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. 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. 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). The team had previously made a game called Plasmaworm, after abandoning six months of work on 4X space game. As they began work on Strange Adventures In Infinite Space, they wanted to make roguelike game with a randomized world, similar to board games such as Source of the Nile, Tales of the Arabian Nights and Voyage of the BSM Pandora. The studio realized they could re use some of the assets from their previously abandoned space game, with the goal of creating a space opera experience that could be completed in less than 20 minutes. With game mechanics and graphics from their old project, the team quickly established the style of the game's ships, combat, and interface. Designer Iikka Keränen was keen to minimize the number of clicks required to complete any action, and the team decided to hide most numbers to keep players immersed in the fictional experience. The team also strived to create a consistent science fiction universe, with environments, abilities, and technologies based on current scientific theories. 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. 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". By 2013, the crowd funded Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars was developed using crowdfunding. The game was later released in 2015.

On November 11, 2005, the source code became freely available under the GNU GPL, though without the other game content. Since September 2009, Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was made available as freeware, including the game content. 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.

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space received a 77 score on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Computer Games Magazine praised it as a "light but oddly entertaining gaming hors d'oeuvre". Writing for GameSpot, Bruce Geryk felt that "the game's short length is what makes it so engaging". 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. 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". Ernest Adams, writing for Gamasutra in 2005, described Strange Adventures In Infinite Space as "the perfect short game". 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". Strange Adventures In Infinite Space was a 2003 Independent Games Festival finalist for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

The sequel, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, has received a 79 score on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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". Tyler Sager of Gaming Nexus praised the game for its short experience of exploration. Computer Games Magazine was critical of the game's randomness and lack of adventure, calling it a "CliffsNotes version of Star Control". 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". Writing for Gamasutra, Ernest Adams praised the game for the balance between its different layers. Weird Worlds won the award for Innovation In Audio at the 2006 Independent Games Festival, and was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize that same year. 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. Journalists have since made favorable comparisons between FTL and Weird Worlds.