"A door firmly locked. But do you have what it takes to escape? 40x times." Such is the introduction to 40x Escape, Bart Bonte's point-and-click puzzle entry to the escape-themed Casual Gameplay Design Competition #10. The aforementioned quote unfortunately doesn't parse as a haiku (cue syllable finger-counting), and "40x times" is probably as redundant a phrase as "ATM Machine", but it gives you everything you need to know: there is a door in front of you. You'll need to get through ones like it forty times, if you hope to escape. Also, there's a bird with you. He won't be much help though. Because, y'know... he's a bird, and he apparently didn't learn his lesson the last time you helped him escape.
In each of the forty screens of 40x Escape, you must determine the proper sequence of mouse actions that will cause the door to open. Oftentimes, it is directly related to getting the ESCAPE sign above the door to light up all its green letters. Sometimes it will require direct clicking of those letters, other times there will be buttons for you to fiddle with, other times there will be a combination or password to input, and still other times you'll need to get creative with mouse movement. Get though all forty, and you can spend the rest of the afternoon contemplating what exactly the architecture of the building you just escaped was. (Seriously, is it like a long hallway of forty rooms, one after another, or rather, are the rooms nested in each other, like some kind of matryoshka doll? But I digress.)
Analysis: We've seen games like 40x Escape before. Structurally, it bears construction similar to the ClickPlay and This Is The Only Level series. In terms of mechanics, it owes a bit to God Tower-style online riddle games. And, of course, DOOORS and 100 Floors have seen great success on the iOS platform. But really, one of the main reasons we enjoy Bart Bonte's work here at JayIsGames is that, whatever game genre he puts his mind to, his trademark style makes it all his own.
Polished is the word that immediately comes to mind while playing 40x Escape. The "escape" concept is boiled down to its barest essences in a presentation that is clean, engaging, and accessible. It's a back-to-basics approach that strips away the sometimes complex and unintuitive puzzles that may scare casual players off from the escape games. There is room in the great world of casual-playdom for high-quality introductory games, and just as other works by Bonte have found great popularity in kid-oriented game portals, so too one suspects 40x Escape will as well. It's just the thing to get grade-schoolers acclimated to the escape game concept, so they will be prepared when they inevitably become full-on addicted to Submachinery and Darkened Rooms (and we at JayIsGames are always in favor of getting 'em hooked while they're still young. Mwah ha ha.)
Of course, the danger with a back-to-basics approach is that it can come off as, well, basic. While, of course, what kinds of puzzles each person will find difficult is subjective in the extreme, 40x Escape probably won't pose much of a challenge to experienced escapees. There is something exhilarating about gunning through variations on a simple theme, but 40x Escape could stand a little more variety in how it tries to stump the player. Perhaps making into 30x Escape would have tightened up things a little, but who can say? 40x Escape is what it is: a quality time-waster from a quality designer, and a CGDC #10 crowd-pleaser.
Author's Theme interpretation:
"Escape, you know... 40 times :)" -Bart Bonte
Pastel Games' feedback:
"Nice idea and well executed. I love the bird."
"You need to disable right click menu and the TAB key."
"The game gets a bit repetitive after a while. Maybe you could change the colors of the rooms, so we get a slight impression that we're moving forward with each door."
"The pause button doesn't pause the game, but returns it to the main menu. The hell. I know you can hit "continue", but still, it's not good idea to taunt the player like that. Besides - this game doesn't need pause. If you go away from the screen - nothing happens. Pausing is pointless."
"I'd prefer less levels, let's say 10 or 20 but more diversified. Different backgrounds, different objects and you could also use the bird a bit more." -Mateusz Skutnik.
"I like it even so it's nothing original. Puzzles are not too easy or too difficult, love Mr Bird. Simple, cute, fun!" -Karol Konwerski.
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
40xEscape Walkthrough
Level 1
Press the button on the wall 6 times.
Level 2
Press all the letters in the word "ESCAPE" to light them green.
Level 3
Press all the buttons in numeric order: 1-2-3-4-5-6.
Level 4
Press the left button to light up one letter at a time.
Press the right button to lock a letter so that it stays green.
Repeat the process until all of the letters are lit.
Level 5
Read the sign "This X"
Note the number of the level under the bird, 5xEscape.
Press the buttons to spell out the word f-i-v-e.
Level 6
Wait for the green bulb on the wall to light up.
Quickly press all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE" to turn them green before the bulb flashes off.
If the bulb goes dark, you will have to wait for it to light again before you can change the rest of the letters.
Level 7
Click all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE" to change them to the color green.
Level 8
Rotate the white square tiles to arrange them into the shape of the number 8.
Screenshot.
Level 9
Keep your cursor completely still until all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE" are lit.
Level 10
Read the sign that says "PEACE".
Spell out "PEACE" by lighting all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE" except for the letter S.
Level 11
Note the level number at the bottom of the screen, 11.
Press the buttons on the wall to spell out the word e-l-e-v-e-n.
Level 12
Click a letter in the word "ESCAPE" to turn it green, then click the button on the wall to keep that letter lit.
Repeat the process until every letter is green.
Level 13
Study the picture underneath the combination lock.
Note the number of sides each shape has, starting with the largest shape and ending with the smallest.
The square has 4 sides, the pentagon has 5 sides, and the triangle has 3 sides.
Enter the combination 4-5-3.
Level 14
Read the sign that says "Knock knock knock".
Click three times on the door.
Level 15
Click the letters to light up the word "ESCAPE"; if you touch one letter, it will also affect any adjacent letters on its left or right sides.
Click only the letter S and the letter P to turn the whole sign green.
Level 16
Read the sign under the lock - each number refers to a letter of the alphabet, so A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc.
5 = E, 19 = S, 3 = C, 1 = A, 16 = P.
Spell the word ESCAPE on the lock.
Level 17
Click the letters to change their color, then find the one color they all have in common.
Change all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE" to the color yellow.
Level 18
Read the sign that says "hold on".
Press and hold the button until all of the letters in "ESCAPE" are lit.
Level 19
The first 6 buttons each select a letter in "ESCAPE" going from left to right.
The last button on the right turns the selected letter on or off.
So to light up the whole sign, you'll have to press the buttons in order of 1-7, 2-7, 3-7, etc.
Level 20
Read the sign that says "20!"
Change the letters on the lock to spell out the word t-w-e-n-t-y.
Level 21
Keep your cursor constantly moving until all of the letters in "ESCAPE" are lit.
Level 22
Note the number of the level at the bottom of the screen.
Light up the sections of the sign on the right side of the door to make the shape of the number 22.
Screenshot.
Level 23
Click the letters to light up the word "ESCAPE"; if you touch one letter, it will light up the letters beside it but will not change the letter you clicked.
Press the following letters in order to solve the puzzle: left E, S, P, right E.
Level 24
Read the sign under the buttons that says "new" and "news".
The sign refers to the cardinal directions, North, South, East, and West.
So the order of the first word is North-East-West and the order of the second word is North-East-West-South.
Note how the top button is labeled with the letter n.
Press the buttons in order to solve the puzzle: Up, Right, Left, Up, Right, Left, Down.
Level 25
Read the sign that says "neo neni vife".
Unscramble the words to find the message one nine five.
Enter 1-9-5 into the lock to open the door.
Level 26
Read the sign that says "SEE PAC!".
Press the letters in the word "ESCAPE" in the same order as the letters on the sign S-E-E-P-A-C.
Level 27
Read the sign that says "4x4".
Going from the left side, press the fourth button four times.
Level 28
Press and hold the button to the right of the door.
The longer you hold the button down, the longer the green bulb will stay lit.
While the bulb is lit, change the letters in "ESCAPE" to the color green to open the door.
Level 29
Read the sign that says "total".
What's the total amount of doors to escape?
Enter the number 040 into the lock.
Level 30
Use the buttons to light all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE".
Click the left button to select a letter, then click the right button to turn the selected letter on or off.
Press the left button once to select the first letter, E, press it twice to select the second letter S, press it three times to select the third letter C, etc.
Level 31
Read the sign that says "we see".
Note the bottom button is labeled with the letter n.
This is another compass level, but the positions of the cardinal directions have been inverted.
So the order of the first word is West-East and the order of the second word is South-East-East.
Press the buttons in the following order to open the door: Right, Left, Up, Left, Left.
Level 32
Read the sign that says "roufwotneves".
Unscramble the letters to spell out four two seven.
Enter the combination 4-2-7 into the lock.
Level 33
Light all of the letters in the word "ESCAPE".
Clicking one letter will also affect another letter that is two spaces over to the left or right, but not change the letter directly next to it.
To open the door, press only the letter C and the letter A.
Level 34
Press the left button to light the first letter in "ESCAPE.
Clicking the far right button will move the light one letter to the right and clicking the middle button will move the light one letter to the left.
Start by clicking the left button to light the left E, then press the right button to move it all the way to the right E.
Click the left button to light the left E again, ten press the right button to move it to the letter P this time.
Repeat the process until all of the letters are lit.
Level 35
Read the sign that says "123..."
Note how there are a series of buttons labeled with the letters o, t, f, s, e, and n.
The buttons represent the first letters of the all the words from one to ten.
Press them in numeric order to open the door: o-t-t-f-f-s-s-e-n-t.
Level 36
Read the sign that says "4x knock up".
You have to knock upwards on the door by clicking the bottom and then gradually clicking higher.
Level 37
Read the sign that says "1x1, 2x2".
From left to right, click the first letter E once, the second letter S twice, the third letter C three times, the fourth letter A four times, the fifth letter P five times, and the sixth letter E six times
Level 38
Read the sign that says "40x".
Light the sections of the lock to spell out the word "ESCAPE".
Screenshot.
Level 39
Use the buttons to light up all of the letters in "ESCAPE".
Press the middle button to turn on the letter A.
Click the left button to move the light left, or click the right button to move it right.
Continue to click the middle button to turn on the letter A again and move the light left or right until all of the letters are lit.
Level 40
Note the buttons labeled with various letters and numbers.
Press the buttons in order to spell out the title of the game, 4-0-x-e-s-c-a-p-e.
Congratulations, you win!
Posted by: Trinn
|
September 4, 2012 6:48 PM