Occupy Mars: The Game News

It’s been a few weeks since we launched update v0.160.2 to the public_testing branch on Steam. We wanted to collect your feedback and opinions before spreading it to a wider audience, but there it is!👍

[h3]Nuclear Update | Changelog v0.154.4 -> v0.160.2[/h3]
For a full list of v0.160.2 fixes read the previous devlog #87:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/758690/view/4188985962637427870?l=english
🛈 As we mentioned in one of the latest devlogs, v0.160.2 is the last patch for the Nuclear Update ☢️ and the next one will be the (quite revolutionary) Anniversary Update 🎉 Our devs are doing their best to deliver it as soon as possible, so leave them a dose of encouragement in the comments below! 🙌

The Anniversary Update will bring a lot of changes in the core gameplay aspects, survival mechanics, building and repairing aspects, player animations and much more. For this reason please remember that there will be no save compatibility after v0.160.2, but we will (as always) first put the Anniversary Update on the public_testing branch to let you test it and have a choice before it goes live for everyone.👌

⚠️ Keep in mind that there are some known bugs in the version v0.160.2 ⚠️
Although they are not very serious, we wanted to let you know about two of the issues that were reported by the players and possible ways to go around them ➡️

Bug #1:
Rover's crane with a grabber sometimes doesn't react to player's commands to be opened or closed.
Temporary workaround: Change crane's tip to drill and change back to grabber.

Bug #2:
Rover inventory container’s UI is not showing the last three rows and it’s impossible to scroll down to see them using a mouse.
Temporary workaround: it’s possible to access those items from the invisible part of the inventory with arrows of your keyboard. Navigate to the bottom with the arrow down, press ENTER on the chosen slot and navigate back up with arrows to move the item from there. Press ENTER once again to place the item in the desired slot.



We're already working on fixes as part of the Upcoming Update so those shouldn't occur in the future!🤞

Branch changes

We have also reorganized Steam Beta Branches. With more updates it was becoming more and more difficult to track which version is on which "previous" branch. So now every important version is labeled as a separate Steam Beta Branch so you can always go back to the one you want 😉



[h2]Aside from Mars...[/h2]

As you know - the game development industry is small and developers tend to know and help each other. This time we wanted to let you know that our friends from Game Island are releasing their new survival game, Serum.


Their Early Access will go live today! In the game your ultimate goal is to find the precious 💉 Serum, essential to keep you sane and alive!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1610520/Serum/

To celebrate their launch, in cooperation with Game Island and Toplitz Productions, we have prepared a special Stay Alive Bundle! You can now get both, Occupy Mars and Serum, at a reduced price! 💵

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/41851/

Give Serum a go and let its devs know your feedback - they'll appreciate it!

And that's all for today! Thank you for your continued support and see you soon in the Major Update! 🖐️

Take care,
Occupy Mars team

[h3]It's been one Earth year since the release of Occupy Mars in early access![/h3]

🍾 On May 10th, 2023 you took the first step on the Red Planet and started your Martian adventure.

🔴 We’re genuinely impressed by seeing what you have achieved, we admire the amazing bases you built and how an important part of our daily lives became important for you as well.

🚀 Many things have changed and improved since the initial release. We were attentively following feedback and reports left on our social media channels and our dev team continued to work hard to meet your expectations. Leave a thumbs up for them in the comments! 👍💬

During this time we have launched nearly 20 patches with bug fixes and two major updates (Exploration and Nuclear Update). The 3rd Major Update is in preparation, as you may already know 😉 we are very excited for the upcoming big changes and we can't wait to show them to you when ready.



We'll shed more light on the upcoming Major Update in the next devlogs. Today we'd like to thank you very much for all hours you spent playing Occupy Mars, for all the comments you keep leaving and what's most important - thank you very, very much for your continued support! 🙏

We hope that you will spend another year with us and will watch the project develop further! 🌟🚀

Take care,
Occupy Mars team

It’s been a while since the latest patch release, but here we are! Introducing the newest update, now available on public_testing branch! 🤩🌟

[h3]Changelog v0.154.4 -> v0.160.2 (public_testing)[/h3]

We’re thrilled to announce that along with this patch we’re officially closing the ☢️ Nuclear Update chapter and from now on, we’re focusing exclusively on the 🎉 Anniversary Update. We have high hopes that it will result in accelerating the progress significantly.

❗️If you’d like to try the newest patch, it is required to change the branch on Steam to public_testing❗️

[h3]How to switch branches? [/h3]

1. Right-click on the game from your Steam library
   
2. Properties…
   
3. Betas
   
4. Beta participation
   
5. Select public_testing from the all available branches from the drop-down list
   

Without further ado, please find the complete changelog below. 👇

[h3]🔸Bugfixes🔸[/h3]

• Fixed issue with game crashing when loading the save
  
• Fixed some cases of missing supply drop
  
• Fixed some cases of terrain holes
  
• Fixed harmless thunder strikes
  
• Fixed probes falling underground
  
• Fixed rover spawning on top of the rock in sandbox (tourist)
  
• Fixed quad lights not turning on
  
• Fixed pump station info not appearing on the map if there's extension added to it
  
• Fixed not working keybind to change rover tipper
  
• Improved endurance meter for objects to be more visible
  
• Fixed small crusher telling to unload rover when driving in from the wrong side
  
• Fixed no info "unload area" at crusher for truck at TPP
  
• Fixed "unload zone" info showing in the truck when being too close to the large miner
  
• Fixed small crusher working with no electricity
  
• Fixed issue with blank signs after waking up from sleep / loading save
  
• Fixed spoiled vegetables not being stacked
  
• Fixed locking the rover with "I am afraid you can't do that" message
  
• Fixed sandstorms occurring too often
  
• Fixed missing prize after hacking antenna
  
• Fixed not being able to load container from big miner
  
• Fixed cabbage magically changing its model
  
• Fixed issue with probe target not disappearing from the map
  
• Fixed not being able to pick up a blueprint with full inventory
  
• Fixed "external pressure" notification being heard too often
  
• Fixed tipper's fulfillment level meter
  
• Fixed disappearing continue button
  
• Fixed flickering interior of buildings during sandstorm
  
• Added various sounds that were missing
  
• Fixed "empty" rocks with no resources inside
  
• Fixed not being able to unlock technology
  
• Fixed no possibility to change trailer after meteor hit the rover
  
• Added rockets to supply drops
  
• Fixed permanent holes after drilling buildings
  
• [PL] Fixed meteorite being described as pendrive
  
• Fixed not being able to pick up iron rocks with the rover after the meteor hit
  
• Fixed various bugs in campaign
  
• Fixed shaking rover when loading the tipper
  
• Improved uranium rock radiation consistency
  
• Fixed not disappearing "loading zone" message after scrapping a miner
  
• Fixed rocket A randomly hanging in the air
  
• Fixed sink height
  
• Fixed incorrect rover trailer icons
  
• Fixed multiple objects' wrong size
  
• Fixed ragged edges of the miner screen
  
• Fixed resources falling through the container when loading them from the miner
  
• Fixed driver's position in the truck to higher
  
• Fixed buildings oxygen level not colored on the radar
  
• Fixed cables and pipes going through the Doctor's room
  
• Fixed omnipresent sounds
  
• Fixed not all rover trailers being shown in the tablet
  
• Fixed transformer input icon changing to battery icon when being connected to the battery output
  
• Fixed materials techtree color to be consistent
  
• Fixed miner building shadow's ramp happening to be too high
  
• Fixed bugged inventory stacking
  
• [IT] Fixed various translation errors
  
• Fixed "loading area" message staying on the screen after destroying big miner
  
• Fixed blurred truck inventory in TPP
  
• Fixed crusher and rover inventory brightness
  
• Fixed duplicated, non-usable ATV after resetting the truck with it to the hangar
  
• Fixed ATV sinking into the ground after resetting it from the tablet
  
• Fixed fake weather effects alert
  
• [CN, simplified] Added missing translations and fixed various errors
  
• Fixed only sandstorm appearing
  
• Improved LOD of 4-way corridor
  
• [RU] Fixed minor translation errors
  
• Added blue markings to water tanks
  
• Fixed logs content to be clearer
  
• Fixed backwards degree numbers on compass
  
• Fixed quad inventory box contrast and saturation
  
• Improved textures quality of fuse boxes
  
• Fixed ability to reset rover while changing trailers
  
• Added missing translation in miner's UI
  

[h3]🔸Optimization🔸[/h3]

• Optimized decorative elements in outposts
  
• Improved greenhouse's lights graphics for optimization
  
• Changed domes and crusher textures for optimization
  
• Fixed texture quality of destroyed outpost for optimization
  
• Optimized shadows
  

[h3]🔸Features🔸[/h3]

• Improved Rover trunk inventory slots on front screen
  
• Added hotbar content in inventories displays
  
• Improvements in inventory UI in small printers
  
• Added preview of resources in miner on radar
  
• Improved color of miner spot radar effect
  
• Improved rover's lights
  
• Added additional info when you need science bench to research technology
  
• Added water auto shut-off
  
• Added possibility to set all required values in the greenhouse by one click
  
• Added separate arrows for each inventory in printer
  
• Added easy-to-access information about the capacity of the large horizontal tank
  
• Improved techtree points balance
  

If the bug or idea you submitted isn't visible on the list, it doesn't mean we ignored it. Each report is carefully reviewed and placed accordingly in our task queue for analysis and further action. 🐞🔍

And that’s it! Thank you to those who were waiting more or less patiently for this update. 😊 We know it took a while, but because we value quality, we could not release a build that did not meet our requirements in testing, also most of the team is now focused on the bigger changes & new content for the upcoming Anniversary Update. 🛠️👷‍♂️

As always, we strongly encourage you to visit our social media and to sign up to our Discord channel. Let us know about your 💡 ideas for content development, share your 🎮 gameplay experiences and notify us about any 🐛 bugs you encounter.

Thank you for your continued support and take care! 👋

Regards,
OM team

As we mentioned in the previous devlog:

❄️Winter Survival a hardcore survival game from friends at DRAGO entertainment is releasing today, and we are thrilled to share that a new bundle called Occupy Winter is now releasing together with it!



https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39274/Occupy_Winter/

You can read more about our current focus and other available bundles in the previous devlog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/758690/view/4129308833402623493

Yours,
Occupy Mars team

Welcome to another Devlog! ✍️

In this post we'll tell you about our plans for the next months, but also we wanted to let you know about current discounts and new bundles, especially interesting for those who haven't played our game yet.

1st information: Development Update. We are currently testing the next regular update which fixes some bug reports and improves mechanics of Nuclear Update. Next we will be focusing on the big changes for the upcoming Anniversary Major Update to be released according to our Roadmap.



Our first goal for the Anniversary Update is to address the most commonly reported pain points such us removing jerky movement, improving input responsiveness, animations & targeting. The next goal for this update is a big save system rework, which will finally fix the problems with re-appearing items, objects falling through floor or floating above the ground.

Another benefit will be that we will finally change the % electricity calculation to kWh and improve the building placement and snapping. It will also enable door position saving. We were waiting with this save refactor until now because it will render current game saves incompatible with future version, but we believe it will be worth it. This change is also essential before we introduce the Co-Op Mode.

That's not all, far from it! The refactoring will also touch the greenhouses and domes allowing to plant different types of plants in the fields together and we want to unify the numbers of slots between the incubator, shelves and fields.

Content-wise, we also have big plans for this update, but we will see how much we are able to implement before summer, so in terms of the list of new additional content - let it stay as a mystery for now... 😉

2nd information: thanks to Steam Dinos and Robots Festival Occupy Mars is now 25% off and our previous games: 🦕 Paleontology Simulator and 🤖 Rover Mechanic Simulator are both 50% off!

3rd information: from time to time other studios contact us to create Bundles together with our game, which let you get other exciting games together with Occupy Mars with additional 📦 bundle discount:

🔴Fort Solis is a story-first thriller / walking sim game located on Mars made by another Polish studio:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37097/Occupy_Fort_Solis/

🏹Robin Hood Sherwood Builders is a new game by our friends from MeanAstronauts releasing today:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39066/Occupy_Sherwood/

❄️Winter Survival is an upcoming survival game made by our friends from Drago releasing next week:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39274/Occupy_Winter/

▲ Pyramid Bundles:

We don't post this too often, but since this post is mostly about discounts it's a good time to remind you about bundles with our other games as it's the best support we can get to keep developing this game.

Pyramid Games Bundle is currently the best deal for those who didn't yet purchase all of our games:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31567/Pyramid_Games_Bundle/

The Universe Bundle consists of games in the same Universe as Occupy Mars (so RMS and its DLCs):

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/28017/Occupy_Mars_Universe_Bundle/

[h3]Click here for full list of game Bundles available together with Occupy Mars![/h3]

Have fun on the 🔴 Red Planet!

Yours,
Occupy Mars team