Today, after many months of work, we finally present to you the Apollo Update. We know that we tried your patience very hard and understand how some of you are very angry at us. We would like to present how we feel about the last few months and hope you will find time to read it. I allow myself these thoughts because we definitely see the finish line of what we want to achieve in Race To Mars 1.0. I speak about the 1.0 version, because we want to update for a few months after the premiere, adding new elements we invented during development, but were unable to fit due to time constraints. The main problem with developing Race To Mars was, as is often the case, it's success. Very good Early Access sales directed us on a path a little too difficult for a team with our experience - we decided to create a bigger, better game with better visuals, a new GUI (which you can see in this build). That unfortunately led to situations where we were forced to create a lot of things from scratch, only realizing that this form of work makes it very difficult to regularly update the game as part of Early Access - too much was happening in the code and not enough in working mechanics to have it reasonably updated. It can be seen in many EA projects. The other reason for the delays were huge changes in the team - two of the programmers who were working on Race To Mars from the beginning decided to focus on personal development and started their PhDs in computer development in a different country. The new team, handling different projects at that time, needed some time to get to know the project and take over its development. It was not without personal problems too, when our main technical designer was struggling with a serious illness and couldn't focus as much on the project. He is now a few days after a kidney transplant and we are all hoping for his swift return to health. His design work is 90% done, so it shouldn't be a source of further delays. Of course, there were also errors in team leadership, which let us learn a lot and help deliver you an even better project. The third reason for the last delays were problems with Mission Control. It required us to reconsider a few project points and, due to other obligations, work on it had to be handled by a different programmer, who, unfortunately, was not able to finish yet. During that time we added a lot of different things, but we decided we really can't afford to wait anymore to finish this one building. We are, all of us, gamers on the team and we have always wanted to make games from our love to them, with faith that we'd treat our fans the way we would like to be treated ourselves. We understand we have failed many of you, but we will keep trying even harder to prove to you that it was worth the wait. We will also make sure to make amends also in other ways, but that will have to wait for another time. Now I invite you to try out the update and write your opinions. The next update should be available in the upcoming weeks and contain things like Mission Control and the Astronaut Complex, with bugfixes and minor improvements included. --- FULL FEATURUES - Administration - Research+Development - Assembly Building - University - Inbox - Time Line Bar - Save / Load - National Space and Air Office (old gui) - End Turn Raport WORK IN PROGRESS - PRIORITIES - Mission Control - Astronaut Complex - Launch Facilities - National Space and Air Office TO DO - Museum - Programs - Tracking Station - Tutorial

[ 2015-01-24 01:52:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Race To Mars is a turn-based, space company simulation game. Become the head of the newly established “New Space” company whose goal would be to establish a colony on Mars. You begin as a startup - develop cutting edge aerospace technologies and use them to achieve orbit and fly beyond Earth vicinity, blazing the trail of a space pioneer and leaving the competition far behind on your way to victory.

Our game will achieve two goals - promote the outer space industry and satisfy all economy game fans. Race To Mars combines the realism of a spaceport management sim and approachable gameplay - we assure you that both subject aficionados and casual gamers will find this mixture most entertaining. Our priority is to make an approachable game without compromising its key economical and strategical features - says Szymon Janus, the CEO of INTERMARUM.

Since we aim to deliver the best quality, we're developing the game in close cooperation with scientists from a Polish space industry company, Kosmonauta.net; and we're using Unity, the leading multiplatform game engine, thanks to this we'll be able to deliver top quality content.

FEATURES

• Shape your own path to Mars: satellites or a space station?
  
• Discover more than two hundred pioneering technologies
  
• Fight for a larger budget for your space program with the help of your fans and media
  
• Expand your program: profit from commercial, scientific and military contracts

CURRENT FEATURES

• Main screen from where you manage your New Space company
  
• System of gaining Prestige points, which show how your company evolves and will enable it to develop further
  
• Final 3D models of 4 important buildings
  
• System of day and night
  
• Almost all features in Administration building: manage staff and buildings, use the bank (take loans or deposit money), view reports, answer first questions from the journalists and build your reputation
  
• It is possible to build all buildings in the correct order (presented on a tree)
  
• Answer first questions from the journalists and build your reputation
  
• Choose contracts at National Space and Air Office
  
• Build Satellite Program which unlocks development of crucial technologies at Research+Development
  
• Develop first technologies (almost 100)
  
• Use technologies to produce components
  
• Choose components to build your own satellite
  
• At the Market buy some of the missing stuff, like a rocket, which will launch your satellite to the orbit
  
• Therefore: FIRST SPACE MISSION available
  
• Random events affect your company’s evolvement
  
• University enables Project Managers to improve their skills
  
• Message box informs about concluding projects etc.

The game's current look is far away from the final graphics quality - you have to note that it's still in development and most of the assets and geometry are temporary placeholders.

UPCOMING FEATURES

• We plan to constantly add new researches at R+D
  
• The same goes for new contracts at NSaAO
  
• More Programs to start
  
• More options at NSaAO, like selling your own services or asking for funding
  
• More questions for press conferences
  
• More random events
  
• Launch Facilities with the possibility to launch your own rockets
  
• New GUI, redesigned after a series of tests
  
• 3D models for remaining buildings
  
• Achievements