oh man: 7DRL! I forgot all about it!

so I know I had previously said I was aiming on getting the next Mysterious Space release done this coming week, but I really want to participate in this year’s 7DRL, so… Mysterious Space is going to get pushed back a week.

when I first read about this year’s 7DRL, I KNEW I wanted to make something that ties into Mysterious Space, and that has not changed, but I wasn’t quite sure on what I wanted the game to be like.

I thought about making a game that reveals how the Mysterious Source was created – and what it is, who made it, etc – but I couldn’t think of how to turn that into a rogue-like. perhaps I’ll explore that in another game, with mechanics better-suited to telling that story.

so, okay: if not a game about the Mysterious Source’s construction, then what?

one of the reasons I thought about doing a game about the Mysterious Source’s construction in the first place is that I wanted to tell a story that falls well outside the timeframe of Mysterious Space itself, so thinking along those lines, if I wasn’t going to tell a game about the distant past, perhaps I could tell one about the distant FUTURE, instead.

the story of the Mysterious Source’s construction is kind of depressing, so I was thinking along those moods, anyway, and somehow the idea struck me of making a game where you explore Earth, but long after humans have left it. you could dig up relics, and explore Earth’s history, somewhat in the same way you do with the Logs in Mysterious Space now, but covering a greater span of time.

wanting to do something different with game-play, and thinking about digging, I suddenly thought of the old game Dig Dug. not a game I ever really played myself, but it would be fun to play with its mechanics, and as an old game, its mechanics are simple. I just need to tweak the objective… add a large, vertical, procedurally-generated space… and some different tools, monsters, and power-ups…

and so that’s what I’m going to do this year: in seven days, I shall create Dig Dug, the rogue-like, taking place in the future of the Mysterious Space universe!

weird!

there admittedly will not be much tie-in to Mysterious Space itself, though I will definitely be reusing some graphics, the framework I made for Mysterious Space, and other assets, which will give it a Mysterious Space feel.

I’m excited to see what the end-result looks like, and I hope you are, too! 🙂

sorry about the delay this causes for Mysterious Space proper. it is only a week, though, and I’ll definitely look to pull any new graphics, code, and ideas I make for project back into Mysterious Space. additionally, I definitely hope to capture a few more Mysterious Space players by tying the two games together; more Mysterious Space players is good for all of us! 🙂