is everything when it comes to survival on Mars.



Electricity can be generated from solar panels. For energy storage you have to build batteries. During the Martian nights, batteries provide electrical power and keep the whole Colony supplied with electricity. The batteries recharge during the day so the whole process can repeat until you come up with a different method of producing electricity. Solar panels and batteries can be upgraded.



For energy management you have to build transformers that have to be connected to the batteries and the buildings by cables. Once everything is connected properly, all of your buildings in the colony are supplied with electricity. When your colony eventually grows bigger, you’ll need more effective power supplies, but this is the topic for another devlog.



If you have any questions or just want to know more about the game, feel free to join our Discord server!

Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758690/Occupy_Mars_The_Game/

P.S. Due to Coronavirus entering our country and city, Polish government is closing all schools, universities, cinemas etc. Many companies shut down as well. We will be working less hours and mostly remotely for the next few weeks. This will have an impact on the final release date of Occupy Mars, but we believe the health of our team is more important. We will also use this additional time to think-through the gameplay and make it even better. Keep following our game and see you in the next update!

P.S.2. If you can’t wait to visit Mars, there’s an update to our smaller game: Rover Mechanic Simulator coming tomorrow with additional features and support for multiple languages!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator/

Discover the secrets of Mars Rovers with Rover Mechanic Simulator! Early Access starts today!

If you had been excited about the Pathfinder Mission, watched the Spirit rover take the first Martian selfie, or if you are waiting for a safe start of the Mars2020 mission or other rovers this year, we have something for you.

You can now buy Rover Mechanic Simulator Early Access -15% off! The discount will be valid for the next week!

Also: we are streaming live on Steam, Twitch and YouTube!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator

It’s 2020 and you’re soon going to Mars! Good preparation is the key to the success of the mission, so today we’re continuing our devlog series with another important topic.

In previous devlogs we showed that establishing a self-sustaining Martian Colony plays a crucial role in colonizing Mars. But building a Martian Habitat is a difficult task due to uneven terrain of the planet. There are also some places where you can’t build anything so choosing a good building site is essential.



Today’s post focuses on the building process in Occupy Mars and is complementary to Devlog #17. After you've gathered resources and printed enough Building Materials - constructing actual buildings begins with the design mode. First, you have to select a building from the building menu and check if it can be placed in selected location. Remember that you can only place it there if the outline appears in green colour. When the building turns red, it means that you can’t build it there.



You can freely try different locations for the building. At this stage, you can adjust the foundation height of the building, which enables you to build on uneven terrain, but once you actually place it on the soil, its colour turns to white and you can no longer move it around the map. If you don’t like the outlined construction that you've already placed, you can still destroy it without losing resources by using a grinder.



You can connect different building sections or corridors by snapping them one by one or (in case of uneven terrain) by joining them with one of the types of the “slope corridor” - which is especially helpful when you want to connect constructions built on different levels.

Remember that if the foundations of your building are not high enough, you will have problems with adjusting other structures or objects. If the construction has high foundations, you’ll have to build ramps in order to get inside. Keep in mind that ramps can only be attached to airlocks. When it comes to airlocks - remember to build them in pairs, otherwise the inside pressure can push you away when opening the door.

Of course, placing an “outline” of your base is just the beginning, now you need to “get your hands dirty” and make use of your Crusher, 3D Printer, Blowtorch & Heavy Rover, and actually build the designed base.



In 2020, you’re going to colonise the Red Planet, and some of you are also going to become engineers there. Let’s occupy Mars and fix Mars Rovers!

If you have any questions or just want to know more about the game, feel free to join our Discord server!

Best Regards,
Occupy Mars Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758690/Occupy_Mars_The_Game

See also our other game about Mars: Rover Mechanic Simulator!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator

When NASA announced that the Opportunity Rover mission officially ended on 13th Feb 2019, we were all very sad. This "little rover that could" along with his twin brother Spirit landed on Mars in January 2004.

Since that time he gave us amazing science and pictures. He was designed to operate for 90 days, but he worked tirelessly for 15 years! 🖤

We thought it's not fair that the Rover is to stay broken on Mars forever, so we decided that if there's anything we could do to bring him (and other Mars Rovers) back to life we would do it!



We decided to create a smaller Spin-off game in the "Occupy Mars" Universe, where you play as an engineer intending to fix Oppy, and other historic Rovers that ever explored the Red Planet.



As you know, Occupy Mars is an open world, sandbox, hard science-fiction game about Mars colonization. The goal here is to survive, build and maintain a growing martian colony. You wouldn't have time for fixing Mars Rovers.



Making a "Mechanic" game is an experiment for us. We also noticed that people who play "Mechanic" series games are usually not interested in sandbox or survival games. Thanks to a Spin-Off game, we hope to interest more people in Mars exploration and science.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/864680/Rover_Mechanic_Simulator

Rover Mechanic Simulator will be released in Steam Early Access on February 6th!

We hope you will like this game as much as Occupy Mars. We would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020, where many of our games are going to come out! :)
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We've also prepared something special for you, so check out our Facebook Page!
Feel free to join our Discord server!

Best Regards,
Occupy Mars team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758690/Occupy_Mars_The_Game/