Mars Mech Game

This was an outline of a game written in Choicescript in 2020-2021. It is extremely incomplete, and I have not worked on it in the past two years. In the spirit of Bring Out Your Ghosts, I am releasing the current code. There is not much content here, just snippets of some ideas.

About the game:

A mecha game about war...

You are a soldier fighting for Martian independence. One of your old friends is on the opposite side, fighting for the earthly oppressors. Both are mech pilots.

The story spans a career, from the revolution where you're a conscript or a volunteer soldier, through guerilla fighting, until the peace treaty, and potentially a civil war where you can either support or oppose the treaty, which might leave mars dependent on earth or leave territory on Mars that belongs to earth. At that point you'll probably be a general or a high ranking officer with the rebel military.

You start out fighting in the first battle of the revolution, in a converted mining mech with some attached guns and bolted on armor. You are one of few survivors against an overwhelming earthling force. In the midst of the battle you suddenly feel calm, a certain kind of clarity, and you can see the field with your mind's eye, and know how to survive. With your skills you manage to work your way up the rebels' nascent hierarchy and command your own team of mechs.

Progress: I implemented a highly elaborate combat system in Choicescript, perhaps the most complex system in any CS game that I know of. I spent relatively little time on the story and characters, and a lot of time coming up with mechs and weapons. Thus, the "Quick battle" option works, while the main game does not. There is no enemy AI; the opponents will just sit there, doing nothing.

Inspirations: The overall arc of the story and its politics were likely inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, while the battle mechanics were inspired by Battletech.

I am unlikely to continue the game, but if there is enough interest, I might work on it.

Files: source-notes.zip contains the Choicescript source as well as some notes I wrote about the game and its mechanics.

This uses my fork of choicescript.

Cover image source: USGS topographic map of Mars - https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2782/