Master of Puppets has been a side project of mine for a while, but a concept and idea for much longer.

I originally started working on a game called Master of Puppets in the 90s - then, as now, a turn based strategy/tactical game where you control a small squad of troops in a futuristic setting. The original idea was much inspired by the legendary Laser Squad but always with a twist or two.

Late 99, early 2000 I had painted myself into a corner and kind of gave up on the project so the assets of the original game ended up in Hexadome, which is another story entirely. Then ten years passed without much game development until, sometime around 2011, I made a small game for Android called Enclosure. Enclosure was a very downscaled, and quite mutated, version of the original concept, leaning more towards the base-building/tower-defense elements. I did release it on Google Play but it bombed pretty bad - I blame the impossible idea of paid content on Android, but probably have to admit that the game could have used a little more love as well.

In 2013 I did some prototyping on a follow up to Enclosure but nudging it more towards the strategy genre, back to where I was coming from with the original Master of Puppets, but it didn't really work out. I then decided to revisit Hexadome and attack the problem from that angle. Didn't work out either, though that project caught the attention of Norsedale and became the foundation for Deep Rift 9 which is still in development (you can find it elsewhere here on Itch).

It had, in other words, already been a very long journey when, in late 2019 over the x-mas break, I decided it was time to start again. This time from a clean slate and with the original concept rather than doing some weird spin-off. I also decided that this time, I was doing the game for myself, not for anyone else, not following trends and without looking at what might monetize well or what might change the world in some big way. It was to be my private late-night-weekend-for-the-love-of-it project.

2020 has been an unusual year, and while the game has remained a personal hobby/side-project, it has seen some fairly steady progress - Being unable to visit friends and family on weekends due to Covid-19 has allowed me to burn a fairly steady amount of hours on my hobby instead. I'm not in love with being isolated, but it does have its perks :)

So, that's where I'm at. April 2021 and the game is now in a state where most of the infrastructure is in place and you can play the first few missions that introduce you to the different aspects of the game from the base-building element to harvesting resources and looting enemies.

This early access version is limited by the story - because the story ends right after what is essentially the "tutorial", you never get to experience the research trees or the ability to extend your squad or attack random bases. There's also a bunch of new items and weapons that will come into play as the story unfolds.

As for what's missing, the high-level list looks something like this:

• Guard Mode
• Fog of War
• Enemy AI for non-creatures (currently enemies are limited to some rather dumb alien critters)
• Base Sharing (it is my intention that any players home base can become a playable level for other players)
• Finish the Story (Which will also progressively unlock all the content that is in the game but not accessible in this early release version)
• Balancing

With famous developer optimism, I reckon I could finish all of these things in a few months, as long as Covid-19 keeps my weekends free :)

I'm still doing this for my own entertainment, but that doesn't mean I won't share it, and I would really love to know what you think, so don't be shy :)