The Space Mystery

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The Space Mystery
Developer(s)Mondo
Publisher(s)The LEGO Group
Platform(s)Web browser
Release5 December 1996[1]
Genre(s)Adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Exploriens – The Space Mystery was an online point-and-click adventure game based on the LEGO Exploriens product line. Players were tasked with solving a mystery aboards an Explorien spaceship. While the gameplay was single-player, players could chat with each other and work together to solve puzzles in the game.

The Space Mystery was developed by Danish web developer Mondo and released in December 1996. It was the second game released on LEGO.com, and was the first to allow online communication. The game remained online through the first half of 1997; by the time it shut down, over one million users had played it. It was a finalist in the 1997 Cresta and Epica Awards.

As an account was required to play The Space Mystery, it was not archived on the Wayback Machine and is currently lost media.

Gameplay

Screenshot of the game, showing its interface and one of its pre-rendered scenes

The Space Mystery was a point-and-click adventure game played from a first-person perspective. Players could navigate through pre-rendered environments using arrows on the sides of the game window.[2] In the game's backstory, the Explorien Space Lab at the planet Mondo II has lost contact with its SatCraft 001 spaceships. The player takes the role of a Junior Explorien tasked with going into space and solving the mystery onboard one of the spaceships.[3] New players were asked to keep what happened in the game a secret, and were told that there was no use for Exploriens who were not willing to fully accept the mission if they did not check the checkbox agreeing to this.[4] The player needed to collect items that could be used to solve puzzles; for example, one puzzle required the player to find orthochromatic spectacles to read a scrambled message in an image projected by an "ILTAR projection machine".[5] Players could communicate with each other through an in-game chat function, available in four languages, and were encouraged to do so to help each other overcome problems and solve the game's mystery.[6][2]

Development and release

Icon on LEGO.com

The Space Mystery was developed by Mondo A/S,[2] a Danish web development company that also designed the original LEGO.com website.[7] Mondo produced the game's computer-generated imagery in their graphic production facilities and programmed it in their "$HTML" system, creating what they claimed was "some of the web's first true game interaction." Player progress was tracked and saved using "Mondo Modules".[2] The game's appearance, navigation, and focus on player interaction were based on thematic role-playing.[2] It was designed for players of all ages, though it was considered to be potentially difficult for younger players.[6]

The Space Mystery was first made available on LEGO.com on 5 December 1996.[1] Mondo employees Soren Beck[8] and "Laust" advertised it on rec.toys.lego a few hours after its release.[9] The LEGO Group officially announced the game in a press release on 12 December.[6] The announcement referred to it as an "advertainment" game,[6] as it had been designed advertise the Exploriens LEGO sets that had released earlier in 1996.[2] The game and its chat servers were available in Danish, English, German, and Spanish; the previous LEGO web game, Treasure Hunt in the Pirate Sea, had only been available in English.[6] Players were required to create a LEGO Surfer Club account to play the game, if they did not have one already.[3]

On 3 May 1997, The Space Mystery was apparently removed from the Play page of LEGO.com.[10] A notice was added to the game's index page on 6 May stating that it had been temporarily disabled.[11] According to Mondo, the game was online for a total of six months, though the archived web pages indicate it was only available for five months. During its time online, over one million participants played the game.[2]

The Space Mystery was a finalist in the Interactive category in the 1997 Cresta Internatinal Advertising Awards.[12] held in New York in November 1997.[13] On 15 January 1998, the game was an Interactive Print finalist in the 1997 Epica Awards for European Advertising,[14] held at the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm. It was one of 277 finalists (seven from Denmark) out of 4,481 entries that year.[15][16]

Additional images

Screenshots

  • Landing page with language selection

    Landing page with language selection

  • A SatCraft 001

    A SatCraft 001

  • Exploring a room

    Exploring a room

Awards

  • Cresta 1997 finalist award

    Cresta 1997 finalist award

  • Epica 1997 finalist award

    Epica 1997 finalist award

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Soren Beck (1996-12-05). "NEW GAME ON WWW.LEGO.COM". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 2024-06-21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "LEGO Explorien Space Mystery Game". MONDO. 27 February 1998. Archived from the original on 1998-07-01.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mondo (1996). "LEGO Exploriens - The Space Mystery (English LEGO Surferclub signup)". LEGO World Wide Web Site. The LEGO Group. Archived from the original on 1997-01-10.
  4. ↑ Eileen Keeney (1996-12-13). "Re: Exploriens Game". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 2024-06-24.
  5. ↑ Camiel Rouweler (1996-12-09). "Orthochromatic glasses in LEGO web game". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 2024-06-25.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Nipper, Mads (December 12, 1996). "Space-travel game on the Internet". LEGO World Wide Web Press Info. The LEGO Group. Archived from the original on 1997-01-10.
  7. ↑ "MODNO A/S - Internetløsninger". 18 April 1996. Archived from the original on 1996-11-11.
  8. ↑ "Experience – Soren Beck Jensen". LinkedIn. Mondo A/S – Nov 1994-Jun 1998, 3 yrs 8 mos – First employee in the company. Started as HTML slave and was involved in many projects. Helped develop MondoSearch and give birth to Mondosoft.
  9. ↑ Jeff Findley (1996-12-10). "Re: NEW GAME ON WWW.LEGO.COM". Newsgroup: rec.toys.lego. Usenet: [email protected]. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22.
  10. ↑ "LEGO Internet Games". LEGO World Wide Web Site. The LEGO Group. May 3, 1997. Archived from the original on 1997-06-15.
  11. ↑ "LEGO: Exploriens - The Space Mystery". LEGO World Wide Web Site. The LEGO Group. 6 May 1997. File date (obtained via wget) and page text. Archived from the original on 1997-06-15. This game has been temporarily disabled.
  12. ↑ Ross, Nancy (1997). "Cresta International Advertising Awards 1997". MONDO. Archived from the original on 1998-07-01.
  13. ↑ Levere, Jane L. (November 13, 1997). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING – ADDENDA; McCann-Erickson Wins Top Honors". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-05-27. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  14. ↑ Weill, Alain (15 January 1998). "Epica Finaliste 1997". MONDO. Archived from the original on 1998-07-01.
  15. ↑ "Finalists by Country - 1997". Epica. Archived from the original on 1998-12-03. Denmark – Print Finalists – Mondo (Copenhagen) – Lego Explorien, Online – Internet Game, www.game.mondo.dk
  16. ↑ "Final Results 1997". Epica. Archived from the original on 1998-12-01.
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