Oct 5

Mystery Chamber Forever — Development history 2021–2025

Mystery Chamber Forever - VNGames

The five characters: Roach, Mage, Jack, Alistair, Robot Helper

Mystery Chamber Forever — a project that originated during work on what was supposed to be just another update to Mystery Chamber 2015 Deluxe, as it was still called at the time. A project that flipped the perception of what the first two games in the series had already given to the players. This was meant to become the ultimate version of Deluxe, but… even that turned out not to be the project’s limit. Just like its predecessor, it grew into something much bigger.

There hasn't been any news about Mystery Chamber Forever ever since its announcement back in 2021. So what really happened to the game? Let’s walk through its entire story.

The beginning

2021

In spring 2021, I started developing Update 1.2 for Mystery Chamber 2015 Deluxe (hereafter just «Deluxe» or «Mystery Chamber World»). I had already implemented several new mechanics and features planned for the update.

Workbench for weapon crafting

Meanwhile, in the community, people started half-jokingly, half-seriously demanding a level editor. At some point the idea became so widespread that I decided to give it a shot.

Community meme

At the same time, I felt it was about time to release something on Steam. But if I wanted to release Deluxe there, the game needed original music. That’s when I began collaborating with Vladimir Nagorny (VNGames). Vladimir started composing the game’s soundtrack.

Needless to say, the first results were rough. It may have been Vladimir’s first serious project, but persistence paid off, and by early autumn 2021, the game had a solid set of tracks. They already shared a common style and even thematic motifs that carried meaning (e.g., the archive theme or the Dark World theme).

🎵 VNGames — Archive (2021)
One of the first soundtracks

The further development went, the more ideas and plans appeared: double jump and dash, a new keys mechanic, level system, revamped difficulty modes, character stats, weapon dismantling and upgrades, new save slots, new enemies, new items, inventory, and much, much more.

Not everything was finished back then, so no working build with all those features exists.

Character stats. Later, movement speed and jump height were replaced with attack speed and defense.

New pause menu elements

Mobility-granting items

Full inventory system

The Deluxe levels also received updates and tweaks — more details, collectible items, and new segments. I scattered collectibles wherever I could.

Collectibles

Green corridors

Abandoned archive storage

Archive rooftop

Levels became even more interconnected. For example, you could return to the Green corridors from the western side of the Archive yard and access a previously locked location. This already existed in Deluxe, but the plan was to add many more such connections across the world.

Starting location

By summer 2021, there were so many ideas, and they changed the game so drastically, that Update 1.2 grew into Version 2.0, and by mid-summer it was decided to release the game under a new title: Mystery Chamber 2015 Forever (hereafter just «Forever» or «Mystery Chamber Forever»). It was meant to replace the 1.2 update for Deluxe.

Game icons

Around that time, I was already working on the level editor. Loading/saving levels, placing/removing objects, an object menu, changing level properties and size, undo/redo — all of that was functional.

Level editor

Object sets

The editor was even supposed to include a simple event system.

Event icons

In addition to the editor, the game was going to support user-made skinpacks and even resourcepacks (to replace sprites and audio).

Skinpack configurator

Test skinpack published on Steam Workshop

Then came the graphics upgrade — quite spontaneously. While drawing icons for the editor, I made a wall icon with green bricks. I added some dripping details to it, and that inspired me to enhance the Green corridors background.

Level icons

That very icon

This made me try to improve the Green corridors background.

How was the background improved

I liked the result, and after that I got carried away upgrading other level graphics, even creating new tilesets for upcoming locations.

Upgrading the Green corridors

Concrete level

Concrete blocks

Roach’s apartment blocks

Forest tiles

🎵 VNGames — Cave (2021)
New soundtracks also appeared for new locations

Cave blocks

Cave

Wooden platforms

Tower

Hell level

Ice level

Dark World grassy tiles

Before the announcement, Rashid Ibadov (RatNRat) joined development. His biggest contribution was weapon design — many weapons were his ideas. Rashid mostly sketched appearances but also helped with stats.

Rashid’s sketches

More Rashid sketches

Even more Rashid sketches

Some weapons were even created by Artyom Shekhurdin (tam).

Artyom’s weapons

Some of the new weapons

Naturally, weapon stats were also being balanced. Each weapon was quite unique.

Weapons table (still WIP in screenshot)

Development went on in secret — nobody knew what MC 2015 Deluxe was about to become. But the longer it went on, the harder it was to keep it hidden. We wanted to reveal everything.

Finally, Mystery Chamber Forever was announced in September 2021, along with a video showing what awaited players.

Project reveal

The premiere itself looked different from that teaser — you can watch the full reveal video below, it was epic.

🎞️ Premiere 24.09.2021

Alongside the announcement, part of the new soundtrack was introduced in update 1.1 for the classic game.

That same day, the game got its Steam page. (you can still add it to your wishlist!)

Steam page (2021)

How the game looks in the library… for now

And now let’s see how Forever might have looked had it released in 2021–2022.

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Pretty close to Deluxe, right? Remember this.

Break in development

2021-2022

After Forever was announced, the pace of development began to slow down. Maybe I was just a bit burned out, or maybe it was the relief after finally revealing the project — I can’t say for sure. In any case, from autumn 2021 to spring 2022, I wasn’t actively working on Forever.

Planet view

Development from scratch

2022

It became clear that working with messy, poorly structured source code was not ideal. After all, it was based on Deluxe, which itself was built on the original 2015 game. The code quality left much to be desired. I decided to start development from scratch. This wasn’t as hard as it might sound — I already knew what the game was supposed to be.

Development restarted around spring 2022, at the same time I was finishing my last year of college and working on my graduate work.

New Forever

There aren’t many screenshots from this period (there wasn’t much worth capturing), but several development videos were recorded. You can watch them through the link below — some are from Forever 2021, and some from the new Forever 2022.

Videos of the new Forever 2022

🎞️ Early Mystery Chamber Forever videos (2021–2022)

One of the most exciting new features during this stage was the new character physics. The player character became a true physical object, interacting with the environment in fun, dynamic ways — even comically falling. Controls felt fresh and more manageable for me as a developer, opening up new possibilities.

Roach falling off a ladder

Meanwhile, ideas kept coming, and Vladimir continued composing new tracks. The music quality improved greatly, and the new themes sparked even more gameplay ideas.

🎵 VNGames — Bunker Fight (2021)
Battle theme for the bunker (an upcoming location)

Speaking of soundtracks — in May 2022, a preview album was released, mostly consisting of familiar location and battle themes from Deluxe. There wasn’t much brand-new material yet.

Early soundtrack premiere

In the same month, the characters received a serious design upgrade and even emblems, making them fit better with the new art style. The old sprites no longer matched the updated graphics.

Brand new designs

Development could have continued steadily, but I had to shift focus to other projects (and my graduate work). Later, because of moving back and forth (see Results of the Year 2022), work on Forever stopped.

In August, however, Roach received his signature mechanic goggles, cementing his role as the engineer character and giving him a stronger identity.

Roach with mechanic goggles

Release of a small game

2023

After several uneventful months, I realized another long silence around Forever was setting in. To break it, I decided to make a small game using the assets and systems already available, just to showcase something playable and entertain the community. This was spring 2023. That’s how Mystery Chamber 2015 Forever – Sneak Peek was born (hereafter «Sneak Peek» or «Mystery Chamber Forever – Sneak Peek»).

First poster

The game was built on the new Forever 2022 codebase, featuring the updated graphics and the new physics.

For the first month, it was available only to sponsors.

First trailer

At first, the game was still raw compared to its final version. Leading up to public release, it was updated almost daily with fixes and new features. Multiplayer was even added!

It was a fun month. Some multiplayer sessions were recorded — you can watch them through the link below. There’s even a recording of the release trailer shoot, featuring five players in action.

🎞️ MC 2015 Forever – Sneak Peek gameplay sessions

Eventually, the game was released for everyone, with a new trailer.

Second trailer

Thus, players got an early taste of Forever content in the form of a small standalone game. The screenshots below show Sneak Peek, already reflecting Forever 2022’s direction and drifting away from Deluxe.

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The mystery period

2023-2025

Due to personal circumstances, I couldn’t handle a project as large as Forever. Work on the main game was paused for a long time while I focused on smaller projects. No updates were released, and the game vanished completely from public view.

Still, the project itself wasn’t entirely dormant. Over these years, new ideas kept piling up, and Vladimir kept releasing increasingly impressive tracks.

🎵 VNGames — Tower Battle (2023)
Rat Tower battle theme

Bit by bit, even story elements began forming — something that wasn’t originally planned.

Occasionally, I sketched ideas. In early 2023 (even before Sneak Peek), I started drawing a world map. Here’s a small fragment.

Forest, cave passage, refrigerator, and base

And this began right after one curious idea…

Back in 2015, I had many notebooks filled with game concepts from 2009–2013. After releasing Five Nights with Froggy and learning the basics of a game engine, I chose one of those notebook games to realize as an actual video game. That choice was Mystery Chamber. Below you can see what it looked like back then.

Notebook Mystery Chamber, three volumes. Where it all began.

When I began porting the game from notebook to engine, I thought it would be straightforward — just recreate what I had drawn. In the end, I didn’t even complete a quarter of what was in the notebooks, and after the airport level… as everyone knows, progress stalled.

So what does this have to do with the new world map? Well, it was decided that Mystery Chamber Forever world would now incorporate everything from those notebooks — but in a modernized form. That means I’ll finally realize what I originally wanted back in 2015. Forever will adapt those notebook sketches: locations, enemies, events, bosses, and even the storyline. Of course, it won’t be a one-to-one copy. Everything will be reworked, since the notebook version was, let’s say… quite chaotic.

For now, you’ve only seen this part

And now i'll tell about new ideas over the last two years

At first, Forever wasn’t even supposed to have a final boss — or an ending at all. The concept was still rooted in Deluxe, where each stage simply ended with a jump onto a golden spring.

Start the level, finish on a spring. But then what?

Vague ideas about a finale appeared only after deciding to incorporate the notebook content. A final form was settled around April 2023… though it was reconsidered several times afterward.

In May, the game world and its meaning were reimagined entirely. What does that mean? Maybe you’ll understand when the game is released.

Mystery World

Even during the quiet period, Vladimir continued composing. The tracks reached such a level that now the music often inspired ideas, rather than the other way around.

🎵 VNGames — To the Top (2023)
One of the Dark World themes

By late 2023, I started considering what the new battle system should be. But for a long time, the vision remained blurry and undefined.

Thoughts on combat system

Throughout 2024, the story direction kept shifting back and forth. What awaits you in the Mystery World? What challenges will you face? What adventures lie ahead?

Preview sketches of some locations (mid-2025)

As it became clear how large-scale the game would be, I finally settled on which engine to use.

At the start of 2023, the plan was still Clickteam Fusion 2.5, and the project still had Deluxe’s vibe. Switching engines was considered a few times, but no decision was made. Finally, in 2024, after the project vision completely evolved, the choice was made: Forever would be built on GameMaker.

That’s when a new creative period began.

🎵 VNGames — Airport (2024)
Newest airport theme, with leitmotif from the classic track.

In late August 2024, I began drawing small sketches of locations and moments. The first was a view from the Great Mountain.

View from the mountain, with Roach.

Alternate view, with Alistair.

Simple sketches, but they started a whole series lasting from August 2024 to June 2025.

Grand Museum

Path to the Crystal Cave

Ocean shore at the Great Mountain’s eastern foot

Here comes the first major sketch

One of the first Rat Tower floors

One of the last Rat Tower floors

Jack on a dynamic level

Airport landscape

Mansion by the sea

Forest

Green corridors

Green brick temple

Abandoned archive

Large cave

Archive exterior

And that was just the main concept series. There's more to show you.

Very rough Mystery World sketch

I also plan to draw new enemy concepts. One already exists from early 2025.

Forest poacher

The Rat Tower will now have many floors. Here are the first three.

First three Rat Tower floors

I started drawing these on March 2025. These concepts just simply depicting what the floor contains, not the exact location plan.

There are also sketches related to Fireice, including new design experiments from late 2024.

Fireice on the throne

Great Mountain: west torch, east Fire and Ice Fortress

Fusion of fire and ice streams

Fireice sketches (half are joke versions)

I also experimented with the King of the Hill design.

King of the Hill sketches

And one old concept, left out until now — drawn before the sketch era. Here it is at last.

Behold...

Metal Fist 2000

What is this thing? One day you’ll find out…

In early 2025, we held the first major conference on the game, with me, Vladimir, and Rashid present. The main topic was the new battle system. I won’t show it yet, but here are some slides from the presentation.

Robot Helper abilities

Enemy behavior in platforming and interactions with them

And suddenly, a landscape of mines

Present day

2025

And here we are. This has been the story of Mystery Chamber Forever development. These are the ideas shaping it today. That’s all I can share for now — but before we finish, here are the new designs of the characters.

🎵 VNGames — Roach Theme (2025)
Roach theme

Roach

Jack

Robot Helper

Alistair

Mage

One day, the five heroes will venture into the Mystery World again. And it will be an epic adventure. First, of course, you’ll get a smaller journey in the form of updates to Mystery Chamber World. But Forever still has a long road ahead… Much work remains, both on Forever and the projects leading up to it.

See you in the Mystery World!