Digital Eel is a self-funded

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

video game development team located in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington area. Digital Eel is best known for its '' Infinite Space'' series of space roguelikes.

History

The group was formed in 2001 by Rich Carlson ( Ion Storm,

Looking Glass Studios Looking Glass Studios, Inc. (formerly Blue Sky Productions and LookingGlass Technologies, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Product ...

Iikka Keränen Iikka Keränen, a native of Finland, lives in Seattle, Washington with his dog. He is a level designer at Valve. He also co-founded Digital Eel, an independent video game development group, in 2001. His range of professional skills include illustr ...

(

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

) and Bill "Phosphorus" Sears ( KnowWonder,

GameHouse GameHouse is a casual game developer, publisher, digital video game distributor, and portal, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a division of RealNetworks. GameHouse distributes casual games for PC and Mac computers, as well as ...

). In April 2013, Digital Eel announced plans for the third installment of the Infinite Space series, ''Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars'', and turned to Kickstarter.com to crowdfund the project. Funding was successful.

Developers

* Rich Carlson – design, sound, music and art *

– design, code and art *Bill "Phosphorus" Sears (deceased) – artist, music and design *Henry Kropf – code, macOS expert *Chris Collins - code, macOS expert, Android expert

Games

*''Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space'' (Android, iPad, iPhone, 2021) *''

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 B ...

'' reissue (Linux, macOS, Windows, 2020) *''Goblin Slayer Third Edition'' (boardgame, 2019) *''Protagon'' ( VR game, HTC Vive/

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, 2017) *''Infinite Space Battle Poker'' (card game, 2016) *''Pairs: Infinite Space'' (card game, 2016) *''Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars'' (

, Mac, 2015) *''Eat Electric Death!'' (boardgame, 2013) *''Infinite Space Explorers: X-1 Expansion'' (card game, 2012) *''Infinite Space Explorers'' (card game, 2012) *''Data Jammers: FastForward'' (Windows, Mac, 2011 & 2015) *''Space Ludo'' (boardgame, 2009) *'' BrainPipe: A Plunge to Unhumanity'' (Windows, Mac & iPhone, 2008 & 2009) *''Goblin Slayer'' (boardgame, 2008) *''Soup du Jour'' (Windows &

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

, 2007 & 2011) *''Eat Electric Death!'' (boardgame, 2007 but publisher defaulted) *''Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space'' (Windows, Mac, 2005, 2006, 2011 & 2014) *'' Diceland Space: Terrans vs. Urluquai'' (setting, ship types & art, tabletop game, 2005) *'' Diceland Space: Garthans vs. Muktians'' (setting, ship types & art, tabletop game, 2005) *''Independent Games'' ( Independent Games Festival 30-game compilation CD-ROM that featured ''Big Box of Blox'', ''Dr. Blob's Organism'', ''Plasmaworm ''and ''

'' Windows, 2005) *''Mac OS X Boiler Plate Special'' (Mac, 2004) *''Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox'' (Windows, Mac, handhelds, smartphones, 2003–2008) *''Dr. Blob's Organism'' (Windows & Mac, 2003) *''

'' (Windows, Mac & handhelds, 2002-2020) *''Plasmaworm'' (Windows, July 17, 2001)

Reception

Digital Eel is best known for its ''Infinite Space'' series of space roguelikes, ''

'' (2002), ''Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space'' (2005) and ''Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars'' (2015). Strange Adventures and Weird Worlds pioneered the space roguelike subgenre, inspiring later efforts like '' FTL: Faster Than Light''.

Awards

*Excellence in Audio: Brainpipe ( IGF, 2009) *Innovation in Audio: Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space ( IGF, 2006) * Seumas McNally Grand Prize finalist: Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space ( IGF, 2006) *Quest/Adventure Game of the Year: Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space (Game Tunnel, 2005) *Innovation in Visual Art: Dr. Blob's Organism ( IGF, 2004) *Innovation in Audio: Dr. Blob's Organism ( IGF, 2004)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.digital-eel.com/ Companies based in Seattle Indie game developers Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game companies established in 2001