It started like any other mission.

We gathered in the virtual war room, surrounded by sticky notes, half-written TODOs, and that one monitor that always flickered for no reason. The goal was simple: make *Hostile Mars* better.

The goal was simple.

The execution? Pure chaos.

---


Our first battle was a mess of windows.

Menus overlapped. Panels wouldn’t close. Some UI elements had developed... minds of their own. The system we’d once duct-taped together had become a rogue AI with a grudge.

We needed a fresh start. So we tore it all down.

We built an entirely **new modular UI system**, piece by piece:

- Windows that knew when to stay in their lane
- Panels that could be dragged around like civilized interfaces
- A smart visibility system that kept things clean and conflict-free
- An in-game debugger panel to monitor open windows and help us spot problems instantly

> The UI is no longer a war zone. It's a well-oiled command center.

---


No sooner had we patched up the UI than another old beast woke up: the inventory drag system.

It was slow. It was clunky. Sometimes it didn’t even *drag*. And worse—when it broke, it took other systems down with it.

So we launched a total takedown.

Now, a brand new, **fully modular drag-and-drop system** stands in its place:

- Items follow your cursor smoothly
- Dragging gives clear visual feedback
- Works across all inventory types: weapons, gear, upgrades, containers
- Future-proofed to work with crafting and loot systems

> Inventory chaos defeated. One system reclaimed.

---


Until now, starting *Hostile Mars* was like pressing a button and hoping for the best.

No loading bar. No status. Just vibes.

That changes today.

We’ve added a full **step-based loading screen** that shows exactly what’s happening as the game loads:

- Each system (world, player, structures, UI) loads one-by-one
- You’ll see a **progress bar for the current task**
- And a **second bar showing total progress**

> You’re no longer flying blind. You’re riding shotgun through startup.

---


Build Mode used to be functional—but clunky. We wanted it to feel *inspiring*.

So we’re rebuilding the entire experience from the ground up:

- Assignable hotbars
- Structure tabs and quick hotkeys
- Better flow and intuitive controls

And for the builders who want to express themselves? We're adding:

- **Color palettes**
- **Structure styles**
- **Windows, doors, catwalks**, and more

> Build Mode is evolving—from tool to playground.

---


You asked for it. We heard you.

**Build-anywhere is coming back**—but now it has depth and danger.

The world is now split into **regions**. To build in one, you’ll need to:

1. Explore and scout
2. Defeat patrolling enemies and automated defenses
3. Activate the region’s central core
4. Deploy builder drones and expand your base

To keep things grounded (literally), we’re also introducing a **structural integrity system**. You’ll still have freedom, but builds will need support—no more floating fortresses without physics.

> You're not just building. You're conquering.

---


Meanwhile, our engineers dove into the backend and eliminated:

- All remaining LINQ usage (goodbye, GC spikes)
- Unsafe buffer usage in ECS
- Legacy bottlenecks slowing inventory performance

It wasn’t flashy work—but it will make the entire game feel smoother.

> Behind every smooth experience is a lot of invisible work. We did the work.

---


By the end of April, we’d wrestled old systems back under control, laid the groundwork for the future, and opened up exciting new possibilities for players and builders alike.

Here’s what’s now in place:

- ✅ A clean, conflict-free UI system
- ✅ A fast, flexible drag-and-drop inventory
- ✅ A clear, informative startup loading sequence
- ✅ A fully redesigned Build Mode in progress
- ✅ Region-based base expansion with structural realism
- ✅ A faster, more stable engine under the hood

---


- Finalizing the new Build Mode UI
- More testing and balancing of regional conquest
- Combat UI polish and feedback clarity
- Continued performance upgrades and bug squashing

---

Thanks for walking the surface of Mars with us. Whether you're reporting bugs, building megabases, or just sending us cursed screenshots of floating rocket launchers—we see you, and we appreciate you.

More to come soon.

– The Hostile Mars Team 🔴

March has been all about foundations and future-proofing. We’ve been deep in the trenches building tools, polishing visuals, and tweaking systems to ensure Hostile Mars scales smoothly as we introduce more chaos, more bots, and more explosions. 🧪💥

Let’s take a look at what we’ve been working on this month!

With all the traps, enemy types, and new mechanics coming together, performance is top of mind. So, we built a dedicated benchmarking tool that allows us to spawn enemies, activate traps, and simulate intense scenarios in controlled test environments.

This new tool lets us:

• Measure framerate impact
  
• Analyze how different bots react to certain setups
  
• Identify performance bottlenecks early

It’s already helping us diagnose potential problems before they hit your base. Plus, it’s just fun watching hordes of bots get obliterated in controlled chaos.

We’re exploring a new twist on how wave spawners work: giving some of them intake requirements to activate. Imagine this—during a wave, a spawner won't trigger unless it's supplied with a specific crafted component.

Why is this exciting?
Because it means:

• Spawners become part of your automation loop
  
• Players must manage logistics and prioritize resources in real time
  
• Crafting and combat start blending in new, meaningful ways

We’re still experimenting with the system, but it’s already opening doors to dynamic and reactive gameplay that ties your entire factory together.

We’ve been putting polish on the look and feel of your base, and one subtle but impactful change has been elevating platforms slightly above ground level.

This gives each structure:

• More visual weight and clarity
  
• A cleaner silhouette and separation from the terrain
  
• A stronger sense of foundation and connection to the environment, making each platform feel firmly anchored to the Martian surface

It’s a small touch that makes a big difference—and we’re loving how it ties the whole environment together.

We’ve made the leap to Unity 6, which offers several performance and workflow improvements. While this won’t look like much on the surface, it will translate to:

• Better performance both in-game and in the editor
  
• Improved compatibility with newer features and tools
  
• A more stable foundation for long-term development

Nothing flashy to show here—but trust us, your frame rate will thank you later.

Our work continues on designing the main character and their exoskeleton armor. We’re not just aiming for cool visuals—we’re defining the core of how your upgrades and abilities will feel in the field.

We’re experimenting with:

• Modular armor pieces and progression
  
• Integrated tools for both combat and automation
  
• A strong silhouette that communicates power and versatility

Stay tuned—more visuals and details are coming soon.

Crafting just got a major upgrade. Our old system tied each item to a rigid list of ingredients—great for simple setups, not so great for more complex machines or dynamic outputs.

So we’ve rebuilt the system to be:

• Recipe-first instead of item-first
  
• Able to support multiple recipes per item
  
• Flexible enough to allow variable outputs, chances, and machine-specific logic

This opens up a lot of room for factory optimization, tech progression, and alternate resource routes—everything we want crafting to be in Hostile Mars.

While March might not have brought the flashiest features, it’s laid essential groundwork for the exciting systems to come. From performance tools and gameplay mechanics to visual polish and character upgrades, we’re charging forward to make Hostile Mars the best blend of automation and annihilation it can be.

As always, your feedback fuels our development—so don’t be shy!

🔗 Join the community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

Until next time—keep your turrets loaded and your platforms elevated.
—The Hostile Mars Team 🚀

February has been a month of major refinements, fixes, and experimentation as we continue to evolve Hostile Mars. From pathfinding improvements and turret firepower to spawn system balancing and trap adjustments, we’ve been hard at work making the game feel even better. Let’s dive into what’s new!

Bigger enemies bring bigger problems, and we’re working to make sure they navigate and behave properly in your mazes. Turns out, size definitely matters when it comes to AI movement!

Bottleneck Detection Fixes – The system that detects stuck bots wasn’t sensitive enough to larger enemies. Previously, it only triggered when 30+ bots were jammed in one spot—not very useful when a single Foreman takes up the space of several smaller bots. Now, it properly registers when big enemies are causing blockages.
Improved Terrain Adaptation – Larger bots now better conform to uneven terrain and navigate ramps properly by dynamically adjusting their movement based on ground surface data. No more awkward floating or jittering!
More to Come – This is still a work in progress, and we want large enemies to feel fully integrated with the game’s physics. Expect more refinements soon!

Normally, we avoid updating third-party packages unless absolutely necessary. Keeping up with API changes and unexpected bugs can be a nightmare. However, the pathfinding package we use has received several major improvements, including performance boosts and fixes for errors we've been encountering.

At first, updating seemed like a smooth process—until ramps suddenly started blocking navigation at random. This unexpected issue has been holding up progress, but we’re in direct contact with the package’s developer to get it resolved. One big benefit of updating is that we now have official support for these types of problems, so once this hurdle is cleared, we should see smoother, smarter pathfinding across the board.

We’ve been playtesting extensively to fine-tune how enemy spawn points work together—and the results have been incredibly promising.

🔹 Each spawn point now focuses on a single enemy type and increases its spawn rate over five waves. Once it reaches max spawn rate, a new spawn point opens up.
🔹 After 10 unbroken waves, players can upgrade a spawn point, increasing the enemy rank in exchange for higher resource yields—at the cost of stronger and faster bots.
🔹 The system never feels overwhelming since the focus is on dealing with the latest spawn point before worrying about how they integrate together.

This mechanic ties in perfectly with the factory vision of Hostile Mars. Think of each spawn point like a resource node—your job is to figure out the most effective way to destroy enemies, harvest resources, and optimize production. As complexity ramps up over time, logistics will become a key part of progression, ensuring players are constantly engaged but never overloaded.

Who doesn’t love absurd amounts of firepower? We’ve been pushing turret systems to support massive amounts of barrels, and while it’s still a work in progress, here’s how it currently functions:

Each additional barrel speeds up the turret’s fire rate. For example, a turret with 1 barrel fires 1 shot per second, while 4 barrels fire 4 shots per second.
At higher barrel counts (100+), firing one at a time becomes less interesting, so we’re experimenting with clustered shots, where multiple barrels fire together—think mega chain gun levels of destruction.
We’re still refining how best to balance extreme turret builds, but one thing’s for sure: turrets are getting deadlier than ever.

February has also been full of smaller but important improvements, including:

✅ The Magnet Trap is back in the build! Bots beware.
✅ Refined trap & turret stats – Adjusted cooldowns, activation times, trigger colliders, damage, fire rates, and status effects.
✅ FINALLY fixed the mouse sensitivity reset bug – Seriously, how did you all play with this issue for so long? Sorry about that!
✅ Bullet Wall Optimization – Now only fires if at least one shot will hit an enemy—no more wasted ammo.

This month, our concept art explorations have been all about designing the player and their exoskeleton gear. Since Hostile Mars is all about automation, combat, and survival, we want the player’s design to reflect their role as both a defender and a high-tech engineer. The following are very early concept sketches and explorations. WIP!

We’ve been experimenting with different armor styles, modular attachments, and utility-focused designs that allow for both heavy firepower and efficient resource management. The exoskeleton isn’t just for looks—it will play a key role in movement, upgrades, and overall survivability.

Check out some of the latest sketches and let us know what you think! 🚀🔧

As we continue refining gameplay, we’re getting closer and closer to a fully realized combat & automation experience. Your feedback has been invaluable in shaping Hostile Mars, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next!

Let us know your thoughts in the Discord, and stay tuned for more updates.

🔗 Join the community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

See you on Mars,
The Hostile Mars Team 🚀

This past month, our main focus has been refining how enemy waves interact with player defenses. That meant a lot of cleaning up, bug fixing, and fine-tuning the systems that make waves function properly. The goal? To lock in the core mechanics of enemy waves and establish a solid lineup of defenses that showcase different strategic possibilities.

The process was something like this: brainstorm wave or defense mechanics, implement them, test, find a bug, fix it, break something else in the process, repeat. While we have a few new traps in the mix, this month was more about refining what’s already there rather than introducing tons of flashy new features.

A big part of this was improving enemy pathfinding and refining behaviors. After plenty of tweaks, bots are much better at navigating—fewer traffic jams, less aimless wandering, and (hopefully) fewer cases of them standing still questioning their existence.

🚀 Ramps are back! 🚀

While experimenting with different gameplay concepts, we initially kept things simple by focusing on single-level mazes. But now, ramps are back in the build, adding a whole new layer of strategy (and a whole new set of things to break).

Of course, this introduced some new challenges—making sure bots don’t casually walk off elevated paths, ensuring smooth transitions between ramps and flat ground, and implementing an intuitive placement system so ramps don’t feel like a puzzle piece that refuses to fit.

Bringing verticality back into enemy waves adds a whole new dimension (literally), and while it introduced a fair share of bugs, it also reinforced that many of the game’s core physics are working as intended. Plus, we got some unexpected surprises along the way—some of them intentional, some… less so.

We went back to the drawing board (again) to define the foundational enemy types that will make up the early-game threats. Here’s what we settled on:

Ground bots – The basic foot soldiers, rolling along like they own the place.
Hovering bots – They don’t care about small obstacles—just casually gliding over them like smug little drones.
Flying bots – Because things weren’t chaotic enough on the ground.
Each of these occupies a different space within the grid, meaning you’ll need to think carefully about how to counter them. No single defense will work against everything, so get ready to strategize.

We’ve also been exploring how turrets can handle massive amounts of firepower. Instead of explaining, we’ll let the pictures do the talking. Spoiler: It involves a lot of guns.

With the core ideas getting more refined, we’ve been focusing on stability before moving on to the next big phase.

Some of this month’s bug-squashing efforts included:

Updating icons (because UI deserves love too).
Finalizing the concept of identity for every entity (yes, even bots need a sense of self).
Fixing collision masks on traps (turns out, traps that don’t trap are just… decorations).
Adjusting how walls affect pathfinding (because bots running into walls on repeat is not a valid strategy).

It’s not the flashiest part of development, but getting everything running smoothly is crucial before we start layering in more complexity.

We’ve been experimenting with more ways to make bots suffer—uh, I mean, "add strategic depth to the game."

Acid Sprayer – Applies a lovely coat of corrosion to bots, dealing damage over time.

Acid Pool – Bots enter. They don’t leave. Simple as that.

EMP Trap – We’re not sure how it works, but it definitely makes bots take an unexpected nap.

Crusher – It crushes things. Enough said.

Rocket Trap – Ever wondered what happens when a bot crosses paths with a fully operational rocket engine? Spoiler: it’s not great for the bot. Whether they get incinerated on the spot or launched into orbit, one thing’s for sure—it’s highly effective.

Some highlights from this month’s visual brainstorming:

Variations of a defense that delivers shocky-shocky to bots.

Two different spinny traps, possibly for mining… or for when a lot of bots need to be deleted.

Astroware Outpost – A super cool design that we can’t wait to share more about.

That’s it for this update! As always, thanks for following along, and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts. Join our Discord and let us know what you think: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

We truly appreciate your ongoing support and can’t wait to share what we have in store next!
See you next time, Defenders! 🚀

Take care,
-HM Team

As the year comes to a close, we’ve been busy wrapping up some exciting developments for Hostile Mars! From experimenting with enemy sizes to introducing thrilling new traps, this month’s update is packed with progress. Whether it’s refining our systems or exploring creative new ideas, we’re pushing boundaries to make the game even more engaging. Let’s dive into the details!


This month, we went all-in on enemy experimentation—playing with sizes, speeds, and masses to find that perfect flow of oncoming threats. In the process, we defined our base enemy types and hammered out their proportions. Once locked in, these stats will help us shape trap design and progression moving forward.

If you spot some colorful boxes, don’t worry—those are just placeholders for our future mining bots, letting us rapidly tweak size, mass, and speed. Take a peek at the clip below to see our wild testing in action!


Recently, we've started exploring different sizes of enemies and how they would move through mazes or block each other. A year ago, when the Foreman was introduced as the hover tank in devlog #25, we had to limit its size because more prominent agents would try to follow paths that went too close to walls and kept getting stuck.

This issue has now been fixed. We've revised our pathfinding system to support multiple agent sizes, so bots can now occupy a corridor's entire 8m width or even be larger than a single cell of the build grid.
In addition, obstacles can now block enemy types differently, such as a half wall that flying bots can pass over, but that forces ground bots to find another route.


Last month we introduced a bunch of new traps, and we've continued to add and revise traps in December:


Since this trap was created, the idea has been to physically simulate a board springing up around a hinge. This would have led to accurate physics behavior, but there was a huge issue: it was very unpredictable!

The number of enemies—along with their mass, shape, or velocity—would completely change where they got thrown. They would be flying all over the place, making the trap hard to balance or use.

We've changed the concept entirely from a spring-actuated board to an electromagnet, sacrificing realistic physics in favor of a more reliable launch trajectory that sorts bots by mass to some extent. Chaos remains, but it's up to the player to figure out how to handle it.

With the trajectory now predictable, preview arcs can be implemented, so there's no need to blindly guess what will happen!


We've had a prototype of this one for a while, but it was too unstable to be used in practice, as it would often glitch out.

Now, we're presenting a revised version that's very stable and easier to configure. It also received a facelift, including a work-in-progress model and some animations using a custom IK (Inverse Kinematics) system.

(I wonder if we'll see some other things using IK… Stay tuned for future devlogs!)


Walls and barriers have always stood in the way of standard turrets, blocking their line of sight and wasting precious range. That’s why we created the Arc Missile Trap—a cunning launcher that fires heat-seeking, wall-avoiding rockets right over obstacles! It’s perfect for hitting enemies you’d otherwise never be able to reach, and it turns every maze into a playground for explosive, long-range chaos.



Here is a giant electromagnet that acts as a push trap:

Some wall design exploration:

Exploration on push trap arm mechanics:

What is this???


We truly appreciate your ongoing support and can’t wait to share what we have in store next. In the meantime, stay connected by joining our awesome Discord community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

Take care,
-HM Team

Hello, Mars pioneers! Welcome to another development update for Hostile Mars. This month, we've focused on new traps, wave system improvements, bug fixes, and build mode enhancements. Let's dive into the details.


We're excited to announce several new traps we have been testing, expanding your defensive options and strategies. These traps are designed to give you complete coverage over different enemy types and scenarios. (Please keep in mind we're still prototyping these traps using our finest 'programmer art' - Our art team will work their magic soon enough.)

Continuing our prototyping of new traps, we're testing The Conveyor Trap! This ingenious device manipulates enemy movement by pushing them while they're stunned or slowing them down by shifting them to the side. Use it strategically to direct enemies into other traps or to delay their advance, giving your defenses more time to take them out.

Another newcomer is the Rocket Engine Trap, a powerhouse that activates when enemies are in front of it. It thrusts them away with immense force, dealing serious damage in the process. This area-of-effect trap is highly efficient at wiping out large groups but consumes resources to operate and yields fewer resources from the destroyed bots. Deploy it wisely to control the battlefield!

Crush those pesky small ground bots with the Rock Crusher Trap! This mechanical marvel pulverizes enemies that venture too close. You can upgrade it to process multiple bots simultaneously, making it even more efficient at clearing out swarms.

Turn the battlefield into a corrosive nightmare for your enemies with the Acid Sprayer. This trap douses passing bots with acid, inflicting damage over time. It's perfect for weakening enemies before they reach your core defenses.

Set deadly traps with the Acid Pool! Bots that are small enough will fall into this hidden pit, where they'll be slowly dissolved by acid. It's a satisfying way to eliminate groups of weaker enemies without expending additional resources.

Stop large enemies in their tracks with the Drill Bit Trap. A massive drill bit emerges from the ground, dealing increasing damage over time. It's especially effective against bigger bots that can't squeeze past it, allowing you to focus fire on other threats.

These new traps not only diversify your defensive arsenal but also open up new strategic possibilities. Whether you need to handle swarms of small bots or halt a giant mech, these traps provide exciting and effective solutions. Equip them wisely, and watch your enemies crumble!

We've enhanced the systems controlling enemy waves to support multiple locations that can run waves independently. For example, a major outpost discovered through exploration could have its own waves and defenses. This allows for more granular wave progression or having the failure EMP only affect certain spawn points, so they can fail independently.

These changes are designed to test various concepts for base defense gameplay. We're considering different sizes for building spaces—such as multiple smaller buildable areas to spread defenses around, as opposed to having one vast open area.

We're also researching how much agency the player should have over progression—whether you should be able to control when to spawn new enemies or if the waves should impose their own rhythm.

One issue we've had with wave progression was that players would enter a new wave blind to what was coming. While this mostly worked with a slow ramp-up of the number or rank of enemies, the introduction of new spawn points or enemy types came as unexpected surprises that players had to deal with manually.

There could be value in keeping some of that information vague or hidden, but the potential for heavy consequences from an unhandled spawn point or enemy type felt unfair.

So, we're introducing a toggleable overlay that displays information on upcoming waves. Currently visible in-world, this might be changed to appear in a menu or look different in future versions.

Many enhancements have been made to the build mode this month! As we internally playtest, we're constantly looking for ways to improve this central mechanic to be as frictionless and efficient as possible.

Free-Form Selection: We've changed the selection from a grid-snapped box to a more free-form selection. This allows for finer control over what gets selected, making quick edits in crowded areas easier. We've also added incremental selection controls to add to or remove from the current selection when dragging a new box.

Grid Placement: Placing a grid of objects is now supported, making the construction of larger structures more straightforward.

Non-Grid Objects: Support for non-grid "free placeable" objects has been reintroduced. Previously removed to streamline interactions, we've brought it back for small items like decorations or utility objects (e.g., storage crates) that don't conform to the build grid. These objects also work with selection and copy-pasting!

Additional Tools: We've added a pipette tool to easily pick an object to place from the world and a deletion hotkey to quickly remove buildings.

That's all for this month's update. We’re incredibly grateful to have such a passionate community and excited to keep sharing our progress with you. To stay up to date with all the latest developments, join our incredible Discord community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

Take Care,
-HM Team

Hello, Mars engineers! Welcome to another monthly development update for Hostile Mars. We've been hard at work enhancing the gameplay experience, focusing on maze design, enemy diversity, and base-building mechanics. Let's dive into what's new this month.


Building on last month's work, we're emphasizing the importance of managing bottlenecks in your maze designs. Significant congestion will now trigger a timed warning, giving you insight into potential issues and an opportunity to address them before the bots react. Be cautious—failing to design your maze to scale can have serious consequences!


While focusing on the tower defense aspect, we're exploring new enemy variants to enhance diversity and deepen strategic gameplay. We've been prototyping extremely fast bots, others that resist most damage types, and even bots that ignore the core and hunt you down!


A long-standing idea from our design meetings is introducing mechanics that split enemies into multiple paths. We're adding temporary tools to experiment with this concept. Similar to splitting resource conveyors into multiple processing modules in factory games, we're curious to see if treating enemies more like living resources rather than just foes can lead to interesting player choices.

This past month, we've concentrated on isolating wave combat and defenses to increase player agency and experience. In doing so, we've been prototyping different defenses that significantly impact maze design. Here are a few examples:

Shoots a barrage of lasers across multiple cells, offering an advantage when placed at the end of long hallways.

Launches missiles over walls within a certain radius. As long as ceilings aren't placed and the area is open, units will be targeted.

Our first large-format turret, occupying four squares. Similar to the Arc Missile Trap but fires a giant bomb instead of a small missile. It has massive range but requires a long preparation time for each shot.

We're also aligning trap designs to better consider the quantity of enemies passing through the maze. We plan to showcase more in next month's dev log.

We've dedicated significant time to defining what the Home Base will be—how much will be pre-existing structures versus player-defined. You can see a few sketches in the concept art. We're leaning towards a smaller starting base, allowing you to make critical choices about where larger base elements will reside.


As you know, the possibilities in a physics-based, wave-based shooter are extensive. It's crucial that we make design decisions based on what's best for the player experience, rather than adhering strictly to genre conventions. We dissect each gameplay aspect to determine its value in the context of the multiple genres we're incorporating. Though it takes time to refine these mechanics, the result should be a more polished and unique experience for many players. We invite you to continue this journey with us as we work through the game mechanics to create a great experience.

That's all for this month's update. We're excited about the direction Hostile Mars is taking and can't wait to share more with you in the coming weeks. As always, we appreciate your support and feedback. Stay tuned for more updates, and happy building!

We’re incredibly grateful to have such a passionate community and excited to keep sharing our progress with you. To stay up to date with all the latest developments, join our incredible Discord community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

Take Care,
-HM Team

Welcome to the October 2024 Hostile Mars Devlog! As we get further into development, the team has been hard at work refining every aspect of the game, from waves of enemy robots to player-driven systems and mechanics. This month, we’ve been focusing on improving the core combat experience, enhancing the game's systems, and introducing exciting new features that will shape how you defend Mars. Let's dive into what’s new and get you prepped for the battles ahead!

We’re currently isolating the wave system and Home Base defenses, doing a deep dive into traps, turrets, player weapons, and enemies to see how they can be optimized. The goal is to make waves not just challenging, but also full of interesting choices for the player. Expect big changes!

Once we’re satisfied with the core wave mechanics, we’ll layer the manufacturing and logistics systems on top to further deepen the design. This process is taking a bit longer than expected due to the unique blending of genres, but we're getting closer to finding the perfect formula.

Our shift to grid-based traps and buildings is paying off. By using grid cells to track enemy positions, we can optimize how traps interact with enemies, making it easier to detect when bots are bottlenecked or when players have created efficient mazes. This optimization allows us to reward clever base-building strategies and reduce unnecessary complexity in the process.

We’ve made a few quality-of-life improvements to Management Mode, streamlining the UX by automatically switching between selection and placement tools based on input. This speeds up the process of building and adjusting your base, making it feel more fluid. We’ve also added a copy-paste feature so players can quickly duplicate base elements and design more efficiently. You can even drag the blueprint to repeat over a large area! Take that all other games that don't have this feature!

It’s time for the player to feel the impact of battle! We’re adding status effects like stun, knockback, and slow to make combat feel more dynamic and dangerous. These effects will add a layer of challenge beyond just managing health, making certain enemies even more threatening. Plus, we’ll be integrating improved animations so the player character reacts more naturally to being hit, adding a deeper sense of immersion.

We’ve cleaned up and improved the code for handling damage and health, giving us far more flexibility in how entities interact in combat. Now, when an entity deals or receives damage, it can track what caused the damage and even trigger special behaviors—like bots self-destructing upon destroying a structure or spike traps activating on impact. This upgrade opens up new design possibilities as we fine-tune the game’s tower defense mechanics.

Power has always been a tricky part of our game’s design, especially considering its importance in factory-building games. But in a wave-based combat game, a power outage during a wave could punish players too harshly. So, we’ve revamped the system into a grid-based power system.

Power flows through tiles connected to a central generator. As long as tiles are connected, they’ll stay powered. If an attack breaks the connection, only those affected tiles will lose power—so don’t worry about catastrophic failures mid-wave. The new system simplifies power management, letting you focus on building without worrying about power shortages.

While there may not be much to show visually, we’ve drastically improved the way waves are structured. Now, we have more control over where and when enemies spawn, allowing us to create more exciting and strategic waves. The new system lets us fine-tune which spawn points release specific enemy types, giving us the ability to design waves with more precision and intensity.

This month, we’re giving you a sneak peek at some of the latest concept art for Hostile Mars! Our talented art team has been hard at work bringing the Martian landscape and enemy designs to life. From the gritty, industrial feel of your Home Base to the mechanical menace of enemy bots, the visual direction is getting sharper every day.

Expect to see towering enemy robots, deadly traps, and a Martian landscape filled with hidden resources and strategic opportunities. We can’t wait for you to experience these environments and enemies in action, but for now, enjoy this exclusive look at some of our newest concept art!

That wraps up our October devlog! We’re excited about the progress we’ve made and can’t wait to share even more updates as we continue refining Hostile Mars. With major improvements to combat, new systems in place, and a deeper focus on strategy and gameplay, we’re getting closer to delivering a Martian defense experience like no other. Stay tuned for more, and as always, thanks for your continued support!

Until next time, keep defending Mars! 💥

We’re incredibly grateful to have such a passionate community and excited to keep sharing our progress with you. To stay up to date with all the latest developments, join our incredible Discord community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

Take Care,
-HM Team

The public pre-alpha demo of Hostile Mars, launched during Steam's Tower Defense Festival, was a resounding success! Over 2,500 users engaged with the demo, averaging two hours of playtime each. We’re thrilled with the turnout and deeply grateful for all the feedback received through the post-demo survey. It has been instrumental in guiding our enhancements. If you haven’t had the chance yet and would like to provide feedback, you can still do so here.

Your feedback has given us clear insights into what’s working well and where we can focus our efforts to improve the game. We’re particularly grateful for the constructive suggestions regarding features that are still in development, such as the outpost system. This system is designed to provide unique experiences and unlock new technologies with each completed outpost, and we’re excited to refine it further to meet your expectations.

We were blown away by the creative base designs that many of you shared. Seeing how you engaged with the game’s mechanics has been a huge inspiration for our team. Your participation and feedback are vital as we continue to develop and enhance Hostile Mars. We’re listening closely and are already implementing many of your ideas to make the game even better.


In preparation for the demo, we made some significant updates to the game’s progression system. By tying the tech tree directly to the world, we’ve created a more immersive and rewarding experience. This also meant reimagining the environment with new Points of Interest (POIs) and special locations that align with the revamped progression.

The demo showed us that we’re on the right track, and we’re committed to refining these elements to ensure they’re both intuitive and enjoyable. We’re excited to see how these changes will enhance your experience as you explore and conquer Mars.


We’re excited to share that we added a new intro sequence to the demo, bringing a fresh layer of narrative depth to Hostile Mars. While there’s still more to come, the current intro has already received positive feedback, and we’re eager to continue expanding the game’s storytelling elements. This is just the beginning of the cinematic experiences we plan to offer, making the world of Hostile Mars even more engaging and immersive.


Throughout the demo, our team worked tirelessly to ensure everything ran as smoothly as possible. We’re always striving to deliver the best experience, and your feedback is helping us polish the game even further. We’re a small but dedicated team, and every challenge we face brings us closer to creating the best version of Hostile Mars.


We heard your thoughts on the building system, and we’re excited to announce some great improvements! Building vertically is now more intuitive, thanks to updates that make placing walls and floors easier and more precise. These enhancements will allow you to focus on your creativity, making base building a more enjoyable and seamless experience.


The art team has been working hard on lots of stuff, here's a preview of some of the concept work done:



Thank you for your continued support! We’re incredibly grateful to have such a passionate community and excited to keep sharing our progress with you. To stay up to date with all the latest developments, join our incredible Discord community: https://discord.gg/Xd88eF8Teg

That's it for this dev log.
Take Care,
-HM Team