With less than four hours to go to the launch of Mars Attacks on Kickstarter I thought I’d let you know of another freebie on the topic.
Mantic have arranged a free digital issue of one of the Mars Attacks comics for everyone signing up to the Mantic newsletter.
If you’re already a subscriber you should have received your link in yesterday’s newsletter. If not, then all you need to do is scoot over to the Mars Attacks website and sign up there. They’ll be sending the link out in the next few days.
Ronnie showed me some of the pledge levels yesterday and I’m still not sure how the maths works. You’ll see what I mean when it goes live.
There is an Alpha set of rules being laid out for your amusement too, so the rules-hounds among you won’t be disappointed.
All told, Mars Attacks is looking pretty shiny 😉
Quirkworthy 
I have reached Kickstarter overload, but I am making my last exception for this.
Working on a licence like this must be something of a dream job, right? I cant wait to see how it unfolds. I hope that its different enough to Deadzone to justify a place on the shelf.
Good luck 🙂
There certainly has been a lot of exciting stuff on KS this year. Not surprised you’re a bit overloaded.
From a designers point of view, licensed products have both good and bad sides. On the upside there’s loads of cool art and a wealth of background already done. On the down side you’ve got much less room to make up weird new stuff. Personally I find the restrictions quite helpful in developing a characterful and distinct game.
You’ll get a chance to play it for yourself soon enough. I find it very different from DZ as that encourages me to think carefully about each and every individual model, carefully positioning him for maximum effect and nursing them past dangerous spots as they advance. Human and Martian troopers are way more expendable than DZ models, and have a habit of dying very quickly. It’s a very different mental approach, and suits the background. Only the heroes (of both sides) have any real staying power. And even they can get messed up if they get on the wrong end of a heat ray or artillery strike (or falling car).
I find that a certain type of creativity is born from being railroaded by circumstances (such as a licence): like you say, the restrictions can sometime be helpful. A blank canvas is daunting and can be hard to lock down, but the brief for a game like Mars Attacks must surely make some of the path quite clear.
I have mixed feeling about game systems that are a spin on existing ones. The advantage when a game comes from the same mechanical “family” as another is obvious: familiarity makes learning the new game quick. Nonetheless as someone who plays in weekend long binges a handful of times a year rather than more regular sessions, I find that I often struggle to remember what makes game A different to B. I relatively recently realised that this is more of an impediment to my enjoyment.than I had previously thought.
By way of example, years ago I was 100% certain of the subtle rules differences between WH40K 2nd ed and Necromunda for example, but I was an obsessive, less-jaded, early twenties type then. I certainly couldnt break the differences down now if I were to play either of those games and I would likely get the rules wrong in each, because I had half an idea of a similar rule form the other. Not a perfect example but you likely know what I mean all the same.
Assuming that much of the core mechanisms in Mars Attacks are the same as those in DeadZone (and to a lesser extent DreadBall) I hope that the differences are substantial enough to be unforgettable where they differ and seamlessly identical where they dont.
Having read your earlier thoughts regarding the proposed simultaneously generic and specific Eternal Battles I am sure that you have an opinion.
Im looking forward to a flick through the MA beta (and finally getting some proper Deadzone games in this Winter).
how much of the rules will be taken from deadzone? Also how do you plan to balance the game story-wise? I mean, a couple of survivors can’t be really a match for a bunch of Martians with sci-fi weapons right…?
Well that depends on the survivors. Remember that the Martians don’t do so well when you drop a brick on their goldfish bowl. Even a kid can get lucky there 😉
balancing the scenarios isn’t so much a case of balancing the combat power of both sides as much as ensuring that both sides can win. If your objective is to get away then the ray guns your opponent carries are less important.
In terms of rules, the main difference is one of overall “feel”. MA is a much simpler game than DZ with less in the way of details to decide about. It’s also entirely scenario/story based in a much more overt way. I’ll be writing on this more during the KS, plus there will be a public Beta for you to try out for yourselves. That’s the best way to see the differences.
Looking great jake, and off to a flyer too. I hope some comady will be had in the game, tongue in cheek stuff With ray guns zap zap zapping all over the place.. it wiil be nice to see what you have come up with for shooting combat and movment..or are they very alike to DZ or in a place of there own. All the best mate 🙂
Can’t wait to see the Alpha rules. Some of the local folks are interested in getting the Martian models to use as Vrill in Dust warfare/tactics, but aren’t too keen on the MA property. Hopefully the rules will convince them that it is a fun and goofy game worth their while. If not, then please make an A.I. deck a la DZ since it looks like I’ll be the only person interested locally…
MA plays quite differently from DZ. I’ll be posting more on the design ethos behind them in the coming week. Both games have tactics and choices to make that balance against the luck of the dice. The 2c tour of the differences is that in DZ the importance of the individual models and managing the detail needs to be balanced with the overall mission. In MA anyone that’s not a hero is expendable, and the body count is very high. You can focus much more on what your mission is and just throwing squads of Martians or GIs at the foe.
I’m resisting writing more because that doesn’t really explain it very well. You’ll have the Beta rules and I’ll write a proper post soon enough 🙂