Just for start - quick press release.
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux
Genre: Space Company Simulation Game
Release Date: Q1 2014
Official site: http://intermarum.com/race-to-mars/
Race To Mars is a turn-based, space company simulation game. Become the head of a newly established "New Space" company with a goal 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.
Race To Mars will hit KickStarter in just a couple of weeks, and we hope that with the support of our fans we'll be able to create a much more detailed product. 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.
http://intermarum.com/press/RaceToMars/images/screen-2.png
http://intermarum.com/press/RaceToMars/images/screen-1.png
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fintermarum.com%2Fpress%2FRaceToMars%2Fimages%2Fconcept-2.png&hash=320e39abc0c631ea8ae9c77daf9ef7f3165a9b79)
more images here: http://intermarum.com/press/sheet.php?p=RaceToMars
Webpage: http://www.intermarum.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/racetomars
Twitter: http://twitter.com/intermarum
Forum: http://intermarum.com/forum
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In case you have any questions don't hesitate to ask :) I will love to tell more about RTM!
Very intriguing. I will definitely keep my eye on this. Don't forget to tell us when you 'Kick' off the project, so to speak. :D
Thanks LooZ! We had some interest here for the initial website launch and I am sure people, including myself, would love more as the KS gets closer!
Ok :)
I wrote already Q&A for other site.
How is the funding gathering in-game? Industry investors? Self-funding (via intermediate discoveries that can be sold or serve as additional source of money)? Govermental funds? (if politically correct) depending on your performance.
All of them. You may win a contract from gov/military, you can sell (or buy) hardware, you can sell (or buy) a technology, you can gain governmental funds or military funds, you can send tourists into space and profit from this.
Is recruitment of skilled work-force included (e.g. from top universities, companies). Do they have stats? Can you influence them by giving them banana or potato to work harder?
You can recruit only "Project Managers" for defined space program (Moon Program, NEO Program, Satellite Program, etc) and they have their stats. Rest of team (engineers) is a bunch of no-names. Once in a while you get some random events, and e.g. you can then recruit some nice brain from university.
Are there side-projects included, serving merely to help you funding ultimate goal, but also existing as new technologies that can yield you some profit and help financially further along the way?
Yep, we have some nice idea for this, but will be decided later. First, we need to test it.
Do the accidents happen? (like preliminarly launched probe) Do fatal accidents happen? (resulting in publicity turning back on you etc.)
What the hell, did you read our design doc? Yes, random events (good, bad and neutral) are a major feature of our game.
Can you sign the exclusive contracts with company/country which gives you some benefits (cash) but also drawbacks (worldwide bashing etc.)
Nope, when you start game you decide in which country you will play, and then you compete only to private companies and random events.
Count me in as intrigued....I will be following....if you need any play testers, give me a ring:)
Follow if you like - http://facebook.com/racetomars :) Facebook is a best way for a small indie developers as we are (only ~10 ppl in dev team) to be promoted and get some buzz.
Want to know more about the game? Read our blog post about the gameplay.
Quote
In the beginning it will be very modest. The player will choose one of two or three basic technology branches, in which his or her company will start the activities. Due to low available funding the player will at first be able to focus only on a small rocket or satellite platform technologies. Of course, a proper engineering and scientific staff will be required to develop any of the selected technologies.
http://intermarum.com/311/
Please ask, if you have any questions :)
We are being asked a lot about the project itself and why aren't we on Kickstarter yet. Race To Mars announcement was received warmly by all the fans of strategy games - this allowed us to consider alternative financing sources - dealing with these sources takes most of our time now.
Currently we are working hard on the prototype version fo Race To Mars and we hope to reveal some great news with you soon!
We're heading to KickStarter soon. But now we have some small blog post.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fintermarum.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2Frtm-terrain-650x889.jpg&hash=f24b6ffd00b63ff0bb788053a7c0f1885223591b)
Quote
What is the general idea of graphics development in this game?
Some time ago, when the designers started the concept work on Race to Mars, they quickly asked themselves an important question about the game – should it be 2D or 3D? What would be the game scenery? The following description presents a current concept for graphics in the Race to Mars game.
More: http://intermarum.com/rtm-graphics/
Looks interesting. Thanks LooZ :)
That is looking good. I'm keeping an eye on it. :)
Quote from: Huw the Poo on May 20, 2013, 05:52:11 PM
That is looking good. I'm keeping an eye on it. :)
Same here!
Squee! -- between this and Kerbal and Buzz Aldrin, it's a good time to be a space realism fan. :)
We just started GreenLight profile - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=148496621
Thanks to that, we have some gameplay footage - http://youtu.be/9WtN9bDYbZg
And new screens:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intermarum.com%2Fpress%2FRaceToMars%2Fimages%2Fscreen-4.jpg&hash=18a3ac252f685f55cc3ad1c91ae17720b3e831bf)
http://www.intermarum.com/press/RaceToMars/images/screen-5.jpg
http://www.intermarum.com/press/RaceToMars/images/screen-6.jpg
I clicked the Greenlight button several dozen times right after seeing your announcement. ;D
That looks great, LooZ! I enjoyed the video a lot.
We had some problems with old video (bad performance). Now we have brand new gameplay ;)
http://youtu.be/cD2JXp2ngiQ
http://youtu.be/Ga0vsO60WIk
Hi! :)
We just started with our crowdfunding campaing on the KickStarter.I hope that what I have shown you so far is interesting and that you will support the development of this game. Ask me if you have any questions.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars
Tempting since I likes what I see, but I'm already six :o deep into Kickstarters. Got it flagged to keep my eye on it and may jump in towards the end if needed...
You know - one more in this situation would not mean the end of the world, would it? ;)
We have first update - about gameplay!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/522974
Our second update just went up, in which you can find a translated interview from a Polish gaming site.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/523778
Congrats on your RPS splash (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/07/01/the-outer-space-industry-race-to-mars/) LooZ!
Spaceball 1 can now be built!
Thanks guys! :)
£5144! It was an amazing day for us all! By the article published today on Rock, Paper, Shotgun we've finally break through the broader public and we get 16% of the goal now. Thank you so much!! Keep supporting!
Ps. We just received endorsement from the Mars Society! :)
in all seriousness find this guy!
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwac.450f.edgecastcdn.net%2F80450F%2F1061evansville.com%2Ffiles%2F2012%2F08%2Fhqdefault14-e1344439984727.jpg&hash=6696c4ea710aaa8cc8bfcb406d469298e5bc8119)
A little update.
We get already 21% - 6,391 pounds.
Music in Race To Mars - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/526875
What is the general idea of graphics development in this game? - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/525300
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/530666
Update #7 - DevDiary #1
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask :)
We have some new cool stuff (and 500 backers!) :)
Update #9 - Discover some of the features of Race To Mars - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/536185
Update #10 - Discover some of the features of Race To Mars, Part II - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/536063
Update #11 - Technology Tree - first look - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars/posts/536185
The RTM Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intermarum/race-to-mars) is winding down (~38 hrs). Not sure they'll make it, but I just kicked in 12 GBP. Good luck Looz.
Thanks steve58 ;)
Despite the unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign on KickStarter, we did not give up! Race to Mars is still being created. In order to speed up the game development, we decided to make it available on the market right now, in its initial form. What we are publishing today is a slightly modified version of the game, which was sent to the media during the KickStarter campaign.
This is the PreAlpha version, which is still missing a few basic components - IT IS A VERY EARLY VERSION! We publish it for all our fans and supporters from the KickStarter campaign.
Right now we are working on the tools and as soon as the Alpha version is reached, which will allow a short game, we will initiate the media campaign. This should take approximately 4 weeks.
Also, right now we need your comments and support, as it has already been very valuable.
We are going to send you updates about the Race To Mars game every second week, so that you should know the current development status. Soon a Linux version should be available as well as a tool to translate Race To Mars to other languages, for what you have asked during the KickStarter campaign.
Of course, we will answer to all your questions or comments, also related to our our website.
For more information, please check our website - www.racetomars.pl
Race To Mars - new build!
If you haven't bought the Alpha version yet, you can do it at our http://www.racetomars.pl/ webpage!
In the last two weeks we've done the following:
the project manager and engineer generator system (the astronauts still wait for their turn ;))
a salary and workforce development system - for engineers and project managers (still, it won't be very visible to you yet)
new gui for engineers and project managers
random events appeared (with no impact to the game yet) all text in the game is now imported to an .xml file
which with our tool will soon allow to translate RTM into any language
we've changed some graphical details and the water
we've added new building shapes for appearance tests
The next build should be also available for linux.
Today, Race To Mars - an economy/strategy game where you lead a newly founded Space company onto it's road to Mars - has reached its 5th update.
The game is funded by selling alpha access and has been already bought by over 200 fans. In the current version you can see the new scene design, the techtree and our system for spaceship design. The game is still very early in development and your generosity will greatly help speed up development.
If you are interested, we invite you to buy the game at http://racetomars.pl or to track our progress at facebook.com/racetomars or twitter.com/racetomars.
We would also like to ask you for your support on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=148496621
Congratulations on being greenlit, LooZ!
Thank Huw the Poo :)
We wish we were releasing new builds more often, but in the next couple of days you can expect new version with a lot of changes. All this being a part of preparations for starting Early Access on Steam. Till the release date we will constantly try to add new functionalities, which we will surely inform you about.
We would like to include what's following:
- change of gui system
- new gui elements (e.g. conferences, random events, administration, university)
- new gui functionalities (e.g. dragging some of windows and hyperlinks to other windows)
- early sketch of the first technology tree in the game
- at least couple of dozens from over 150 already prepared random events
- new, almost final versions of buildings (Administration, Assembly Buildings, National Space Agency, Research & Development)
- fixed: day & night system, weather system and new post-processing
- early version of tutorial
- working Linux version
- early version of monthly and financial reports
- improved performance
and a lot of small fixes.
We hope you will enjoy progress we made. We encourage to follow our profiles facebook.com/RaceToMars and twitter.com/RaceToMars as well as our website racetomars.pl
cool!
Hi guys :)
It's only a week till we release Race To Mars on Steam Early Access. Beside that, the game will of course be available on our website in DRM-Free version.
In the version that's going to be released 7th March it will be possible to test basic mechanics of the game and get to know the first space program. For us this is a beginning of even more intense work period, so we're counting for your support and feedback.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/257930
Early Access version of Race To Mars is already available on Steam! A lot of new features come with a lot of emotions. We've done it quite a few times and we can honestly say it's really fun to launch your satellite into space. You should try yourself :)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/257930