Development Halted Indefinitely
Hi everybody, This is not an easy thing to write, so we’ll cut right to the chase: After being in development on and off for almost seven years, we had to decide to postpone Escape the Loop's development indefinitely. We realize many of you will be upset, and we get that. This wa
Hi everybody,
This is not an easy thing to write, so we’ll cut right to the chase:
After being in development on and off for almost seven years, we had to decide to postpone Escape the Loop's development indefinitely.
We realize many of you will be upset, and we get that. This was not an easy decision, and it’s even more difficult because we know so many of you were looking forward to Escape the Loop. You’ll have lots of questions, so we’ll try our best to answer them:
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Original post What does ‘postponed indefinitely’ mean? Is it canceled?
For all intents and purposes, yes. It wouldn’t be fair to you to say otherwise. We may revisit it in the future. We still have everything we produced in the past years, and we still own the trademark for the name. But for now, it’s stuck in development hell and there’s no telling when or if that may change.Why did you cancel the game?
The simple truth is: We didn’t find a publisher. This was our most ambitious project, and in turn, our most expensive one too. Most of the development so far was funded by a combination of grants and our own cash. We hoped to develop a prototype that would convince a publisher to sign with us. In the end, that didn’t happen.Why did no publisher sign the game?
There’s no way to answer this for sure, but we assume our prototype just wasn’t convincing. Developing an open-world game is hard, especially one that is as experimental as ETL. In game development, you usually create what’s called a Vertical Slice, a small portion of the game that looks and feels as finished as it can. This could be a single level in Super Mario, for example. Because ETL would’ve been so thoroughly non-linear, we failed to do that and had hoped publishers could look past it with enough imagination. They couldn’t, and we don’t blame them.Why not go for crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding would be an obvious next step for some, but we feel it’s not for us. Most importantly, our budget needs are far higher than we feel we could realistically ask from the community.What happens next?
Over the next week, we’ll be monitoring ETL’s Steam forums to answer any questions you may have. After that, the forums will be shut down. If you have any questions after that point, feel free to get in touch on Twitter, or via email.What’s your plan now?
We’re heartbroken about this decision, but life must go on. Some of you may have already heard on social media that we already have a new project lined up, and it’s true. We’re currently working on ChromaGun 2, the sequel to our first game. It’s an adventure puzzle game about color, redemption, and the multiverse. If you want to find out more, you can check it out on Steam once the page goes live in a few days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pulling the plug after almost seven years is hard, and we all wish this could’ve panned out differently. If you’re looking for a way to patch that ETL-shaped hole in your heart, we recommend you try out these games:- Outer Wilds
- Twelve Minutes
- The Forgotten City
- The Sexy Brutale
- Oxenfree
Pinewood is a small town with big secrets, hidden away somewhere in Montana. It's is a town like any other small, sleepy town in the US – at least, that's what it tries very hard to trick outsiders into thinking.
It's not modeled after a real place, but it takes inspiration from several, including Whitefish MT, and the area surrounding Flathead Lake MT. If you're super curious. check out this map for places we found interesting for various reasons. Best viewed in Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/hCugPXGp6Nocrv7q6
The residents of Pinewood are a mix of people, each with their own reasons for being there. Some lived there all their lives, and just want their peace. Some came here because they were running from something, and some came in search of something. The one thing they have in common is they all know something you don't – and none of them are particularly keen on you finding out.
Amelia Washington is a defense attorney from Los Angeles. She is her law firm's shining star and youngest partner, and that's certainly not a coincidence. Whatever her clients need, they know she's the one to make it happen. But as life likes to have it, like everything else, Amelia's success comes at a price. When a business trip brings her to her hometown of Pinewood, she hasn't talked to her family in years. Soon after her arrival, it begins to look like she'll have all the time in the world to figure things out...
We replaced our old character controller system with a system known as Motion Matching. This method uses a set of pre-recorded animations and analyzes them to determine where in space an animation starts, and where it ends. Then, it uses this info to select an animation based on where the player wants to go. The result is super fluid character motion without any wonky bits when two animations blend into each other in unintended ways. Also, it's just super fun to control.
We know you've been waiting for this game for a long time, and we know it's hard to wait. This makes it all the harder to not be able to predict when the game is coming out. We'd love to tell you that we have a date, and to deliver on that promise. The truth is, we can't. If you'd like a deeper dive into why the game has been in development for as long as it has, feel free to read 
You've been asking a bunch of questions over the past months, and we're incredibly happy that you are. Seriously. It shows you care, and it means the absolute world to us that you do.
So here are some of the questions we've been hearing a lot, and answers to them if we have them:
First off, I'd like to introduce you to our protagonist: Amelia Washington.
She's a lawyer in LA, who comes back to her hometown of Pinewood because of a family matter.
Here's Tony Russo, the owner of a run down Motel in the small town of Pinewood. He's a an annoying macho, but seems to know more about the town than what he's letting on.
This is Scott Preston, a local car mechanic. He keeps to himself and doesn't seem to repair a lot of cars. Wonder what he's doing in his shop all day.
Rosa Castillo only recently arrived in Pinewood, and she never really leaves her house. Sometimes, the FBI shows up at her door to talk to her, but she always manages to blow them off.
We can rewind, and loop time. Neat.
The item inspection and carrying mechanic is still pretty alpha, but it works.
One of our devs had a little too much fun with it.
We're procedurally generating buildings, which will save time in the long run. (The colors are just to highlight different rooms – we're not doing clown homes)
A row of houses with debug textures, to see how the procedural generator performs.
Here's a stress test of some blank NPCs running around, effectively displaying their running-around-skills.
As usual, let us know what you think!
And don't hesitate to ask any questions.
- Steve
We also started creating concept art for characters and environments, planned out the layout for the town, and will be starting to block out the world in Unity pretty soon.
Take care,
Steve
At this point, I'm happy to announce two things:
1. The character arcs are mostly done, as well as is the main story arc. So with that pinned down, we can start going into production of deeper game- and level design topics, as well as artwork.
2. Our previous project is nearing its completion, with artists and designers slowly starting to switch over to Escape the Loop. We're not done yet, but the coming months we'll be seeing a steady transition. For you, that means you can expect new artwork to pop up around here.
Well, that's all for now. Just thought we'd give you a short update.
As usual, don't hesitate to throw any questions at us.
Take care,
Steve
As always, feel free to ask any lingering questions. :)
Take care!