Mysterious Space cover
Mysterious Space screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Indie, Arcade

Mysterious Space

progress update on 0.9.0!
Hello again, internet! Sorry again about not releasing at the end of January. I had quite thoroughly broken the game at that time with all of my in-progress changes.

But it's been two weeks, and while progress has been slow, it has been made! The game isn't ready to release, but I'm pretty confident it will be ready at the end of THIS month, so look forward to a release then :)

It seems that no matter what month, week, or day, there's always some other side-project I'm working on. An educational game... a board game... a game jam... I'm not going to apologize for these stealing my time, anymore :P Even though they're unrelated to Mysterious Space, they're all opportunities for me to do something new, and learn something more. Hopefully, I'm learning a little something from each one, leveling up my real-life skills, getting better at everything I do, including Mysterious Space.

THAT BEING SAID: I'd like to talk about my most-recent side-project, since it is Mysterious Space-related, although not in a way you'd probably expect: I have been planning and writing a story which takes place in the Mysterious Space setting. I would not consider myself a skilled writer, but it is always something I've enjoyed doing from time to time, and as I sat down to plan I realized that there are some writing-related tips and tricks that I've learned from studying game design (a lot of game design pulls from other media, anyway, including movies and books).

How far will I take this writing project? If I had to guess, I'd say one in every 10 to 20 of my side-projects turn into anything worth sharing, so... we'll see how this one goes! :P But even if it's something I never finish, I'm sure it will inspire changes to Mysterious Space in the future :)

Sorry again about missing last month's release, but I hope you'll look forward to this month's. I'll try to post a game-play/update video in the coming week, as well, to show you guys some of the new content!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing Mysterious Space! :)

this month's release will be delayed, due to CHANGES
I like to try to release at the end of every month, but I've been making some big changes to the game, and I'm unfortunately not at a point where I can release, so I'm going to have to delay.

there's a whole new, larger sector map, with alien races to interact and trade with, but there's still some serious bugs and incomplete features that definitely prevent release!

I'll let you guys know when I know more! if I can finish this stuff up super-speedily, I'll release sometime this week; if not, I'll probably skip this release, and wait for the next one, at the end of February.

a list of the changes so far are available here: http://mysteriousspace.com/changelog/0-9-x/

sorry to keep you waiting; I'll try to make it worth it!

thanks for reading, and thanks for playing Mysterious Space :)

0.8.6.2 sound bugfix release + other stuff
I've heard reports from a few players that Mysterious Space would make TERRIBLE NOISES whenever it played any sound effect (but not music). Mysterious Space uses MonoGame to do graphics, controller input, and sound effects, but FMOD to play music... so this suggested to me that MonoGame was the problem here. in fact, I've had problems with MonoGame and audio before, which is why I'm using FMOD to play music in the first place!

the solution, then, seemed obvious: go all-in with FMOD, and never ask MonoGame to ever play a sound again. EVER.

and that's just what I've done with 0.8.6.3, another little bugfix release that will NOT break your save games!

(I'm also probably going to find something else to handle controller input at some point, as I'd like to support a wider range of controllers... but that's an update for another time.)

other noteable changes/fixes this release:

  • all armors were resisting 50% collision damage, even if they claimed to resist more; this has been fixed
  • scrap dropped by the Scrapping upgrade is no longer being left behind after being collected
  • fixed a bug with the sandstorm sound effect, which would continue playing FOREVER if you ever entered folded space while it was playing >_> (can't blame this on MonoGame, sadly; this was entirely my fault)
  • I snuck in a new ship upgrade, which must be unlocked, so... you'll have to find that on your own :P
  • I tweaked the Heavy Head of Hydrus, which in my experience has always been a weak ship. rather than each Hull upgrade granting you 5 extra Hull, you now just get +5 Hull for each Upgrade chip collected, the moment you collect it. a minor buff, but a step in the right direction, I hope.


full changelog is available here: http://mysteriousspace.com/changelog/0-8-x/

(I realize I've been going a little crazy with the updates the last few days... I can't explain it. I just... I keep wanting to work on Mysterious Space recently! I hope you don't mind :P)

thanks, as always, for playing!

good luck, pilot!

Mysterious Space donation update!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrP4GUH_kCM

thanks everyone for playing Mysterious Space! your guys' purcahses have allowed DDRKirby(ISQ) to produce a fantastic Mysterious Space soundtrack (which, again, you can buy at https://ddrkirbyisq.bandcamp.com/ ), have allowed translators to get the game available in other languages, and have also allowed me to donate to The Planetary Society, Planned Parenthood, Community Idea Stations, The Project for Awesome, and now: JAXA - the Japanese space agency!

two questions for you guys:


  1. are there organizations you guys feel are worth supporting through Mysterious Space's sales? the next "topic"/field I'd like to donate in is health, and I'm particularly interested in antibacterial resistance - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrobial_resistance - but I'd definitely love to hear your guys' suggestions, in any topics/fields
  2. do you guys have any suggestions for Mysterious Space? things you'd like to see added, or even removed? I'm particularly interested in increasing the possibilities for emergent gameplay, but again, all suggestions are welcome!


thanks again, for playing, reading, providing feedback, and everything else. you guys are great!

small update: 0.8.6.1
I'm continuing to investigate the crash some players are experiencing. this update hopefully reduces a super-bad Steam-locking crash to a mere regular-type crash >_> it also introduces some command-line arguments (or "launch options", as Steam calls them) that you probably don't care about, but will help me test some things with players who are having issues.

I figured I'd take the opportunity to ALSO fix up a little tractor beam issue, and add a new achievement, "Teamwork!! :D"

and that's it! it was a small update, and I very intentionally made sure NOT to ruin save game compatibility!

a full list of allllllllllll the (six) changes can be found here: http://mysteriousspace.com/changelog/0-8-x/

thanks for playing! :)

early 0.8.6 release?! (will release at about 6AM UTC, Jan 4th)
I've been hearing some reports of the game crashing in a most-unusual way. I'd like to release a new version to add better error logging, as well as updated versions of .NET and MonoGame (to see if that happens to fix anything).

BUT: I know there's gonna be SOMEONE whose save game I break, no matter what I do, and I'm sorry about that :| to prevent as much as possible, though, let this post serve as a warning: in ~10 hours, I will release Mysterious Space 0.8.6, which will absolutely break any existing save games.

it will also, hopefully, solve issues related to multiple instances of the game running simultaneously, and will provide way-better logging of the initialization process, in case anything goes wrong. and if we're REAL lucky, the .NET and MonoGame upgrades will solve other issues, as well.

plus, you know, new accessories, weapon effects, general gameplay fixes, and other things I'd been working on this weekend. full changelog here: http://mysteriousspace.com/changelog/0-8-x/

0.8.5.1 bugfix... there's always SOMETHING
I got a crash report from a mysteerrrrious player (thanks, mysterious player!) it took me a little bit to figure out what was going on, but finally discovered a crash that would happen consistently when trying to change equipment when playing as the Heavy Head of Hydrus. the missing "Shield" slot was confusing the new equipment screen.

I also took this opportunity to fix something I'd forgotten to fix earlier: now, any ship part that cannot be equipped is now listed in your Inventory tab. this allows people playing as the Heavy Head of Hydrus to actually be able to see and drop any shields they've picked up! sorry I didn't do this earlier. I know it's been a long-standing issue, I just test so often as the default ship; it's easy to forget about the others...

thanks for reading, thanks for playing, and thanks for reporting crashes! :) that bug could have gone unnoticed for a long time without your help!

it's Jan 1st in some places of the world!
Mysterious Space 0.8.5 has been released on Steam! (I still can't quite figure out Steam's update timing; it may be a few minutes before your client downloads it.)

a run-down of the bigger items:

1. the old "Discovered the Mysterious Source" achievement has been removed. a bug in the code was causing it to be handed out to everyone for merely playing. a new achievement with the same name and appearance has been added, and the bug has been fixed. sorry if you had legitimately earned that badge before; I couldn't think of a better way to do this.

2. a few co-op changes! the orbital's weapon fires twice as fast, but each bullet does less damage. this was done to help the orbital's shots land more often, since it can be really hard to aim when the player you're orbiting JUST KEEPS MOVING :P the orbital upgrades have been tweaked a little as well. and for split-screen co-op, there's now an indicator on the edge of each player's screen showing where the other player is. their shield status is also reflected on this indicator.

3. lightning! a brand new mechanic! dark clouds may zaap nearby enemies and players alike, and can chain off of various object. there's also a new lightning generator accessory, and a new advanced technology effect that can summon electrically-charged crates (among many, many other things; the electric crate just happens to be related to the new lightning mechanic :P)

4. there's a new outpost mission: map the planet!

5. ship parts will no longer be found pre-weakened, because that was always lame. instead, they can be found pre-cursed or pre-blessed.

6. batteries can now be dropped to create a time bomb. it explodes after 3 seconds in a layered ring of bullets.

7. as mentioned in an earlier post, the equipment tab has been entirely rehauled. you'll probably hate it, since it's different, and you were used to the old layout. sorry. UI changes are always painful :| (just ask Facebook :P)

8. also as mentioned before, the teleporting eye enemy has been improved. by which I mean he should murder you less often! the teleport effect has been changed to hopefully be more clear, and he doesn't teleport in quite as close to you anymore. sorry again for all the unfair deaths this guy has caused!

the full changelog can be found here: http://mysteriousspace.com/changelog/0-8-x/

thanks for reading, and thanks for playing!

good luck, pilot!

Mysterious Space soundtrack available on bandcamp from DDRKirby(ISQ)
DDRKirby(ISQ) has released Mysterious Space's sound track over on bandcamp: https://ddrkirbyisq.bandcamp.com/album/mysterious-space-original-soundtrack it even features a few songs that aren't in the game yet (but they will be at the end of the month, when I release a new version of the game!)

I want to thank DDRKirby(ISQ) again for making all these songs for Mysterious Space! I can sometimes be capricious/indecisive in what I want from a song, and he's always been willing to work with me through that, and produce really amazing stuff! I hope we'll work together more as Mysterious Space continues to grow!

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some highlights of what will be included in the 0.8.5 release at the end of the month:


  • new lightning mechanic! planets with dark clouds may fire bolts of lightning that chain across multiple targets, and there's a new accessory: the Lightning Machine, which you can use to take out swarms of enemies, charge the clouds, or do other things... you'll just have to find out!
  • I don't know a single person who doesn't get pissed off at the teleporting eye enemy. sorry! :| it's receiving a couple changes that should make it more fair: a more-visible teleport effect, and the minimum distance from you it will teleport into has been increased.
  • there's a new mission Outposts may have for you
  • miscellaneous UI improvements; most are small, but there's also been a big change to the equipment screen that will hopefully make it more clear when there are new parts, and how to switch parts


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thanks for reading; thanks for playing!

Mysterious Space (and other games) available for $1 in Indie Gala bundle!
https://www.indiegala.com/hump

more $$s gets more gmz, but, I mean Mysterious Space is OBVS the best one of the bunch, and you only need to pay one dollar bill to get it, so why even pay more?

well, okay, I AM kind of intrigued by "Car Washer: Summer of the Ninja", because: wtf? car-washing ninjas?! (I don't actually know ANYTHING about that game; if you buy the bundle because I brought attention to that game, and it's horrible, I apologize >_> but maybe it's great?? I don't know! why is there a game about car-washing ninjas?! my mind is so boggled right now...)
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