Hello, Commander,
This is Pavel Peychev from Haemimont Games, Producer on Surviving Mars: Relaunched. We are really excited about revisiting the red planet. It's one of the games with the most unique aesthetics that we’ve ever done. Today I’ll be talking about Domes and Life Support. This aspect of the game may not have received many changes, but it’s still one of the game's pillars and most standout visual elements.
NEW
You got to see the domes with the new and improved lighting that the game has received. Those Martian sunsets have never looked so good! That and the new frost from Cold snaps will make you want to put on a sweater.
Bubble Trouble
Here’s a short explainer for new players.
Surviving Mars is a colony-building game, which means - people on Mars. People are squishy and require a lot. From basics like food, water and oxygen to services, relaxation and entertainment. And preferably somewhere where they can access these - the domes.
While making the original we walked a fine line between realism, fun and aesthetic, and the result is the retro-futuristic style that many know and love the game for. Let’s face it - Giant bubbles are not the first choice of habitable building format on a hostile planet, but there is no substitute to the view of the Martian landscape littered with little comfy balls of hope.
There are many types of domes - small, big, round or barrel. Each dome has space for just so many buildings so you need to choose carefully. Will you specialize domes for certain functions like food production, residential, manufacturing, governance (more on that in a future DevDiary) or make combined, self sustaining domes? Have a big enough dome - you can build a spire in the center.
All while your colonist will be able to look at the night sky while sitting on a chair in their Martian home. But whatever you do, don’t run out of oxygen!
Life Support and Realism
The nice green parks and houses inside might look comfy but let's not forget that just outside the dome is a cold and uncaring planet.
Building the domes is only half of the work, building the life support system is the other. We’re proud of the simplistic, yet realistic simulation that the game is based on. A stable supply of power, water and oxygen is kinda needed. Here we leaned in more on realism. The MOXIE is an actual existing device for instance. Water Extractors bite into ice, Moisture Vaporators tease water from thin air, and solar or wind help with the heavy lifting. A Stirling Generator or two do help. Your colony breathes because the math adds up.
Having these resources will be a limiting factor in the expansion of your colony. Getting air and water from here to there is made via the pipe system. I personally extremely enjoy how the pipe segments just snap together. But that might be my OCD talking. Storage matters too — tanks and batteries aren’t glamorous, but they turn “this is fine” into “we’re fine through the night.”
Food is an interesting resource as colonists can’t do without it, but is also one you could import from Earth. That Martian Burger would probably cost a fortune. Otherwise - hydroponics can do the job but take up dome space. Fungal farms wont require dome space but your colonists are not really keen on working outside. It's a balancing act.
All that life support equipment and infrastructure is out there, prone to break, stop, or even be hit by meteorites. Dust chews on moving parts, cold snaps make everything groan, and storms love finding your weakest link. Rush to plug those problem spots or deficits. Or don’t - we know how some of you deal with colonists you don't like. On that front we’ll have some new options that we’ll be sharing info on very soon. So stay tuned. Sometimes when you give people options, they don’t choose the dark side. Right?... Right?
There and back again
Revisiting Surviving Mars was like stepping back into an ambitious dream. We’re proud of every dome, every oxygen pipe, and every colonist who complained “Where’s my entertainment building?!” instead of quietly asphyxiating.
In the end, it’s not just about surviving—it’s about reminding players that humanity doesn’t thrive because the universe is easy. We thrive because we make things beautiful where they shouldn’t be.
Now, back to tweaking the Martian water logistics system…
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