0.6.4 is out, with new mini-bosses, and a new scoring system, and other things. you can check out the full changelog here!

it’s available for $3 from the following places:

* http://benmakesgames.itch.io/mysterious-space
* https://indiegamestand.com/store/1428/mysterious-space/

if you got Mysterious Space through the groupees.com Space bundle, don’t forget to redeem your Mysterious Space download key from groupees.com, and get this update (and all future updates) for free!

I’ve already begun work on 0.6.5. the focus this update is going to be on more enemies, a couple more mini-bosses, and probably something else cool… either friendly trade outposts, more decorations for planets, or something else. haven’t decided yet.

I’ve already begun work on a new mini-boss. it’s relatively simple to code, since it’s stationary:

it fires a large number of homing missiles, currently shown as light-gray circles. (these circles are a stand-in graphic while I work on angled missile graphics.) it will be the most-difficult mini-boss made so far (in terms of firepower and health), found near the middle of the game.

beyond that, though, a great priority for me, this update, is adding more enemies! while the end game is still lacking enemies, most game-play happens in the first few levels, where players may quickly tire of seeing the same two or three enemies, so that’s where I’ll be focusing my efforts. the challenge, for me, is in not overwhelming new players, while still satisfying experienced players: I don’t want there to be so many different types of enemies that new players keep dying in the first level simply because they keep facing totally new enemies every time! for that reason, some of the new enemies will differ only in appearance, perhaps with minor tweaks to the AI. I’ll definitely come up with some all-new enemies, though, too!

something else I’d like to change, related to enemies, though, is commonality. currently, if a planet can spawn, say, Four-way Fomalhaut, and Swimming Sheliak (the first two enemies encountered), both are equally likely to appear! even as more types of enemies are added, each has the same chances of appearing as any other. to make things more-interesting, and be slightly kinder to new players, I’ll be making different enemies appear with different frequencies. so perhaps the first level would MOSTLY be Four-way Fomalhauts (or reskinned versions thereof), but OCCASIONALLY some different enemy shows up.

some day in the future, I may even make mini-mini bosses 😛 rarely-spawned enemies that are a little tougher than most of the other things. but I don’t want to get too wrapped up in that right now.

I think that’s about it.

well, I guess there is one more thing…

working on the whale mini-boss, I quickly realized that I needed a better way to handle collisions. until now, all creatures’ hit boxes consisted of a single rectangle equal to its sprite size. this has worked so far, where things are relatively small, and I’ve been keeping things mostly-rectangular.

in fact, I choose the sperm whale as a base for this latest mini-boss precisely because of its relatively boxy shape!

but then I ran into an issue: the whale’s tail!

there is no way to fit a single rectangle around this creature in a “reasonable” way – a way the player will intuitively understand. in the above picture, if there’s only a single collision rectangle for the whale, either the player needs to be taking damage, or the rectangle needs to be so small that the whale’s tail can not be collided with at all.

this will clearly not do! so I finally did what I probably should have done a while ago: allowed things to have any number of collision rectangles, of any size and position.

using only rectangles is still a bit restrictive, as many shapes may have angles or curves that a rectangle does not neatly fit, but this is “good enough”. if you doubt it, think back to the NES/SNES/Genesis era of games, where rectangles (or possibly circles) were used almost exclusively for determining collision. even games on the first generation of 3D consoles often used simple rectangular prisms and/or spheres.

there are a couple additional things to consider, though:

first, you CAN break something down into ANY number of rectangles. on the NES/SNES/Genesis this might have been a serious issue of accuracy vs speed, but modern PCs are a touch more capable 😛 for Mysterious Space, we could break things down into very many, very small rectangles, if needed. for example, consider the first miniboss, who is made of 48 independent parts, each with a single collision rectangle. if there were no performance issues with that (and there weren’t) then it stands to reason that we could safely give the whale 48 collision rectangles without any hit to performance, allowing a great deal of precision on the slopes. (though I’ve chosen only 5, simply because 48 would be overkill!)

second, where there ARE inaccuracies, it is best to err on the side of kindness to the player. you can see this in many old games. the MegaMan games are an example I specifically remember reading about, where the collision rectangle for MegaMan is intentionally quite a bit smaller than the full area his sprite takes up, meaning bullets can graze his feet, top of his head, or hand, without registering as a hit. this may seem inaccurate, but as you make the collision rectangle larger, you run the risk of bullets hitting the player when obviously they should not.

you might, then, ask: is it better to have bullets miss that “should” have hit? or bullets hit that “should” have missed? the answer is “whatever makes the player feel better” 😛 it is MUCH better to have the player feel that they dodged a bullet that “should” have hit than to have the player feel the game is being unfair by having bullets hit that should NOT have.

shoot ’em ups like Ikaruga are actually fantastic examples of this, as well, where a hit is only registered at the very center of your ship; the wings, apparently, are merely decoration.

on the flip side, ENEMY collision boxes should typically take up closer to the full sprite space, so that the player doesn’t feel cheated by a bullet that SHOULD have hit.

again, when using a very few number of rectangles, it is inevitable that the player will observe inaccuracies in one way or another. the human brain is much happier when things are unfair in ITS favor, so for most games, err on the side of being nice to the player.

—

at the time of this writing, the only thing in Mysterious Space with a collision area that is not a single rectangle taking up the full sprite dimensions is the new whale mini-boss. but code is now in place that will allow me to easily override collisions areas for ANYTHING, replacing one, full-size collision rectangle with any number of collision rectangles of any size. for the most part, I will probably leave most things alone – bullets, for example, are all small and of regular shape, so their “default” collision areas are fine – but I’ll definitely look everything over and see if there are any obvious improvements to make, and I will DEFINITELY go over the players and more-precisely tune their collision rectangles.

thanks for reading 🙂

available here, and here:
* http://benmakesgames.itch.io/mysterious-space
* https://indiegamestand.com/store/1428/mysterious-space/

soooooooo… I know I said I was going to try and preserve save game compatibility, but that probably hasn’t happened. you MAY be able to load a previous game, but you may not (depends on the items you’ve got on you at the moment).

this is because I ended up doing a little refactoring, including some spelling corrections to item names in the code.

sorry about that! I should just stop ever trying to promise that save games will be compatible between particular versions. it’s just too easy to break it.

ANYWAY: this update, as mentioned, brings various UI tweaks/improvements, and additional translation work. the only gameplay changes are a buff to Berserker Armor, and a change to how you unlock the Alien Scanner upgrade (its blueprint is now a guaranteed drop from the Regenerating Rigel miniboss; it’s no longer found randomly). come to think of it, if you don’t want to risk messing up your saves, and you’re happy playing the game in English, you could probably just skip this update 😛

I’m about done with 0.6.3, which is a super-quick release aimed at improving some bits of UI, and translation. save games from 0.6.2 SHOULD work in 0.6.3, but this is always a tricky proposition, and I ultimately can’t promise that your save game will load. fortunately, games of Mysterious Space are quick, so you may as well finish up any current games before updating, just to be safe.

here’s the changelog for 0.6.3 as it stands. by the time I release tonight, there will probably be a few more translations improvements, and possibly a couple tweaks to the tutorial, but that’s really it!

not the most exciting release, I know, but I feel it’s important to take the time on this kind of stuff, too 🙂

0.6.3
=====

*** IN DEVELOPMENT ***

This update mostly brings visual fixes and improvements. Unlike most updates,
save games from the previous release (0.6.2) SHOULD BE compatible with this
release.

Known Issues
------------

* Discovered a bug present since 0.6.2: music does not always loop for Windows
  8 users! A little googling reveals that this is a known issue with MonoGame
  since 2013: https://github.com/mono/MonoGame/issues/1821 (Thanks to player
  Markieer for reporting this to me!) An immediate fix does not come to mind;
  I'll be on the lookout for work-arounds and other options for a future
  release.

Fixes
-----

* The changelog for 0.6.2 was missing the entry "when viewing your Equipment,
  categories containing new items are individually marked "NEW".
* In the Equipment menu, a category is immediately unmarked as having "NEW"
  items the moment you identify all of them. (Previously, it did not unmark the
  category until you left the menu, and re-entered.)

Upgrades
--------

* The Regenerating Rigel mini-boss now drops the "Alien Scanner" upgrade
  blueprint if you haven't already found it. This upgrade can no longer be
  found in any other way. (As I add more mini-bosses, I will move blueprints
  over to them in similar ways. I'm hoping this will feel like a cool reward
  for players, and give a better sense of progression.)

Equipment
---------

* Berserker Armor now doubles the firing rate of ALL your weapons (not just
  your second; that was weird!), but is also slightly more rare, and will grant
  slightly less armor.

UI
--

* On equipment, the increased shield/weapon regeneration rate text has been
  made more succinct. It now fits on one line, which should make it easier to
  read, and eliminates many instances where equipment descriptions leaked
  outside the UI!
* Most messages which specify a button to press, for example "Press A or ENTER
  to equip", now specify only the button relevant to the type of controller the
  player is using. So our example "Press A to equip" would now read only "Press
  A to equip" when using a controller; "Press ENTER to equip" when using a
  keyboard.
* Moved elements around on the "assign controllers" screen when loading a game,
  to give text instructions a little more room.
* Also on that "assign controllers" screen: added an animated orbital to
  players with orbitals.

Mini-bosses
-----------

* Regenerating Rigel may now drop a COLLECTION item describing itself.

Translations
------------

* Added "Shielded Core" text for English and French translations.
* Added French and German translations for all Armor and Shield names.
  (Full descriptions remain untranslated.)
* Added French and German translations for "Resists X% of damage resulting from
  collisions."
* Basic description of Armor is now translated to French and German. (Other
  effects remain untranslated.)
* Added French and English translations for Equipment screen controls. ("Press
  A to equip", etc)

you can get it here:

* http://benmakesgames.itch.io/mysterious-space

or here:

* https://indiegamestand.com/store/1428/mysterious-space/

I did a final test this evening, and ran into a couple more bugs than expected, mostly to do with co-op (including a huge one which prevented the loading of co-op games if an Orbital player was present!) but I got those fixed up! awesome!

there are, honestly, a couple display bugs, but I REALLY WANTED to release today, as promised. (it’s already technically tomorrow 😐 ) they’re by no means game-breaking, but all the same, I’ll get another release in the next few days, addressing these things.

save games are usually not compatible between versions, due to the large number of changes to underlying data structures. so a save game from 0.6.1 will not work in 0.6.2. keep this in mind before updating!

HOWEVER: the next release – 0.6.3 – will be small, and only address display issues, so 0.6.2 save games will be compatible with it.

neat!

to make a long story short, I failed to complete Rogue Dug. I got some basic gameplay in (level generation, A* pathfinding, turn-based movement, etc), but then I got sick, and then I felt bad I was behind, which made me not want to work on it, and bla.

tl;dr, I failed to participate in the 7DRL this year!

sorry about that. I delayed Mysterious Space work for this, and in the end I have almost nothing to show for it.

(though that A* implementation… hm… could come in handy…)

ANYWAY: I HAVE resumed work on Mysterious Space! I believe I already mentioned this, but last week DDRKirby(ISQ) put together a forest world song. I’ve also been working on the mini-boss – Regenerating Rigel – and I’m happy to say that it’s very nearly complete! what remains now is some balancing issues (Rigel’s REALLY hard at low levels, and I have not tested its strength in co-op mode), and to smooooooth out its movement. but broken parts regenerate; other parts fire… it’s awesome!

I’ll put together a video for you guys soon!

ALSO: a long-standing music/sound effect volume issue with MonoGame (the main library Mysterious Space uses to do graphics, sound, etc) is finally getting resolved. there was a report of this issue back in 2014, but it seemed to have been forgotten, so I basically “necro”d the report 😛 fortunately, someone quickly posted “oh, yeah, I’ve got a fix for that,” and it looks like things are moving along to get this fix implemented!

this is the latest thread on the issue: https://github.com/mono/MonoGame/pull/3629 you’ll notice it’s still an “OPEN” issue. once that’s closed, I’ll download it, and give it a try!

“but what IS the problem?” you might be asking. the problem is: changing the MUSIC volume ALSO changes the SOUND EFFECT volume… so sound effects play at a volume that’s a combination of music volume and sound effect volume, while music plays according to music volume only…

yeah >_>

I’m glad this is getting resolved soon. I’d prefer to release Mysterious Space with working volume controls 😛 haha. I had looked into other music/sound effect libraries, but they’ve had various issues: some were super-old and no longer supported, others simply did not work, and others still PRESUMABLY work, but had no documentation, so I was unable to figure out how to get them working!

WELL: again, I’ll try to get a video update out soon.

and sorry again about the 7DRL fail. (at least there’s always next year! :P)

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! 🙂