Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School News

[h2]Escapists.[/h2][p][/p][p]We are extremely excited to announce that soon, YOU will be able to play Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School in the comfort of your own home![/p][h2]We are launching our demo on Steam, shooting for Early December. That means you’re about a month away from experiencing enthralling escape-room excitement![/h2][p]This is your chance to get a first-peek at what Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School has to offer, so don’t miss it![/p][p][/p][p]This demo will step you through around an hour of early-game content, which takes place in the Headmaster’s Tower - if you’ve been keeping up with our blogs, you’ll remember we recently did a deep-dive into this space and what you can expect! The Purfessor had a little communication for you - shoutouts to these users for picking up on what the Purfessor was putting down![/p][p][/p][p] 🔥Rocket-O-Saurus[/p][p] 🔥atlee.sebastian[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]If you’re not familiar, the Giant Bomb Bombathon is a yearly event run on the Giant Bomb podcast. Go check out the VOD of them playing the demo down below and leave a comment telling us how excited you are for Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School! Don’t write any of the answers down though - cheating is heavily frowned upon at the Academy.[/p][p][/p][p]Check it out here! ⬇️[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p]We’ll be hosting a speedrunning competition in the Discord once the demo launches. To participate, you’ll just need to make sure you’re in the Discord when the demo goes live.[/p][p]There’ll be more details on the way, but if you know anything about our history as a studio, racing isn’t entirely new to us…cough Hot Wheels King Of The Road cough…[/p][p][/p][p](yep, that was us!)[/p][p][/p][p]The Coin Crew could not have made it here without you. For everyone who wishlisted, watched our journey, and to those who plan to, thank you so much for your support. We won’t let you down. From the bottoms of our hearts, thank you.[/p][p][/p][p]Please make sure to drop a review on the demo, and let us know what’s going on! If you have more specific feedback or just want to say hi to the devs, feel free to join our Discord and say hello. We’re always looking for new faces at the Academy, and there just might be some community-themed events on the horizon that you just won’t get on Steam…[/p][p][/p][p]Thank you again - we couldn’t have done this without you. And lastly, don’t forget to…[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]With Much Love,[/p][p]Coin Crew Games💛💜[/p]

[p][/p][p]Ghoulish Greetings Escapists,[/p][p][/p][p]Happy Halloween to those who celebrate! We’ve got a SPOOKY blog coming your way. In any open-world game, a day-night cycle becomes a staple for not only game immersion, but mechanics as well.[/p][p]Currently, the sun has been beating down over all of the Academy students for a hundred days; and electricity is getting EXPENSIVE. [/p][p][/p][p]That’s much better. At night, things around the Academy are a little quieter - but that doesn’t mean nobody’s home. Nighttime is the perfect hour to get up to no good, and in Escape Academy 2 you’ll have plenty of mysteries to investigate when the sun goes down.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We've tweaked our lighting to allow for day/night cycles, and we hope that this will add an interesting dimension of gameplay given all of the shenanigans you can expect to get up to when it's past your curfew![/p][p][/p][p]There’s plenty of snooping to be done around the Academy, especially with something strange going on around campus.[/p][p][/p][p]At nighttime, nobody can hear you lockpicking. At least, that’s the best you can hope for - if you’re not careful, someone doesn’t appreciate your nosiness might foil your plans…[/p][p][/p][p]This is a feature that we’re still prototyping pretty heavily, and we’re still unsure of the direction we’re going to pursue when it comes to a day/night cycle (or distinct day/night levels.) [/p][p][/p][p]What would you add to nighttime at the Escape Academy? How would you imagine yourself skulking about in the dark? Let us know in the comments![/p][p]This post was a little on the shorter side, but expect more from us when it comes to nighttime shenanigans. Happy Halloween to those who celebrate, and if you don’t, then have a very happy October 31st![/p][p][/p][p]We’ll see you in the next one - don’t forget to wishlist, and join our Discord if you want to get the opportunity for an Escape Academy 2 playtest![/p][p][/p][p]With love,
Coin Crew Games💛💜[/p][p][/p]

[h2]🔔WISHLIST ESCAPE ACADEMY 2: BACK 2 SCHOOL 🔔[/h2][p]Hey there Escapists![/p][p] [/p][p]Here’s a mouthful of a clue: today’s blog talks about that thing where you’re not really sure what the answer is, but the person asking the question wants to point you in the right direction…[/p][p] [/p][p]Today’s blog is about hints.[/p][p] [/p][p]Hints are an absolute staple of escape room experiences, both physical and virtual, and our game is no different. As a team that has experience with real-life escape rooms, we really want to make sure that our hints system translates well into the physical experience of asking the game master for a hint whenever you’re struggling to make it out of an IRL escape room.[/p][p]If you’ve got a good memory, or maybe if you’ve played Escape Academy 1 recently, you’ll know that we had a hint system there too. You would press a button, you’d get a prompt asking if you’re sure (because this affects your ranking at the end of the level!) and then you’d be given a hint that could range anywhere from “pointing you in the right direction” and “Hey goofball, it’s smacking you right in the face.”[/p][p] [/p][p]Similarly, when it comes to the art of hints, we want to point you in the right direction without just giving away the answer, because that takes away a large part of the mystery that makes escape rooms endearingly enjoyable. However, given that immersion is something we’re putting a lot more focus on due to the open-world elements in Escape Academy 2, we’ll need a little something extra.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, you’ll be able to access hints by tracking quests in your journal, an item that you take through the entire game. The journal functions as your map, your quest-log, and your best friend. Okay, maybe not that last one. That spot belongs to the Purfessor.🐈[/p][p][/p][p]Hints are hard to get perfect, so we want your thoughts. Whenever you are stumped on a puzzle what do you want, or expect, a hint to tell you? Should it be an answer? Should it point you in the direction of what you should be looking at, or something else entirely? We want to know![/p][p] [/p][p]Of course, another great way to do this is to help us in the form of a playtest. If you’d like to join us in a playtest, check out our Discord and sign up for one![/p][p] [/p][p]As always, thank you for reading and the team at Coin Crew Games hopes you have an amazing Friday. We’ve been considering some more ambiguous topics that go beyond the standard “features” blogs we’ve been rolling out - maybe some puzzle design here, engineering there. What do you think?[/p][p] [/p][p]With love,[/p][p]Coin Crew Games[/p][p][/p][h2]🔔WISHLIST ESCAPE ACADEMY 2: BACK 2 SCHOOL 🔔[/h2]

[p] [/p][p]Hey there Escapists!

Last week we had a blog on multiplayer systems - the super cool stuff that’ll help you get along with your teammate a little better - outlines, pings, and emotes! However, we wanted to dedicate a blog to go over the concept of multiplayer as a whole, how it’s shaping up for Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, and some of what you can expect.[/p][p]That’s okay. Luckily for you, we’ve got that handled. Check out our YouTube devlog on multiplayer![/p][p][/p][p]Escape Academy 1’s multiplayer was exactly what you’d expect out of a co-op escape room experience: you could give your partner items, and they existed in the same space as you while you solved puzzles. This did its job well, as you wouldn’t be exploring larger areas, but during some playtests for Escape Academy 2, we realized that multiplayer needed some upgrades.[/p][p] [/p][p]Escape Academy 1 taught us that playtesting is incredibly important. Just look at these internal documents I “borrowed” from our retrospective last year![/p][p][/p][p]While we were playtesting, we found a couple of issues with multiplayer that made it a little difficult for players to get the full experience out of an open-world game. But, we were missing something.[/p][p]When it comes to Escape Academy 2, our pool of playtesters is much larger and we’re making sure to use this to our advantage. With the first game, we let it fall behind for the reasons listed above, and this led to some of our puzzles in the later portions of the game losing the consistency we built with the early portions of the game. You might not have even noticed this as a player, but to us as a studio, it was leagues of difference.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Consistent playtesting has led us to be a lot happier, and much more confident, when it comes to our puzzle/world design with Escape Academy 2. Now, whenever we’re making something, we try not to call it fun until we’ve seen another player have fun with it. And even then, we want to playtest it over and over again to make sure that what we’re seeing is genuine enjoyment out of puzzle lovers like us.[/p][p]Playtesting has been a huge help for building out our open-world multiplayer.[/p][p][/p][p]A large campus brings large demands. Meet Player 1 and Player 2 - two of our playtesters here to help demonstrate how we came to the addition of the new multiplayer systems we introduced in our last blog.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Nice to meet you, Player 1 and Player 2! Let’s take a look at how your playtests went.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Player 1 is not the best when it comes to descriptive language - but Player 2 has the projector still that leads to one of the 3 answers needed for this puzzle. So, Player 1 says:

”I think you can put that projector still in that projector over there”

But Player 2 is beyond lost. “Over where? I don’t see it!” Well, it’s certainly not on the ceiling.[/p][p] [/p][p]Thanks to Player 2, Escape Academy now has pings for the first time ever.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Both players just finished an escape room. Great! But now they’re just standing there. Menacingly. Soullessly.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]However, our brand-new WIP emotes system is bound to fix that and give Player 1 and Player 2 an outlet to let out some of that extra energy. Let’s celebrate![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lastly, it’s easy to get lost in an open world campus. You might be able to meet up in a designated spot on campus, or just learn the map, but to us, being able to keep a close eye on your partner makes staying together a little bit easier.[/p][p] [/p][p]Now, no matter where you are, you can keep a close eye on your partner. Whether they know it or not.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lastly, one of the biggest lessons we learned while making multiplayer, and subsequently playtesting the multiplayer experience, is that fun is subjective. I won’t go too deep into this here because it’s quite the lengthy topic and this blog is already quite tall, but if you want to see a talk on this, Gabe Newell has an excellent interview with a behavioural psychologist where he talks all about it.[/p][p][/p][p]Regardless, playtesting has taught us a lot about what “fun” is, and as compared to Escape Academy 1, we’ve made a vow to ourselves to not call something fun until we’ve seen someone else have fun with it first.[/p][p] [/p][p]Hopefully you’re excited for multiplayer too - but what you see here isn’t the end of the road for us. We want your suggestions! If you have anything on your “Escape Academy 2’s Multiplayer Wishlist”, please let us know in the comments and we’ll take a deeper look at it![/p][p] [/p][p]If you’re excited about multiplayer too, make sure to let us know by putting us on your wishlist. And if you made it here, thank you for reading.

With love,[/p][p]Coin Crew Games💛💜[/p][p][/p]

[p] [/p][p]Hey Escapists![/p][p]We hope you enjoyed our first longform devlog on YouTube; expect another one soon! 👀[/p][p][/p][p]One of our favourite staples of Escape Academy 1 was the multiplayer interactions that led to silly moments, or gave way to fun conversations with players. Bringing people together is fun! I mean, it’s even in our motto.[/p][p] [/p][p]So far, we’ve had a few questions on the topic of multiplayer interactions:[/p]

• [p]Will there be online multiplayer?[/p]
• [p]Splitscreen couch co-op? 🥺[/p]
• [p]Toggleable splitscreen?[/p]

[p] [/p][p]To put the answers shortly:[/p][p]There’s also a couple of things we’re adding to change up the way duos will explore the Academy - both to help with interacting in an open world, and to make the multiplayer experience that much more interesting.[/p][p] [/p][p]Let’s take a look 🧐[/p][p]It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a….ping?[/p][p][/p][p]When it comes to an escape room, things are a lot more localized. You can say “Hey, come check this out!” and walk a few feet over to your partner. Maybe your duo will point out something “over there, by that desk.” But when you’re exploring a giant sprawling campus, “over there” becomes a bit….confusing. Pings have quickly become a staple in many multiplayer experiences, and we think that bringing them into the world of Escape Academy will help make solving puzzles together less frustrating, while also leading to some silly interactions.[/p][p][/p][p]That’s a fair argument. If you’ve been keeping up with our devlogs and short-form content, it’s a very real concern. Escape Academy is the leading academy in the art of Escape, after all![/p][p] [/p][p]While many multiplayer games might opt to leash you within a certain range of the first player, we don’t want players to be limited to any single area - that can take away from the open world experience. So instead, cutting-edge Academy technology will allow you to see where your partner is on campus at any given point![/p][p][/p][p]Still struggling to find eachother? That’s okay. The gazebo in the middle of campus is an excellent place to relax and meet up before planning your next escape.[/p][p][/p][p]Every good Escapist needs a way to express themselves. We’re bringing emotes to Escape Academy as a way to help players communicate, for the better or for the worse. Solved that difficult puzzle? That deserves a thumbs up! Struggling with a spinner lock? Seems like the perfect opportunity for a sarcastic clap.[/p][p]One of the complaints from playtesters we’ve gotten is that splitscreen modes in online gameplay can be a little disorienting. So, just like in Escape Academy 1, you’ll have the option to switch between the splitscreen and widescreen views if motion sickness is something that affects you.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Partner taking a little too long to unpause in couch co-op? Time to take things into your own hands.[/p][p][/p][p]Lastly, to keep things from being a little too janky (or asking for a little too much out of your computer), players will have to enter escape rooms together. Always remember that two minds are better than one! Usually.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We’re hoping multiplayer features will give just the right amount of sass to multiplayer interactions, and help to immerse you in the world of Escape Academy a little bit. If you have anything on your wishlist for Escape Academy 2 features, just let us know in the comments![/p][p][/p][p]That’s all from us - for now. Stay tuned for another longform devlog coming soon, and don’t forget to…[/p][p][/p][p]With Love,[/p][p]Coin Crew Games💛💜[/p]