Project: Escape!

Inspiration

"'Project: Escape!' is a world which I felt represented my long-standing fascination with point-and-click adventure games and their natural affinity with the escape room format.

What it does

This version is a linear experience, where players get to see the main mechanics so far; logic puzzles, locked rooms and toying with fixed camera angles.

How we built it

As it was a solo project, I wanted to build it modularly, giving rooms their own flair while reusing the same puzzle components for ease of development but also for establishing a gameplay language for new and experienced players.

Challenges we ran into

The project has not been easy, as I've had to constantly manage my ambitions for a tight and feature-rich experience with the time constraints of a competition. What is the game, and what is it not? Making hard calls on what to include and what not to include.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am very proud of finishing a project and not heavily compromising on its structure. It was hard, but the goal of making something which is modular and extensible means there's more chance of it being a fully realised game.

What we learned

As I come to the end of this competition cycle of developing it, my conclusion is that the game is a capsule. Referring back to the hope that this project can be modular at its core, I would like development of 'Project: Escape!' to evolve into a process where I am emboldened by the prefabs and tools I've built to focus on engaging and fun puzzles.

What's next for Project: Escape!

Extending the "escape room" genre of the project, I would also want to introduce more co-operative mechanics to the puzzles, and also find a way to address (or invert) the time pressure found in escape rooms with a leaderboard for fastest completion times. This way, experienced players can feel that same time pressure from their intrinsic motivation to record the best time, while new players are not placed under stressful conditions while engaging with a genre or gameplay style they're unfamiliar with.