What we’re changing, based on your feedback
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to play the Beta version of Escape From Playtime, AND for providing the extremely valuable feedback. When we said that the community would be part of the development of EFP, we meant it. Below are the immediate changes we’re making to the game based on your highest priority feedback, with more to come.
1. Player Navigation
This was the big one. There are design choices made here, and it’s a delicate balance. On the one hand, we want you to use items like the glowsticks and the ping beacons to cleverly navigate your way back to Barry, find teammates, signal for danger, etc. At the same time, we realize the ever-changing level can make getting lost fairly punishing. So, we’re adding a map-type item that we want to try out. It will have its own unique challenges and team mechanics that we think will be pretty fun. BUT, this is one area where we want to continue collaborating with you all. We’re excited to see what you think after you’ve tried out this initial solution.
2. Getting Into The Starting Elevator
Well, we were having some fun watching y’all fall to your death, but sometimes that can be frustrating and we heard you. SO, we’ll be adding lit glowsticks to guide you towards the starting elevator. Kinda like a rave…
3. The Quota Target Is Confusing
This was for sure a frustrating one for many of you, and we’re going to try out a number of fixes to see what y’all like. It’s likely going to be iterated upon as we get more feedback. Along with a general UI update, we’ll be adding a percentage next to the Barry gauge indicating how full Barry is relative to the quota, also matching the yellow bar. There will also be a blue percentage and bar added to the UI that shows how much is in Barry before it has been sent off, which will convert to yellow once it’s been sent.
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We’ll also be adding some effects and audio flare to Barry to better indicate when items are added, when it meets quota, and when it’s being sent off.
Understanding the individual value of items in the cart, and before you put them in, is also unclear. We’ll be adding a hover-over tooltip to indicate those values.
Finally, the screen above Barry with the quota number was always meant to be a placeholder. We’re still working on some cool changes there, but for now we’re going to keep things clear and simple by displaying the Amount / Quota.
4. After Making The Quota… Where Is The Exit?
In the Beta build, you had to open the Exit hatch. Now the Exit hatch will automatically open once the quota is reached, and a big cake will be delivered to your house in real life… kidding. But there will be cool visual and sound effects added to indicate what’s happening and where to go.
5. The Timer, The Gas And “Demerits”
How the timer works, when the gas arrives, and how “demerits” work were also not well explained. The tutorial that existed in the Beta was added literally the week before it went live, and was a V1. The release version will have a much more developed tutorial that addresses these confusion points, and will be even more fun to play around in.
Red lights will flash when the Red Gas is released, to let you know that something is coming…
We’re also going to rename “demerits” to “strikes”, since most of y’all have never heard the word “demerits” before.
6. Death And Revive
The sewing kits will be made to revive. We should have known that one in advance… The syringes heal instead. There will also be a tool tip added for when you hover over a dead Critter so that you understand what each of these items do when you’re holding them.
7. Playing Solo
Candidly, the game is not meant to be played solo, and it is not designed for this. We’ll be keeping the option for singleplayer in, but it will mainly be for exploration, digging around for lore, and testing out what can be done with all of the items. That being said, we’ll look to make balance changes for lower player counts (2-3). As we said when the Beta launched, the game is tuned towards 3-5 players, BUT we also got a really positive response from those of you who played with 6-8.
There was a LOT of feedback, and we’re super grateful for all of that. The above points are just the highlights. At launch you’ll find substantial additional changes, improvements, and content additions. There will be lore unlocks, progression elements, and more. Stay tuned for our launch day post to get the full scoop. We’re excited to follow the orders of The Voice with you on October 21st!
