Mischief and Mayhem Studios
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mandmstudios.bsky.social
Mischief and Mayhem Studios
@mandmstudios.bsky.social
200 followers 49 following 980 posts
Official home of Mischief & Mayhem Studios. Currently developing an update to Ark Defender

You can check out our other socials, demos, and links to games on
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/mischiefandmayhemstudios
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mandmstudios.bsky.social
Mischief and Mayhem Studios @mandmstudios.bsky.social · Jan 10
This week we are announcing a new project. Sort of. We've been porting our game #ArkDefender from #Unity to #Godot. And once we reach parity, we’ll be adding stuff for a Waiting for Laouylik Update!
#indiedev #gamedesign #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The rear part on the default skin of the research platform is supposed to rotate to provide secondary forms of simulated gravity.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 17, 2026 at 4:29 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The array of Research Platform Ark skins. The Valentine skins ended up being made via overlaying pieces from other skins.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 16, 2026 at 4:28 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Research Platform was initially devised because we need to create Arks in pairs to keep the Ark selection UI balanced. And a stats focus (e.g. science/sensors) was not something we had done with other Arks.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 15, 2026 at 4:27 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
This week's Ark Defender short is on the Hangarian Boarding Party boss!
It is thethe most unique of the boss encounters (and has taken the most development time to actually implement, lots of writing).
youtube.com/shorts/mVGAe...
Ark Defender Faction Boss: Hangarian Boarding Party
Ark Defender Faction Boss: Hangarian Boarding Party The Hangarian boarding party boss is the most unique of the boss encounters (and has taken the most development time to actually implement, lots of writing).
youtube.com
September 15, 2026 at 3:04 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
While we like our new arks, not all ark ideas make it that far. We toyed with a flesh-abomination ark, but couldn’t figure out a good idea for its own play style. Maybe we’ll bring the design back as a skin.
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
September 12, 2026 at 2:01 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Research Platform is a new ark with low pop, no gunships, & higher manufacturing costs (but discounted gravity warheads). However, it starts with max science, max sensors, & generates upgrade points each sector.
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
September 12, 2026 at 4:00 AM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The little squares that cover the Mobile Refueling Ark were originally intended to be solar panels, but it is not like you get a lot of solar power in deep space. So, let’s call them “dark energy” collectors.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 10, 2026 at 4:26 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The array of Mobile Refueling Ark skins. B type skins tend to have stuff added to the base, while C Type tend to have stuff removed.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 9, 2026 at 4:25 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Mobile Refueling Ark was originally named the Short Range Ark. But we couldn’t figure out a good lore blurb for why it has so much temp power.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 8, 2026 at 4:24 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
This week for Ark Defender we are show casing a second of the new tracks for the Waiting for Laouylik update. The audio half of the team had to recreate settings and such as best he could from memory. This week, Galactic Blast Zones! youtu.be/tN4cn-qa0lo
https://youtu.be/tN4cn-qa0lo
youtu.be
September 8, 2026 at 3:15 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
We added a new natural fauna boss. A fungal space whale. Rather than lots of little cells it is made up of lots of little spores. Shoot the flippers to drive it off before it consumes the Ark!
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
September 5, 2026 at 2:23 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Mobile Refueling Ark is a new ark with a limited reactor, but it generates Energy Surplus each sector giving players the option to power their Ark to the MAX for short bursts, as long as they survive the lean times.
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
September 5, 2026 at 4:01 AM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
Foolishly, when we first created the Ark skins we didn’t record the process. This made recreating them for new arks… difficult (we resorted to overlaying elements from other arks for the Valentine skin).
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 3, 2026 at 4:19 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
While health is technically measured as population low system integrity is also bad, but not as visible. As such we added some battle damage visuals to reflect system integrity level.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 2, 2026 at 4:17 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
We made it so Smart Missiles lock on to different parts of a ship instead of its center. While mostly visual, it does make other missiles a little more useful for timing shots past physical enemy shields.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
September 1, 2026 at 4:11 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
This week for Ark Defender we are show casing one of the new tracks. We lost the original settings so the audio half of the team had to recreate things as best he could. Up first is, Point Defense at MAX!
youtu.be/QnXH1efYpHU
https://youtu.be/QnXH1efYpHU
youtu.be
September 1, 2026 at 3:12 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Mobius Class has a unique figure 8 flight pattern, but otherwise is mostly just a variant of the Eternity class. Similarly still needs a bit more fleshing out.
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
August 29, 2026 at 1:59 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
While little has been decided about the Eternity Class other than its name it looks cool. Something about crystallized cosmic strands & flying by falling toward local black holes. Also it shoots black holes.
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
August 29, 2026 at 4:01 AM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
Getting the shield working took a bit. It uses a modified version of an existing boss mechanic, but the initial system was not intended to deform as cleanly or restore to its original position.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
August 27, 2026 at 3:57 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Precursor frigate (and by extension the Alanadeer hacked together version) were inspired by Glaucus Atlanticus, or the blue sea dragon)
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
August 26, 2026 at 4:15 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
We added some unaligned bosses as well. The unmodified version of the Alanadeer precursor ship. It flies more freely & has a much more potent fluidic shield.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
August 25, 2026 at 4:54 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The second Ancient Echoes boss is a variation on a theme, but one focused more on survival than noticing weak points. The only choice to “beat” the Haunted Nimbus is to ward off attacks until in dissipates.
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
August 22, 2026 at 1:55 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
The Ancient Echoes bosses are both centered around surviving a hostile plasma cloud. The Haunted Nebula fills the screen & you need to pick out weak spots to shoot to dissipate it. I was inspired by a perimetry visual test(?).
#indiedev #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame #screenshotsaturday
August 22, 2026 at 4:00 AM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
A final touch we added for the Ancient Echo Haunted Wail is a visual effect for it’s “sight” based damage so a player at least knows they have been hit even if they cannot block it.
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
August 20, 2026 at 4:23 PM
mandmstudios.bsky.social
While initial Ancient Echos designs were ship-like at the time one of the unused faction themes was space ghost, & while looking at a plasma explosion VFX I wondered what a face in it would look like....
#roguelike #indiedev #spacegame #indiegames #indiegame #IndieGameDev #2dgame
August 19, 2026 at 4:41 PM