Strange Adventures in Infinite Space

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space is a roguelike video game created by the indie developer Digital Eel and released for Windows and Mac on March 15, 2002 by boardgame developer-publisher, Cheapass Games. It was later released for Pocket PC and Palm by British developer-publisher Astraware.

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
Developer(s)Digital Eel
Publisher(s)Cheapass Games
Astraware
Designer(s)Rich Carlson
Iikka Keranen
Programmer(s)Iikka Keranen
Artist(s)Bill Sears
Composer(s)Rich Carlson
SeriesInfinite Space
EngineProprietary
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, macOS, Classic Mac OS, Palm Pilot, Linux
Release2002
Genre(s)Roguelike
Mode(s)Single-player

Strange Adventures is considered one of the first rogue-lite games, a hybrid of roguelikes and other types of games.

Gameplay

In Strange Adventures In Infinite Space the game players explore a "plausibly implausible" fictional region of the Milky Way galaxy called The Purple Void.

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space sets itself up differently each time it is played. Stars, black holes, planets, nebulae, artifacts, alien patrols, gadgets, lifeforms and dozens of events and encounters are randomized for each game session. Unlike conventional roguelikes, Strange Adventures In Infinite Space features graphics, music and sound, and game sessions typically last from 3 to 20 minutes, hence the game's tagline "Explore the galaxy in 20 minutes or less!"

Development

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was created by the independent game development group Digital Eel and released on March 15, 2002 by boardgame developer-publisher Cheapass Games.

Open sourcing and freeware release

On November 11, 2005, the source code became freely available under the GNU GPL,[1][2] though without the other game content. Since September 28, 2009, Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was made available as freeware, including the game content.[3] Due to the source code availability ports to alternative platforms emerged, for instance for the ARM and Linux based OpenPandora.[4][5] It was also released for Pocket PC and Palm by British developer/publisher, Astraware. License changed to GPLv3 and assets to CC-BY-NC-4.0 on May 18, 2020.[6]

In 2020, Strange Adventures in Infinite Space was reissued by Digital Eel and Chris Collins with support for contemporary Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Digital Eel opted to make the release for free, and included community mods that were developed to expand the game on its original release.[7]

Sequels

Its sequels, the IGF award-winning Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space (2005, Windows, Mac, iPad) and the crowd-funded Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars (2015, Windows, Mac), each feature more content and options.

Reception

Ernest Adams, writing for Gamasutra in 2005, described Strange Adventures In Infinite Space as "The perfect short game".[8]

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was a 2003 Independent Games Festival finalist.[9]

The game has been considered to be one of the first "rogue-lite" games, games that took core roguelike such as permadeath and procedural generation but adopted them to different gameplay styles that forewent the tile-based and hack-and-slash gameplay.[10][11] While not as influential on rogue-lites, the game's sequel Weird Worlds directly inspired FTL: Faster than Light which was one of the more influential games in the genre.[12]

See also

References
  1. source on digital-eel.com
  2. sais on infinitespacegames.com "After being sold for several years by Cheapass Games, Strange Adventures in Infinite Space was released as free software and its source code was made available under the GNU General Public License. Go to the Strange Adventures in Infinite Space website to download the game, source code and various other goodies"
  3. strange-adventures-in-infinite-space-free on Rock, Paper, Shotgun (2009-10-07)
  4. strange-adventure-in-infinite-space-v1-5-0-01-pandora-game-port on pdroms.de
  5. sais on github.com
  6. commit GitHub on kuroneko/sais (2020-05-18)
  7. Macgregor, Jody (July 19, 2020). "Strange Adventures in Infinite Space is back, free". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  8. "A Perfect Short Game" in Gamasutra (September 15, 2004)
  9. "IGF Competition Finalists" Archived 2015-06-11 at the Wayback Machine on igf.com in 2003
  10. Carlson, Rich (May 2, 2005). "Making a Case for Short Games". Gamasutra. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  11. Harris, John (March 22, 2016). "@Play 85: A Talk with Digital Eel, Makers of the Infinite Space Games". Gamasutra. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  12. "IGF awards 2013: FTL acceptance speech for Excellence in Design award". Game Developers Conference. March 28, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
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