About:
In this minimalistic space themed top down runner you play as Skippy who's racing to reach each maze's exit as fast as possible.
Watch out for enemies, traps, black holes and other dangers.
Use available skills tactically.
Compare your time against the game's times as well as Steam friends and global Steam leaderboards.
Skills:
Frost Nova: Freezes enemies in range for a short duration
Tactical Beacon: Drop a "tac beacon" which you can teleport back to, should it become a better option then proceeding or backtracking your current path
Active Sensor Pulse: Show enemy detection range, enemy paths and more
Create Spacetime Rift: Essentially a dash - but with a cooler name :-P
Extend Presence: Explore the area around you without moving Skippy
More to come
Levels:
Currently there are 6 sectors with 6 levels each
Unlock new sectors by reaching all exits of the previous sector
Levels of each sector can be done in any order you like
Gameplay modes:
The game offers 3 modes for different player types: Default, Relaxed, Hardcore.
In default mode you try to reach the game's top tiers by reaching the exit as fast as possible. Each level shows your time's tier, your best time and your friends' times.
This is the intended experience.Should you require an additional challenge, hardcore mode will certainly give you one. You'll do the same as in default mode but there is no respawn should you ever die. Are you able to beat the game without dying once? Extra points for reaching S-tier ranks for all levels in HC mode!
Relaxed mode removes the timer, tiers and leaderboards. Take as much time as you want for each level to have a chilled experience and still see all of the game's content.
Hello there, again,
Skippy\'s Grand Escape (SGE) is a rather straight forward game: Find the exit and get there as fast as possible.
To make this concept a little bit more interesting, there are various obstacles in your way: Enemies, traps, and some other mechanics revealed later in the game.
To better deal with these obstacles, there was a plan to have 3 active skills pretty much from the beginning: Freeze Nova to get past enemies. The Tactical Beacon to minimize backtracking (Thanks @Troik for this great idea!) and Active Sensor Pulse that gives you some more information about your surroundings, thereby decreasing the need for trial and error.
A whole skill system sounded WAY too ambitious and frightening in the beginning, and I told myself that it would make SGE too complicated anyways, as it is supposed to be a simple game.
Having learned A LOT in the last couple of months, a skill system sounded increasingly feasible and just too much fun to not go for it (or maybe Im just trying to justify the feature creep at this point).
Anyways, now we have around 16 skills split in 3 categories (Defensive, Offensive and Utility) with an informative selection screen that is shown whenever you start a level from the overworld. Youll start with a small selection of skills and unlock new skills after each sector (6 levels each).
Here are some impressions, though they look a lot better in motion:
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/75ba6c3f161eaff2c5a552f69a86fa113981446d.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/ece0eb812cb951ecd3d205cd96e7760fe12ab407.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/e5d5f514402325aa035ee0364388c7bdfa8f47d0.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/be21a4e2e8a0c423877c7b2d20ff7939ac01d35a.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/f639426a74596abb0ec3c54d316ab5206e7825ea.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/84ef870994460e2cd010e7d0850356a48d2bdd2c.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/45526271/439534fdcbcc84facebcfc9b35e40e1e22fa9b8c.png\"][/img]
PROs:
Gives the game some tactical depth
[list]More options to survive in hardcore mode
[/*]More options to get faster times
[/*]
Encourages experimentation on which skill combination could lead to the fastest times for each level, thereby increasing replayability of all levels
[/*]Each skill is a little fun project in itself, as it requires:
Coding game logic
[/*]Visual effects / graphics design
[/*]Animations
[/*]Sound effects
[/*]Level changes to make the new skill fit or at least not break the level
[/*]A new icon
[/*]Maybe achievements utilizing this skill
[/*]Example screenshots/videos and data (active time, cooldown time, range, etc.)
[/*][/*]Not only more gameplay variety and mechanics to play with, but also quite a lot of visual variety
[/*]CONs:
Times are comparable only in the context of the skills used now. Leaderboards will display the skills used next to each players time to offer exactly this context.
[/*]Depending on how you look at it, it might be demotivating that players probably cannot achieve the best times on the leaderboards on their first playthrough. They must revisit levels with skills that theyve unlocked later in the game. OR, from a different viewpoint, players might enjoy the replayability and experimentation
[/*]Increased complexity. Given the fact that the game itself is quite simple, this should not be an issue for most players, though.
[/*]Opens a huge entry point for bugs and game/level breaking mechanics
[/*]
To stay consistent Ive underestimated the required effort quite a lot again :-D Like with the new overworld design, the skill system too felt like Id have to touch and adjust the whole game: Savegame handling, leaderboards, options menu, the tutorial, achievements, a new selection menu, a progression system, the HUD, even the Pause menu as it shows stats for each skill. Everything needs to accommodate the new system.
The work on the skill system was a bit overwhelming and tedious at times. But then again, each skill was so much fun to think about and implement - and it makes the game so much more interesting, that the effort felt well worth it.
Whats your thoughts on the new skill system?
\n\nInv1s1ble
Minimum Setup
- OS: SteamOS 3.7
- Processor: AMD Zen 2 4c/8tMemory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: 8 RDNA 2 CUs
- Storage: 350 MB available space
Recommended Setup
- Storage: 350 MB available space
[ 6370 ]
[ 5870 ]
[ 1991 ]
[ 1943 ]
[ 986 ]
Time left:
356099 days, 17 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
356099 days, 17 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
4 days, 1 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
32 days, 1 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
35 days, 1 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
36 days, 1 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
9 days, 11 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
4 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
10 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
11 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
16 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
18 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
22 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes
Time left:
2 days, 9 hours, 9 minutes
Time left:
7 days, 1 hours, 55 minutes
Time left:
9 days, 0 hours, 55 minutes
Time left:
14 days, 8 hours, 5 minutes
