escape93

Design Doc

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escape93

It's the year 1993. Earth's space programs have been working on a relocation of humanity to a giant cubic space station. Resource exhaustion and catastrophes caused by the increasingly extreme climate have resulted in joined forces among the inhabitants of the blue planet. Their goal is to evacuate and search for a new home.

The cube's gravity is omni-directional by design. This is to save space inside the giant station and allow all of the remaining population of earth to continue living their lives.

Explore the cube, take on jobs like pizza delivery, collect remnants of earth's culture and make yourself a home.

Inspiration

Gameplay: Midtown Madness, Wipeout, Animal Crossing, Shenmue

Mood: Kowloon Walled City, Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson), Silo (Hugh Howey)

Technical: Re-Volt (modding), SerenityOS (UI similar to Windows 95)

Core Loop

  • Explore the cube by foot, public transport and hover car
  • Earn money by doing jobs
  • Collect all items (furniture, music, secret websites...)
  • Customize the game world (character, car, apartment)
  • Learn about the story by talking to people and reading the in-game websites

No enemies and no combat. The pressure comes from time, money and traffic.

Game Mechanics

Exploration

Physical:
The cube has four districts to explore which are connected via tunnels and public transport. Every district offers different styles of architecture and collectible items.

Digital:
The game features a complete imaginary operating system with a HTML 1.0 browser that can be used to browse the in-game cube wide web (CWW).

Both are tied together by secret URLs tagged on walls (graffiti). Players can visit these secret sites to learn more about the game's story.

Jobs

Pizza delivery: Open up the pizza jobs website, pick up a pizza and deliver it to an apartment. Be quick to get some tips.

Vending machines: Purchase vending machines and keep them stocked. Maintenance and vandalism keep you on your toes as you drive around to collect the perfect combination of snacks.

Taxi: Similar to pizza delivery but pizza usually doesn't share its life story.

Collecting

Collect artifacts of a bygone era. New things are being produced in the cube but they just don't compare to the things made on good old planet earth. Collect all furniture, music, accessories by scouring through dumpsters and second hand stores.

Customization

You: Create an avatar to represent you throughout the game.

Apartment: Collect and deck out your apartment with rare furniture.

Car: Add charms to your rear view mirror and cover your car in stickers.

World: Use the canvas application to create stickers and apply them to the world.

Upgrades

Cars: Besides unlockables for customization, players can purchase new cars and upgrade them in workshops to make them faster and change their handling.

Apartments: There are multiple apartment complexes where players can upgrade to. More space, a balcony, more space for cars (garages).

Parasol OS

An operating system created to keep people inside the cube connected. It features a web browser and text editor to create your own website, an image editor for customization and a program for producing acid tracks.

Compared to other games

  • Midtown Madness
    • Larger and more detailed area
    • About the same amount of cars
    • Customization
  • Animal Crossing
    • First person instead of third
    • Less focus on distinct characters
    • Similar amount of items and furniture
  • Shenmue
    • No fighting and no overall linear story
    • Similar details in how the game portrays every day life

Not found in other games:

  • a working operating system inside the game: browser, text editor, image editor, music tool, and a fictional web you reach through graffiti URLs found in the world.

  • omni-directional gravity. The whole inner surface of the cube is drivable; you go over an edge and keep driving.