''Waking Mars'' is a 2012 platform-adventure game developed and published by

Tiger Style Tiger Style is an American independent video game studio. The studio was founded by industry veterans Randy Smith and David Kalina in 2008. Their first title '' Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor'', was released in August 2009, followed by ''Wak ...

. Players

jetpack A jet pack, rocket belt, or rocket pack is a device worn on the back which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air. The concept has been present in science fiction for almost a century and became widespread in the 1960s. ...

through underground

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

caves and encounter a host of alien lifeforms that operate as an

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

. Players must master the behaviors of these creatures to create ecosystems of their own design to survive and discover the secrets of Mars' past. The game has been nominated for Best Mobile Game and Excellence in Audio in 2012 Independent Game Festival. In June 2012, ''Waking Mars'' was also named the Best Game of 2012 (So Far) by '' Paste''. The game was originally developed for iOS and released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

in March 2012.

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

versions of this game were released as part of the Humble Indie Bundle for Android 4 on November 8, 2012. The game was released on

Desura Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Desur ...

on December 5, 2012, and on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

on December 13 after being successfully

green-lit To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

by the Steam users.

Reception

The reception has been generally positive, with the game receiving favorable reviews on

as well as numerous other publications.

References

External links

* 2012 video games IOS games Android (operating system) games Linux games MacOS games Windows games GameClub games Adventure games Platformers Indie games Video games developed in the United States Video games set on Mars Steam Greenlight games Metroidvania games Single-player video games Tiger Style games {{adventure-videogame-stub