- DEV DIARY #10: The full digital Escape Tales: The Awakening launches today! - 24 October 2024
First of all, we’d like to show you a special launch trailer that we’ve prepared. 😏 You might think you know what to expect, but are you sure? The final version of Escape Tales: The Awakening, the digital adaptation of the bestselling card game under the same title, will launch today at 7 pm CEST with the price of $7.99! However, till November 3rd you’ll have a chance to purchase it with a special discount of -38%! Don’t miss this offer, it won’t last forever! As you might remember from the previous posts, the full version of the game will include: 6️⃣ languages - French, Italian, German, Spanish, English, and Polish 🌍 8️⃣ varied locations with unique vibe ✨ 2️⃣6️⃣ challenging puzzles to solve 🧩 3️⃣6️⃣ various items to collect (and use) 🧸 9️⃣ endings - each based on your choices throughout the game 🙌 Escape Tales: The Awakening tells a compelling story about loss, redemption, and t…
- DEV DIARY #9: What can you expect from the digital Escape Tales: The Awakening - 10 October 2024
The final version of digital Escape Tales: The Awakening will provide not only a deep narrative story and lots of challenging puzzles, but also many various locations that will transport you into different realities. Not to mention a few different endings of the whole game - each based on the choices you make that will make you question your morals and personal beliefs. LANGUAGES 💬 As you’ve probably seen on our social media channels, the final version of Escape Tales: The Awakening will provide 6 distinct languages with which you’ll be able to dive deep into the story and feel every aspect of it. Apart from English, you'll be able to play the final version of the game in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Polish. 💬 LOCATIONS 🌍 Up until now you’ve seen only one location provided in the demo available on Steam - The Basement. Do you know that the full version of the game will consi…
- DEV DIARY #8: Escape Tales: The Awakening behind the scenes - 26 September 2024
With the full version of Escape Tales: The Awakening coming soon, we’d like to take you on a trip behind the scenes once more. 🤠 This time, we’re focusing on the technical aspects of the game, as we’ve managed to ask Tomek, our programist, a few questions about his work on the project and various processes. Would you like to know more? 🤔 Have a good read (and take a closer look at the never-before-seen screenshots!) 👀 What do you do for Escape Tales: The Awakening? I am responsible for the entire programming side of the project. 🖥️ From the overall architecture to the implementation of individual mechanics and UI or even to make “this button less red.” What were the beginnings of your work on this title like? Intensive. The project got off to a rather nimble start with the concept phase out of the way. 💥 So the vision of the whole thing was shaped in the so-called “wash.” This made…
- DEV DIARY #7: The sounds of Escape Tales: The Awakening - 12 September 2024
Music-wise, we really wanted the main theme for Escape Tales: The Awakening to convey what the protagonist may feel in the story but also incorporate the dark and mysterious feeling of the game. 🎵 For the music you'll hear in further levels while solving puzzles, we took a different approach - to keep it atmospheric and uneasy yet not that engaging. The gameplay music is not supposed to keep you distracted, yet focused on solving puzzles. 🔐 This was one of the challenges for Adam (our sound designer), as he loves writing catchy, melodic music, yet it wouldn’t work in this case. Adam had to sort of minimize the sound palette but make it meaningful and memorable at the same time. What's important for us in this project is to make the sound effects feel vintage and kind of lonely. Items you can notice and interact with in each level are supposed to sound as if they were coming from that…
- DEV DIARY #6: The origins of the original Escape Tales: The Awakening - 29 August 2024
In this Dev Diary we’re talking with Bartosz Idzikowski, Lock.Me partner, one of the creators of the board game! What did the prototype of Escape Tales: The Awakening look like? At the very beginning, we sketched the first prototypes on paper. ✏️ We created a stack of about 150 pieces of paper; therefore, we had many sketches of the locations and objects. Later we scanned all of them and described to the graphic designer what we would like to do with them next. Very little of it was in Excel or Photoshop, as we wanted to make it fully paper from the very beginning and put as much of our effort as possible. 📝 We felt that using the digital tools would be necessary one way or another, but also wanted the basis to be built from our own ideas and imagination. Did you have a specific plan for the whole game when creating drafts? When we were creating the drafts and sketches for Escape Tales…
- DEV DIARY #5: Graphics and illustrations in Escape Tales: The Awakening - 15 August 2024
We’ve talked a little bit about the aesthetic vision while creating the demo in the Dev Diary #3, but today we’d like to fully focus on creating the images, graphics, and illustrations - basically every smaller and bigger detail that your eyes can enjoy while playing the game! 🥰 The game Escape Tales: The Awakening can be divided into two parts: Narrative Gameplay Although these elements are closely intertwined, their roles regarding the player are somewhat different. The first part introduces us to the story, provides context for the entire gameplay, and highlights the protagonist's motivations and fears. It tells the story of a father’s relationship with his daughter, his desperate attempts to save his child, and his longing for lost loved ones. 💔 To effectively convey these elements, we decided to enhance the text (adapted from the paragraphs in the paper version), with dedicated i…
- DEV DIARY #4: How the still became animated in Escape Tales: The Awakening - 1 August 2024
Three weeks after the demo’s premiere, we’re bringing you the fourth part of our Dev Diary. Did you already have a chance to try out the demo? 😏 If yes, feel free to let us know on social media or write us a private message - we appreciate all the feedback! 🤗 Without further ado, let’s dive into the world of animation… The process of creating animations for the digital version of Escape Tales: The Awakening can be divided into several distinct, but closely related, categories, including: GUI and text animations Location asset animations Decorative animations Each of the above categories involves different aspects and functions that the animations serve. In the case of GUI (Game User Interface) animations, the primary focus is on ensuring the intuitive and smooth interactions during the game. 🎮 Animations related to assets highlight interactive areas for the player, corresponding to p…
- DEV DIARY #3: The making of Escape Tales: The Awakening DEMO - 18 July 2024
Due to the fact that creating the demo was a complex project, we'd like to present to you the whole process from a few different perspectives - the software, the graphics, and the sounds. 🧩 First, there was a code… At the very beginning, without making any decisions or assumptions, our team played the board version of the game. 🎴 Then, they played the digital version available on Tabletopia to identify any issues with the digital adaptation compared to the board game. Based on these observations, the team created an initial sketch of their goals, forming a preliminary vision of the final game. 📝 The team focused primarily on preserving and enhancing the features that players loved in the original version. At the same time, they aimed to address and level out the features players complained about. 🖼️ Additionally, they sought to enrich the overall experience by leveraging the advanta…
- DEV DIARY #2: All you need to know about the inventory cards - 4 July 2024
🃏 What are the inventory cards? Depending on the location, the player's task is to collect equipment, i.e., items necessary for solving puzzles (e.g., finding a key to unlock a padlock). These items, once selected with the cursor, are placed in the inventory. They can be used or even combined to e.g. explore the location or create new objects; it all depends on their original purpose and the related symbols. Some of the cards will show a closer perspective of a certain location or object so that it’ll be easier to solve the puzzle, seeing all the details included in this particular area or thing. 🃏 What cards might actually appear in the game? In the digital version of the game, the items take the form of old Polaroids, with a visual representation of each item as a photograph. This supports the narrative of the entire game, enhances the overall visual reception, and makes managing re…
- DEV DIARY #1: The beginnings of digital Escape Tales: The Awakening - 20 June 2024
We’re really happy to see that you’re satisfied with the teaser trailer and waiting for more. In case some of you haven’t seen it, take a look: There's been a lot going on in the studio since we started the works and we’ve decided to share with you some behind the scenes so that you could see how we bring to life your beloved card game created by LockMe and Board&Dice! 🤗 In the first Dev Diary we’d like to focus on the process of that you would see in the final product. How did it all start? 🤔 🃏 At the very beginning, our graphics team had carefully studied the location cards in order to be able to put it 1:1 from the physical version of the game to the digital one. Both location cards were joined to create the whole basement and the sections were divided into squares to see what elements fit which space. Then, the whole location looked like this: 🃏 Later, the standard version of th…
