Escapee

A 2D pixel art escape game about finding a toilet before it's too late

Collaborative project with Isabella Fiore Dolcetta Capuzzo, Raphaele Michelle Guillemot, Ching Yu Tsang
Trailer | Report | Github Repo

Escapee started from the day we are thinking of what game to make. One of us really need to pee but couldn't find the toliet in our engineering building (InnoWing). So we were like "why not just make this our game!".

You play as Ione, who wakes up alone in InnoWing without a student card and your bladder is almost full. You have 7 minutes (tracked by the "Peedometer") untill you can't hold anymore. In these 7 minutes, you will need to explore rooms, solve puzzles, collect items, find the bathroom, so you don't pee your pants.

Game Design

We developed the toilet inspriation into a full escape room concept. We sketched detailed room layouts and puzzle structures and then brought to life through pixel art.

The game design focused on explorative gameplay, where every object is interactable with dialogue, encouraging players to pay attention to environmental details and discover InnoWing's inside jokes and meta-references (also to waste their time).

We designed multiple game systems to create tension and replayability: the Peedometer acts as a countdown timer to add time pressure, random event, and different endings.

The pixel art aesthetic, explorative gameplay, excape room concept, and multiple ending aspects are highly inspired by the clasic horror game "Ib".

Why this game is GREAT!

It's silly. It's stupid. But it's one of the FAVORITE things I have ever made. The whole idea is absurd but everyone immediately gets it because we have all been there: the situation where you are desperately looking for a bathroom.

Also, setting it in our own university building made it even funnier because it's both ridiculous and painfully relatable. We have so much fun thinking of how to include the inside jokes and meta-references, even then they are not the main focus of the game play.

This is a school project, so we didn't make it to get money. But it reminds me the fun of games, they doesn't always need epic narratives, complex mechanics, or AAA graphics to be fun to play. Sometimes, a simple, silly concept executed with passion and creativity is all you need for a great game.