Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School News

[p]Hello Escapists![/p][p]Our demo has been met with tons of praise from our fans, and we’d like to remind you all that this would not have been possible without you. So, thank you. Thank you to all of the superfans that have stuck around since Escape Academy 1, and welcome to the new fans who can’t wait to see what Escape Academy 2 becomes. You guys rock![/p][p] [/p][p]Seeing the game evolve the way it has this year has been nothing short of amazing. In around a year’s time, the game has turned into something tangible that we have poured our hearts into; so if you played the demo and got to experience that passion firsthand, we hope you see what we’re talking about.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In fact, some of you have apparently enjoyed the demo so much, you’ve decided to break it![/p][p][/p][h3]Shoutouts to user “idea149” for finding the out-of-bounds glitch we couldn’t, and escaping the demo in a little over a minute. That takes some outside-the-box thinking![/h3][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]If you haven't played the demo yet, you can grab it for FREE here![/h2][p][/p][p]Feedback is an extremely important part of game development for us. We HEAVILY leverage feedback from our playtests in order to make the game better, and a demo is basically just a big playtest.[/p][p] [/p][p]Please let us know what you think, even if that feedback is negative. We want to do our best for our players, and so if you happen to be a player, let your voice be heard.[/p][p] [/p][p]You can write a review on the demo store page here![/p][p][/p][p]Since the demo has dropped (and a little bit before that!) we’ve been getting some fanart submissions. These have absolutely blown us away - seeing the characters and world you created become beloved enough to get fanart submissions is something that you don’t get to experience every day.[/p][p] [/p][p] [/p][p]This submission comes from razaki_r and depicts the masks from Escape Academy 1. When we first saw these, we thought they were sick as all hell. Still do![/p][p][/p][p]This next submission comes from “Lucky!” You can check out their Instagram at @lucky_charms_stickers. Go check them out, they make some really good stuff![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Last, but certainly not least, our final submission comes from “Mhaew” with this AMAZING Eel fan art![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Each and every one of you blows us away. Please keep sending us stuff like this; seeing our small little game turn into something that has touched hearts is nothing short of beautiful. Keep it up!💛💜[/p][p][/p][p]Happy holidays to all those who celebrate, and if you’re not the celebrating type, then I hope you have a marvelous December.[/p][p]Unfortunately, Jeb is fully booked out for malls all across the world - but if you’re lucky, you might be able to get a booking for Christmas in July![/p][p][/p][p]Thank you so much for your continued support - CCG will be taking a much-needed break over the holidays, but we will be back next year and invigorated to start working on the next stage of Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School.[/p][p] [/p][p]As always, make sure you[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]and we’ll see you next year. 😎[/p][p][/p][p]Happy Holidays![/p][p]Coin Crew Games💛💜[/p]

[p] [/p][p]Good to see you again, Escapist![/p][p]The Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School Demo is now LIVE and waiting to be explored![/p][p][/p][p]You can download the demo from the demo-specific store page here![/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]There are a few known bugs in this build of the game that you might run into. [/p]

• [p]Gamepad/controller users may run into trouble when attempting to join sessions/navigate settings. We are planning to fix this in a future patch soon, however for now we recommend launching into sessions with mouse and keyboard, and then using your preferred input device once you’ve loaded in.[/p]
• [p]Please be gentle when opening the settings! If you open and close a pause menu on the same frame in online multiplayer, you may lose control of the mouse.[/p]

[p]There’s a long road ahead until release, but that road can be defined by you too - join our Discord and have a say in what comes next! Throw us a bug report and let us know what you’d like to see in the next blog post, or even just say hello.👋We hope you’ll stick around for a while.💛💜[/p][p][/p][p]We’ve put a lot of love into this demo, so we hope you like it as much as we do. Please enjoy this sneak peek of what Escape Academy 2 has to offer, and let us know what you’d like to see next! That’s all from us for now. As always, don’t forget to…[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]With Love,[/p][p]Coin Crew Games.💛💜[/p]

[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]