release of escape school The Summer 2022 release from Coin Crew Games coincided with a tipping point for a small resurgence in escape room video games. As the pandemic hit a growing industry, several developers of reality escape rooms decided to venture into video games and reignite the genre.
The “escape game” genre, once popular on Flash game sites and mobile consoles, didn’t survive after Flash’s demise. Although they were short-lived, these games were involved in the invention of real-life escape rooms. One of the first examples of new media was based on Flash games. crimson roomAnd while you like new games escape school When escape simulator It may only look like a physical escape room adaptation, with DNA flowing through it.
Mike Mohammed Salyh, co-founder of Coin Crew Games, cited the 2009 adventure game/visual novel/virtual escape room when asked about the video game that inspired his work on escape rooms. rice field. Zero Escape: 9 rooms, 9 people, 9 doorsHis personal introduction to the Escape Room, he calls zero escape “A masterclass in weaving story and stakes into puzzles.” Weaving story and stakes, and tying puzzles to plot, is a challenge peculiar to most puzzle video games, and Virtual Escape Room is no exception.
puzzles and plot
In a real-life escape room, you don’t always have to worry about puzzle-plot interactions, but finding the right union between the two, as well as balance, is an important part of any puzzle video game. Escape game video games rarely find that balance, thanks to his hour-long puzzles and his free Flash game designs from the early 2000s.That’s why zero escape has earned its place next to genre giants like Portal Similarly interweaving story and plot, the Monkey Island series.
flat escape schoolwhich boasts a colorful cast of recurring characters, is immune to this problem.Salyh cites her lack of experience with non-puzzle games as the root cause of the problem.escape school is Coin Crew’s first attempt at visual novel gameplay. In hindsight, I think the narrative and puzzles could have been better integrated. [which is] That’s what we’re doing in future DLC. ”
while the plot of escape school While it can feel disjointed from moment-to-moment gameplay, Escape Room-inspired puzzles may have something to teach other adventure games. It’s about making sure the internal logic is sound,” explains Salyh. He has a trick to make sure the puzzle isn’t based on arcane lunar logic, and that is to imagine the challenge as a physical location. What if?’ Will the players actually do what I asked them to do?” If not, the puzzle required more work!”
From Escape Room to Escape Academy
This little trick might help Mike and his team, but Coin Crew Games is also a seasoned puzzle maker in its own right, with a wealth of experience designing acclaimed real-life escape rooms. Doctor Botcher’s Minute Med School. puzzle escape school It’s so well tuned that the game can confidently set a timer for every challenge without the risk of frustrating the player, just like the old escape rooms. But those rooms aren’t like they’re outside the physical venue.
of escape school, the environment changes before the player’s eyes, props are destroyed, burned or eaten, platforms fall from the air, and water slowly fills buildings as the timer runs its course. increase. Needless to say, in a physical escape room, this is neither reasonably doable nor physically possible. However, the benefits of virtual space do not stop there.
Coin Crew Games decided to continue with the typical escape room timer, but happily scrapped the other restrictions.Not only does the attendant not have to reset the room between each game, it also allows the play area to be completely trashed as part of the intended experience. escape school Without that constraint, it was cathartic. I could make puzzles that shredded, blew up, and even ate puzzle props.
Coin Crew Games wants to dig deeper into the resilience of virtual escape rooms. escape school Download contents Escape from Anti-Escape Island“There’s a level that takes place inside a crashed cargo plane. Not only is it amazing, it’s incredibly specific!” It seems to expand the meaning of ” far more than the base game already did.
The next step in the Coin Crew game
As Mike Salyh puts it, the new levels of DLC are more than just pumping up the spectacle, as the studio is working on building a story better suited to that puzzle. was only a little rough. If you find a way to tie the room into a compelling story on this second chance of his, Escape from Anti-Escape Island maybe just modern zero escape.
Mike Mohammed Salyh is the co-founder of Coin Crew Games and the lead puzzle designer of Escape Academy. Escape Academy’s first DLC, Escape From Anti-Escape Island, releases on November 10, 2022 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
