Strange Adventures in Infinite Space

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
Developer(s)	Digital Eel
Publisher(s)	Cheapass Games Astraware
Designer(s)	Rich Carlson Iikka Keränen
Programmer(s)	Iikka Keränen
Artist(s)	Bill Sears
Composer(s)	Rich Carlson
Series	Infinite Space
Engine	Proprietary
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, macOS, Classic Mac OS, Palm Pilot, Linux
Release	March 15, 2002
Genre(s)	Roguelike
Mode(s)	Single-player

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. Releases for Pocket PC and Palm by British developer-publisher Astraware followed. In 2020, the game was updated to run on current computer operating systems of the day. It remains free to download and share.

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

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

The game is non-linear, with turn-based movement and real-time combat.^[1]

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!"

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was created by Digital Eel, a studio that included Richard Carlson, Iikka Keränen, and Bill Sears (creating under the name Phosphorous).^[1] The small studio was founded by Carlson and Keränen with the goal of making small, short games within a small budget.^[2] The team initially worked for six months on a 4X space game, before abandoning it to make a game called Plasmaworm.^[1] Their first concept for Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was a space opera experience that could be completed in less than 20 minutes, inspired by roguelike games and short "beer-and-pretzels" board games.^[2]

For the game's space theme, the studio realized that they could re-use some of the assets from their previously abandoned space game.^[1] They drew inspiration from roguelike games such as NetHack, with their randomly generated worlds.^[2] They were also inspired by short, replayable board games such as Source of the Nile, Tales of the Arabian Nights and Voyage of the BSM Pandora.^[1][2] The game's theme and setting were inspired by the work of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbury, and Star Control creators Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III.^[1][3][4]

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was designed as a quick, intense space opera. Players would explore the galaxy, encounter bizarre aliens, discover artifacts, and manage their starship, all while completing a journey within a time limit. The game avoided traditional role-playing elements like complex stats, instead focusing on intuition and discovery.^[2] The team decided to hide most numbers to keep players immersed in the fictional experience, and designer Iikka Keränen was keen to minimize the number of clicks required to complete any action.^[1] The game also introduced a simple trade system where items could be swapped without worrying about prices, adding to its fun, boardgame-like quality.^[2]

The game's art style was established by recycling assets from their abandoned 4X space project, allowing them to quickly create the game's ships, combat, and interface.^[2] Bill Sears was given freedom to create the game's graphics, and its humor and mystery led the game's fiction to follow the artwork.^[1] The team also strived to create a consistent science-fiction universe, with environments, abilities, and technologies based on current scientific theories.^[1]

Although the game's development had no deadline, it was completed with part-time work from three people over six months, or the equivalent of two full-time months. Designer Rich Carlson credits the team's efficiency to their small size, which also allowed them to listen closely to feedback from testers.^[1] Released in 2002, Carlson hoped that the experience would prove the success of short, replayable games, comparing it to a growing trend of other short independent projects in the game industry.^[2]

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was released on March 15, 2002, by boardgame developer-publisher Cheapass Games.^[5][1]

Digital Eel followed Strange Adventures In Infinite Space with a self-funded sequel, working on the game for one and a half years part-time.^[6] Designer Rich Carlson described the game as "a hybrid, part strategy game, part adventure game and part starship combat game, similar in some ways to games like Pirates! and Star Control II".^[6] Their goal for the game's development was to add features that had previously been left out of their previous game, and to improve the game's depth and graphical quality.^[6] Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space was released for the PC and iPad in 2005.^[7]

By 2013, the crowd-funded Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars was developed using crowdfunding.^[8] The game was later released in 2015.

On November 11, 2005, the source code became freely available under the GNU GPL,^[9][10] though without the other game content. Since September 2009, Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was made available as freeware, including the game content.^[11] It was also released for Pocket PC and Palm by British developer and publisher, Astraware.

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.^[5]

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space received a 77 score on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[12] Computer Games Magazine praised it as a "light but oddly entertaining gaming hors d'oeuvre".^[13] Writing for GameSpot, Bruce Geryk felt that "the game's short length is what makes it so engaging".^[14] Tom Chick of GameSpy called it "a clever and engaging take on strategy and adventure gaming", while noting that players will see most of the game's content after a dozen play-throughs.^[15] Scot Krol of PC Game World recommended the game for providing "more enjoyment in fifteen minutes than most games have in fifteen hours of play [and] a perfect example of what good gameplay means in a game".^[16] Ernest Adams, writing for Gamasutra in 2005, described Strange Adventures In Infinite Space as "the perfect short game".^[17] Upon the game's free re-release, Kotaku praised it as "an excellent mix of Master Of Orion-lite strategy and Star Control-inspired arcade combat".^[18]

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was a 2003 Independent Games Festival finalist for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.^[19]

The sequel, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, has received a 79 score on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[7] Finnish gaming publication Pelit felt that the game captured the feeling of space exploration, but was in need of more content.^[20] GameZilla called it "a worthy sequel to the original excellent title", and recommended the game "for those who miss the simplicity, yet complex nature of the old Star Control titles".^[21] Tyler Sager of Gaming Nexus praised the game for its short experience of exploration.^[22] Computer Games Magazine was critical of the game's randomness and lack of adventure, calling it a "CliffsNotes version of Star Control".^[23] Kieron Gillen from Eurogamer praised the game for its "variety, excitement, thought and pace all in tiny bundle you can wolf down in a sandwich break".^[24] Writing for Gamasutra, Ernest Adams praised the game for the balance between its different layers.^[25]

Weird Worlds won the award for Innovation In Audio at the 2006 Independent Games Festival,^[26] and was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize that same year.^[6]

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 forwent the tile-based and hack-and-slash gameplay.^[27][28] Writing for PC Gamer, Jody McGregor called it the "original spaceship roguelike", tracing its lineage from the Star Control series to FTL: Faster than Light.^[5] FTL developer Justin Ma has cited Weird Worlds as an influence on the game's development.^[29] Journalists have since made favorable comparisons between FTL and Weird Worlds.^[30][5] Rock Paper Shotgun also noted the influence of Weird Worlds on The Long Journey Home, another procedurally generated space game influenced by FTL.^[31][32]

• Pyramid^[33]

• List of roguelikes
• Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space (sequel)

• Official website
• Digital Eel Games homepage: Official site for all "Infinite Space" electronic and table game updates
• TV tropes video games page: Strange Adventures in Infinite Space details and references deep dive
• Strange Adventures in Infinite Space at MobyGames