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Escape Goat absconds to Steam, celebrates with a sale
Pixelated puzzle platformer Escape Goat has rammed its way onto Steam. Available on Steam for 20% off its $5 asking price until October 16, Escape Goat is compatible with Windows PC, Mac and Linux. In Escape Goat, players assume the role of a goat imprisoned for using witchcraft. Players must navigate various rooms full of traps and enemies in an attempt to escape the Prison of Agnus. A sequel, aptly titled Escape Goat 2, from developer MagicalTimeBean is currently in the works, though it recently suffered a setback and had to be delayed from its intended September 10 launch date. Creator Ian Stocker has yet to announce the new release date.
Escape Goat 2 pushes its release date baa-ck from Sept. 10
Escape Goat 2 developer Ian Stocker has rammed back the game's release date from September 10 to an undecided day after that, which he will announce after PAX. Stocker announced the September launch date in July, and at the time, that seemed absolutely doable, he writes – but recently, the map system got in the way. The original Escape Goat has a hub-based world, but Escape Goat 2 was designed with a flat world map, with rooms connected and curling around each other. Playtesters at Casual Connect – an expo held right after Stocker announced the release date – prompted him to reorganize some stages, a feat that was easy to do in Escape Goat. Not so in Escape Goat 2. "With rooms locked into specific positions, things become very rigid," Stocker says. "Inserting a room in a series throws off half the rest of the map, which then needs to be reordered. For about 10 days this month, map organization was where I spent the bulk of my time .... What I decided on is kind of a hybrid between the EG1 and original EG2 map system." Stocker says that while it'd be possible to hit the September 10 launch date, the game simply wouldn't be polished to the level he'd like: "We've put 10 months into this project. As much as I want to release it to the world soon, I believe that delaying is the right move to make .... If you're at PAX this weekend, be sure to drop by and play the build. And if you are a pre-orderer, I can apologize to you in person, or try to bribe you with one of our shiny new 1.25 inch buttons." Escape Goat 2 will be in PAX Prime's Indie Megabooth, as part of its "Minibooth" section.
XBLIG facts: Nazi-killing a no-no, revenue a yes-yes
During the Xbox Live Indie Games panel at GDC, a who's who of XBLIG developers (James Silva, Nathan Fouts, Robert Boyd and Ian Stocker) talked about their experiences, successes and failures self-publishing on the service. Perhaps of more use to budding XBLIG developers are some facts about the service, including the revenue split between Microsoft and the developer, as well as some gameplay restrictions. For anyone who publishes an Xbox Live Indie Game, Microsoft takes 30 percent of the revenue, leaving 70 percent for the game maker. Even more interesting are some of the restrictions for games. James Silva of Ska Studios said it's impossible to have an XBLIG title where the player kills nazis, for example. "That's like an inherent human right that's been taken away from us," Silva said. "We grew up on killing Nazis." Silva then went on to provide an anecdote about a game concept he had, about a burly mountain man who hunts people, but it turns out XBLIG isn't murder-friendly, either. We've followed up with Microsoft for some more information on the guidelines of Xbox Live Indie Games.
