Stronghold Games Announces Terraforming Mars
February 16, 2016 - 9:58am
Stronghold Games has announced that they will be bringing a new game from Swedish game company FryxGames entitled Terraforming Mars. Designed by Jacob Fryxelius, Terraforming Mars is an economic, territory-building game in which players compete over a period of generations (rounds) to earn the most victory points upon achieving the terraforming of the planet Mars. Stronghold will be hold the worldwide rights to the game in the English language, and worked closely with FryxGames starting in early 2015 for the final development and fine-tuning of the game.
The official press release is as follows:
Terraforming Mars takes place in the 2400s when the conditions on Earth compel humanity to make Mars a habitable planet. Corporations are competing to transform Mars by spending vast resources and using innovative technology to raise the temperature, create a breathable atmosphere, and make oceans of water. As the transformation of the planet progresses, more and more people immigrate from Earth and opportunities for science and progress increase. The players in Terraforming Mars each control a corporation with a specific profile and starting conditions. These corporations compete to contribute to the planet's transformation, to advance human infrastructure throughout the solar systems, and to reach significant milestones and awards. The transformation takes time, however, and each round of the game represents a generation. The corporation that has accomplished the most when the planet becomes habitable wins the game.While the board for Terraforming Mars is a compelling map of the planet, the most notable feature of the gameplay is the 200 unique project cards. The projects represent early terraforming achievements, such as introducing plant or animal life, to monumental ones, such as hurling asteroids at the surface, mining the moons of Jupiter, building cities, or establishing greenhouse gas industries to heat up the atmosphere. Balancing income, projects, resources, and timing is critical to your success.
The development of Terraforming Mars has been a family affair for FryxGames based out of the southern tip of Sweden near Malmö, across from Copenhagen, Denmark. The company consists of four brothers out of a family of ten brothers, six sisters, and two game-passionate parents. Even though only four brothers are formally in the company, most of the family is involved in the games they produce—from game designing and testing, to illustrating and translating, or general input and support. The release of Terraforming Mars continues the commitment of Stronghold Games to partner with publishers globally, bringing their great games to North America and the rest of the world, as well as to continue to publish great euro-game designs. This title brings together two of Stronghold's strongest commitments, engaging space games and satisfying euros for serious gamers. Terraforming Mars will be printed at Ludofact Germany, the leading printer of hobby games in the world. The tentative worldwide release date is the third quarter in 2016, and Stronghold Games anticipates copies to be available for Gen Con. MSRP for the title was not available at press time. In addition to Stronghold Games, FryxGames has licensed the game in Polish to REBEL.pl, as well as in German with a partner that will be announced very soon. No partner on planet Mars has been found yet, but Stronghold Games remains confident that it will serve all English-speaking Martians very well.For more information about this release, visit the Stronghold Games website or the game's pages on BoardGameGeek.com.
