Hi Aurochnauts! 👨🏻🚀
Between the 13th and 20th of November, Turn-Based Carnival is taking place on Steam and Mars Horizon 2: The Search for Life is taking part. Be sure to check out the festival if you are a fan of Turn-Based games as the whole genre is currently being celebrated on Steam.
To celebrate the game's inclusion in the carnival and the influence the genre has had on the game, we put together a short insight into how it's being implemented into Mars Horizon 2. We hope you enjoy! 🚀
As the developers of Mars Horizon 2: The Search for Life, we love giving insights into the latest developments from the game and seeing your excitement for what we share. Here, we will be delving into the game’s design and focusing on the Hex Grid and Turn-Based elements.
We Are No Foreign Objects to Turn-Based Space Games
We developed the original Mars Horizon, which released in November 2020. (You can currently grab Mars Horizon 1 with a great discount in the sale, head over to the Steam page here!) In Mars Horizon, you take control of a major space agency, leading it from the dawn of the space age through to landing astronauts on Mars. You guide your agency through the space race and write your alternate history of space travel.
This was our first foray into Turn-Based space exploration strategy games, and we learnt a lot through development. It was ultimately one which we enjoyed and are extremely proud of. It is this experience from the first Mars Horizon title that has set us up for the sequel and we can’t wait for the community to experience the game once it’s released!
Evolution Not Revolution
Mars Horizon’s main goal was for players to land on the red planet. Mars Horizon 2 sees players taking that next giant leap in space exploration as you lead your chosen agency to discover life in the Solar System. After internal discussions, speaking to real life space exploration experts, and feedback from the community, the decision was made to feature hex grids on each of the surfaces and have players making decisions on where they should focus their efforts. This was added to the pre-existing Turn-Based gameplay, which was present in the original Mars Horizon. We feel this gameplay is a great way to represent the complexities and strategic planning of real-life space exploration whilst still being great fun for players.
Designing the Perfect Planet
Hex Grid gameplay is great for strategy games and comes with a whole host of fun challenges for the team to solve. It has been a journey of testing various artistic stylings to see which works best and our art team has produced terrific work.
Keep Watching the Skies!
That’s all we have on the Turn-Based gameplay at the moment, but don’t fret, we’ll have more on this in the new year. We’re very excited and hope you are, too!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/765810/Mars_Horizon/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2281620/Mars_Horizon_2_The_Search_for_Life/