Space-game journal
SPACE GAMES.
MORE TO DISCOVER.
Explore the history, systems and choices behind space games. Find a game that suits your screen, or follow an idea from the first research lab to the launchpad.
Looking for help with a mission? The player handbook has the walkthroughs. Here, follow your curiosity.
The journal
Find your next game
Compare what you actually do, from exploration and ship tactics to running a space program.
Choose your game
Space games for Mac: choose the kind of adventure you want
Compare No Man’s Sky, FTL, Kerbal Space Program and Mars47 by the decisions you make, with official Mac listings and a practical compatibility checklist.
Playing on iPad
Space games for iPad: tactics, exploration or a spaceport?
Choose an iPad space game by its decisions and touch interface. Compare FTL, Out There and Mars47, and learn what to check before downloading.
Find your role
Space flight simulator or space-program management game?
Do you want to fly a spacecraft, design a rocket or manage the launch operation? Compare the decisions, learning curves and overlap between space-game styles.
The space-game journal
Find your kind of space game
A practical guide to the different kinds of space games, from exploration and piloting to colony building and space-program strategy.
Mac gaming guide
Make room for a space program on your Mac
Understand Mac game compatibility, Apple silicon and Intel support, controls and practical setup choices before starting a strategy game.
Mac App Store field guide
Before you click Get
How to assess a Mac strategy game using compatibility, recent updates, gameplay detail and support information on its App Store listing.
The journal
History & systems
Where the genre came from, and why its decisions can keep us thinking long after a session.
History of play
A history of space games: from Spacewar! to space programs
Explore how space games grew from Spacewar! and arcade shooters into open worlds, fleet strategy and space-program simulations, with a sourced timeline.
Strategy explained
How to read a research tree in a strategy game
Learn to plan a research path, spot building prerequisites and budget for unlocks. Includes a worked Mars47 example from the opening campaign.
The journal
Inside the Mars47 world
The coast, the infrastructure and the ambition behind our own space-program game.
Base-building field notes
Build a base that works before it grows
Learn how roads, energy, housing and industrial dependencies shape a working coastal base in Mars47.
Space-program strategy
The business behind the countdown
Explore the management side of a spaceport: research grants, production chains, qualified hardware and the infrastructure behind missions.
Engineering & games
Why the test stand matters
What makes an engineering-focused space game satisfying? Explore research, test data, infrastructure and the distinction between a game and a simulator.
From Earth to space to Mars
The road to Mars starts on Earth
Understand the difference between managing a Mars colony and building the Earth-based space program that could make one possible.
Official world & lore
A forgotten coast. A twenty-year ambition.
Discover the fictional setting of Mars47: the Multiplanetary Initiative, a neglected coastal site and the ambition to reach Mars by 2047.
Field atlas
Get to know the coast
Orient yourself in Sector 47: the starting gate, western farm, highway logistics connection and later coastal expansion.
About the journal
Published by Mars47, the independent space-program game. These articles explain genres and game systems, with links to official information for historical and platform claims. Comparisons use published feature descriptions; they are not hardware benchmarks or claims of hands-on testing. Mars47 is our own game and is identified as such.
The opening-campaign examples use the checked version 1.0.7 guide data. Current store listings remain the reference for device compatibility. Send a correction or suggest a topic.
Your program starts here
NEXT STOP.
SECTOR 47.
A coastline to reclaim. A space program to build.
Available for Mac, iPhone & iPad. Opens the official App Store listing.