Egress - The Test of STS-417

Sughly · Sat 12/11/2011 07:42:14

Egress is a short form sci-fi adventure game set in the outer reaches of space.

The story begins when you, the commander of a two man recon team, are sent hurtling into space during maintenance on an interplanetary probe. After a sudden attack from an black alien substance, you awake on a mysterious planet.

Where are you? How did you get there? And why is your partner screaming for help down the intercomâ€¦

Features include:
- Cinematic hand drawn, frame-by-frame 2D animation, including short intro and ending sequences
- Multiple endings designed to reflect the actions of the player

Screenshots:
(click on images for full resolution)

To download, follow the link from my Egress game page.

There is voice acting in the works, but due to a lack of time on my part I haven't been able to get it organised well enough (hence the ongoing delays 8)). In all honesty though it won't be ready for some time, so until then, please enjoy this version! I'll be sure to update this page as soon as I get a talkie edition completed.

Really looking forward to what everyone thinks! Enjoy!

EDIT: Please note that you can skip just about every cutscene and transition by pressing the 'ESC' key. Failing to have mentioned this in the how to play section was a great boo-boo on my part. Sorry for everyone who has endured frustration over this!

Article Links on Egress:
Gnome's Lair feature
IndieGames.com Freeware Game Pick
Rock, Paper, Shotgun feature
The Dead Pixel Post feature
PCGamer free PC game pick

Bogdan · Sat 12/11/2011 11:23:13

Wow, this is really awesome.
I managed to

Spoiler

Get released by the aliens, but I still don't get how that panel puzzle works.

[close]

Magnificent graphics. :)

sthomannch · Sat 12/11/2011 11:42:15

Beautiful!

Bogdan

Spoiler

probably the solution is in one of the clips, but it is too fast to see correctly. So I used the hammer. Found it not too far from this door

[close]

Got a second chance (marks where not too bad, but not sufficient, obviously)...

Na, now even released

CaptainD · Sat 12/11/2011 11:44:45

Looks cool Sughly! 8)

The graphics and storyline look great, can't wait to try the game.

Ilyich · Sat 12/11/2011 19:48:19

Congratulations on finally releasing it!

Played through it two times - great job! Loved the high-res graphics and dense, tense sci-fi atmosphere. The story was very good, always keeping things moving and suspensful and rounding everything nicely in the end, yet leaving some mystery. It felt similar in tone to the films of Duncan Jones (Moon and Source Code) and to The Dig (for obvious reasons), both of which, I think, is a good thing.

The music was also wonderful and along with the strategically placed sounds played a surprisingly big part in creating just the right ambience for the game.

Basically, it's a great, well polished short game with a potentially broad appeal (and by that I mean it's not only for the adventure gamers) and it makes me all the more excited about Anna's Room.

Again - congratulations on your first release!

Sughly · Sat 12/11/2011 22:39:42

Thanks for all the kind words guys, and thanks for playing! Wow, such nice words Ilyich! Really glad you enjoyed it though

Spoiler

As for the door puzzle it's kind of funny, for a long time I was worried I'd made it too obvious. But yeah, everyone has had trouble with it, all the testers too, soo... maybe in the end I actually didn't make it obvious enough!

[close]

Nedshi · Sun 13/11/2011 17:31:55

This game was really well made- The graphics, music, and dialogue all really contributed to a great atmosphere, and some moments were truly creepy. Also provided more than one moment where I was forced to say "What the heck is going on?" (But in a good way). I don't know how to make my text invisible (back to the forum FAQ for me) but my only criticism is with the puzzle that confused several of the other players as well- I didn't like that there was no way to use logic and problem solving to find an answer. Anyways, great short game.

Sughly · Mon 14/11/2011 00:04:33

Thanks Nedhshi, glad you liked it! Haha, ahhh man in hindsight I really should have made that puzzle a little more obvious. There is logic there, it's just.... very well hidden apparently. A little too well hidden 8)

HandsFree · Mon 14/11/2011 01:24:22

Yeah, the lock got me too. But I managed to see the end after one failure.
Is it possible to save the game? It's short, but not that short...

I liked the graphics, music and atmosphere. Very professional looking. Did not really understand what was going on though, but that's probably me (somehow I never understand sci-fi movies either).

Cogliostro · Mon 14/11/2011 22:31:58

Creepy. Atmospheric. Gorgeous art. You have a gift for picking the right music. I've used incomptech.com and I would not have been able to match the scenes to the music the way you did. And, of course, this is what sets the game's mood.

The commander is a nicely blank. You don't think about it the first time you play through, but the next go around it really came out. Having the option to SAVE or use the ESC key to skip all scenes would have been nice, since the game requires multiple plays.

- Cogliostro

NickyNyce · Tue 15/11/2011 01:15:18

Short game, but very cool idea. The art was very nice and the music was well chosen too. The long wait between looking in each hole got to me a bit, I thought this could have been cut a bit shorter. I must admit, it took me a lot of tries before I picked the right hole, which compounded the wait. But over all I enjoyed it, good job.

EDIT: Skipping scenes = ESC button

Now it's all good... nice experience

Sughly · Thu 17/11/2011 21:49:16

Thanks for the love guys! Glad you liked it! In hindsight I probably should have put in a save and load function. I just had it in my head that it was short form, but yeah I can understand it stumping people in parts and needing it.

Also for those getting frustrated with waiting on sections like you NickyNyce, most sections can be skipped with 'ESC' (which is something I kinda didnt really mention anywhere heh... oops). But there we go, now it's mentioned!

Armageddon · Tue 22/11/2011 06:54:35

I liked it, very good atmosphere mostly conveyed with sound and long fades. I still never figured out the door panel puzzle.

Sughly · Wed 23/11/2011 00:34:38

Updated the first post with a few links, with features on Gnome's Lair, IndieGames.com, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun! Woo, exciting!

Also thanks Armageddon, glad you enjoyed it! Lots of people have had trouble with the door panel, which is a lesson learnt from me. I really thought it would be too easy, so tried to disguise the answer as best I could. Seems I disguised a little TOO well 8). That being said, there are multiple ways of solving the puzzle.

-=Lisa=- · Fri 25/11/2011 17:56:33

I don't get how Im supposed to open the door...

Spoiler

Jacobs is no help at all..
The only tool i have is the wrong one..
I think i might be able to open the panel somehow.. but how?
Randomly trying 100 combinations is not my thing...

[close]

sthomannch · Fri 25/11/2011 18:21:04

See my comment above for one solution

Spoiler

the hammer is hidden in a hole. Examine the corner up and to the right of the door

[close]

Big GC · Fri 25/11/2011 22:02:13

Quote from: -=Lisa=- on Fri 25/11/2011 17:56:33
I don't get how Im supposed to open the door...

Spoiler

Jacobs is no help at all..
The only tool i have is the wrong one..
I think i might be able to open the panel somehow.. but how?
Randomly trying 100 combinations is not my thing...
[close]

Yeah the logic on the door eludes me to.

Spoiler

as above there is a hole in the roof. I missed it the first time, but watch the room fade from dark to low light and you will see a glow coming from that hole.
I realise the panel is numbers. Each press of the top button gives you a symbol from 1-9 and the bottom the same but mirrored. But I think I am missing a numerical reference somewhere because nothing springs to mind. Will try again later....ish. Just use the hammer first time and try the puzzle next play through

[close]

Sughly · Sat 26/11/2011 01:59:49

Yeah I'm sorry for the frustration guys, people getting stuck on the light panel has become a pretty common issue with the game. It was slightly different to begin with, but then I thought it was TOO easy and tried to disguise the answer. Problem is it seems I disguised it TOO well!

For those that want a bit more help on it, here's a hint...

Spoiler

It is a number reference, and basically what the conversation with Jacobs tells you to do - pay close attention to the room - is about the best I can do without actually giving away the answer. There aren't that many things in the room after all!

[close]

For those that have given up, here's the solution...

Spoiler

The number of lights on the panel just refers to the number of lights in the room. The horizontal button represents horizontal lights, and the vertical button represents vertical lights. You have to include the light above the panel too, not just the ones around the door!

[close]

Hope that helps! Thanks for playing guys

KodiakBehr · Sat 26/11/2011 16:27:10

Simply a wonderful short-game! I particularly enjoyed how you set up the ending!

I share the views of the above -- gorgeous, striking visuals and hauntingly beautiful music, and a door puzzle that was a real stretch (in my view).

Thank you for sharing this.

abibliophobe · Sat 26/11/2011 17:10:34

This was great! Like Armageddon said, the fading and sound worked really well to create the atmosphere.

Spoiler

I especially liked how the ending makes you think of the aliens differently if you play through a second time (the first time I just assumed they were scary and wanted to eat me, the second time I wondered if they were benevolent). I guess it's similar to what Cogliostro was saying about reinterpreting the commander on the second go. I had the same problem as everyone else with solving the door puzzle the "good" way but finding out the answer from this thread for my second runthrough didn't detract from my enjoyment.

[close]

slimcane · Sun 01/01/2012 21:18:42

Very nice game! I have always enjoyed the point and click style games of the past. This one captures that classic gaming spirit very well! The music and the animations are well done!

Sughly · Thu 05/01/2012 01:18:00

Thanks for the kind words people! Abibliophobe, I love it when people really hit the nail on the head with what I was going for like you did, makes me realise that despite a few flaws I managed to make the game I wanted people to play. Cue moment of pride!

Noctambulo · Sat 14/01/2012 07:44:16

Well, I didn't had a problem with the door puzzle at all! I'm just awesome!!!!!

... Ok, ok... It was a LOT of luck, but still counts, right?

PS: I enjoyed the game. It was kinda a mix between "alien", "9", "the astronaut wife" and "Species 2"...

Xionix · Mon 30/01/2012 10:51:36

I really wanted to try this game, but for some reason I can't. It starts on a black screen and then nothing happens

I tried in a netbook, not know if that might be the problem.

guneyozsan · Wed 01/02/2012 07:05:05

Great game and story. I felt the atmosphere very well as if I am reading an interesting book.

A few critics:

Spoiler

A little frustrated in the beginning because time for trying a hole takes too much time and doing it repetitevily is boring. Maybe you can half the time after the first trial.

[close]

Spoiler

There were some very good ones but more alteration of dialog (together with philosophy) in subsequent runs would give more things to explore, at least like reading a book. Otherwise, second run quickly becomes a self satisfaction run. Changes in Jacobs behavior would be freaky.

[close]

Quote from: Sughly on Sat 26/11/2011 01:59:49
Problem is it seems I disguised it TOO well!

Spoiler

I can suggest making the lights with the same geometry of the buttons. It would help creating analogies. But I am not sure about tje light above the panel. Maybe its size can be closer to the ones on the door.

[close]

guneyozsan · Wed 01/02/2012 07:08:10

Ah, forgot to mention. Music is great and adds much to the mood.

The game definetely needs a full screen version. Seeing my desktop on the edges kills the atmosphere.

Steeelz · Thu 05/07/2012 12:58:09

First of all - thanks for a great game - it's a rare miracle this days. My navigation was not so good (4th try), but i'v got an excellence in leadership

and released on 1st attempt, but door logic is just off my understanding. Seriously, i don't need first spoiler - it's obvious, but second - it makes me respond here:

Quote from: Sughly on Sat 26/11/2011 01:59:49
Yeah I'm sorry for the frustration guys, people getting stuck on the light panel has become a pretty common issue with the game. It was slightly different to begin with, but then I thought it was TOO easy and tried to disguise the answer. Problem is it seems I disguised it TOO well!
...
For those that have given up, here's the solution...
Spoiler
The number of lights on the panel just refers to the number of lights in the room. The horizontal button represents horizontal lights, and the vertical button represents vertical lights. You have to include the light above the panel too, not just the ones around the door!
[close]

Hope that helps! Thanks for playing guys

Hmm.. the trick with a panel light is far beyond logic - it's just a mean to use hammer

Sughly · Sat 07/07/2012 10:39:37

Hey thanks for playing guys! Really glad you liked it, means a lot

Gendgi · Tue 18/07/2017 17:11:34

Oh man, just finished playing this, amazing graphics, music ans story, thank you for making this!