Jailbreaker, a game about escaping prison | Demo available

Awfy · Sep 19, 2023

I've been working on a small project on and off for the past 8 months or so. Jailbreaker is a challenging puzzle-platformer that you play with only one button.

The player moves automatically and you time your jumps to avoid traps. However, you can also climb up walls, roll in the air, float in bubbles, turn into a bird, etc. The game steadily introduces unique traps and level design to keep you interested. Not too long; not too short.

All the levels for my game has now been finished. Only thing left now is a proper ending, some bug fixing, level testing and some extra polish. My goal is to upload the game by the end of this year. Once I can get a Steam page up and going, I'll make an update post with a link to it. For now, you can check out the game demo on our GameJolt page. It contains the first 10 levels. Thanks for reading. I'll see you soon!

MikeCL · Sep 21, 2023

Awfy I played through the demo yesterday evening. I had a lot of fun with it! Fantastic job! The low-fi art style is great!

d2clon · Sep 22, 2023

Hello, I played a part of the demo and I have to say I am very impressed with the quality of this project. I really can see it is going to be a hit. It has a super unique mechanic. The aesthetics, movements, and sounds are very nice.

I recorded the session with Playcocola:

https://app.playcocola.com/guest/play_sessions/fb98fe85-71bd-484a-8e89-d70bb85a4d5b

Disclaimer: I am the creator of Playcocola, it is in beta. Looking to help indie devs with the playtesting

award · Sep 22, 2023

The CRT look is so cool!

For the controls, were you inspired at all by Super Meatboy Forever?

PS - I love your avatar frog with the mushroom hat!

Awfy · Sep 23, 2023

award I was actually inspired by a mobile game called "King of Thieves". For the mechanics, my inspiration came from games like Celeste, N++ and qomp. I never knew SMB: F was an auto-runner? I only played the classic SMB.

Awfy · Sep 23, 2023

d2clon Hey, thanks for playing! The playtest is very insightful. The goal is to make a difficult game, yes, but I do want to have some sort of balance between difficulty and fun. The slide mechanic does have some quirks but I've tried explaining it somewhat in the full version.

The fact that you had to stop at level 7 kinda torn me . I might try to make the game a bit easier later, but I'll only be able to do that if I have more playtesters (which is currently a bit of a problem for me). I'd love it if you could play the full version once it is out.

PS - btw, the line looking kinda of finicky is because Godot has a limit to how many points a Line2D can have, so I was drawing few points every few milisecond. I've bumped it down a bit so it looks a bit smoother. The line will also insert "points" which show when you jumped and rolled, etc.

Awfy · Sep 23, 2023

MikeCL Hey, thanks for playing! What do you think about the difficulty? I'm trying to get it right but I don't have much external input to steer me in the right direction.

d2clon · Sep 23, 2023

Awfy The goal is to make a difficult game, yes, but I do want to have some sort of balance between difficulty and fun

I understand that balancing the difficult properly on this game may be super challenging.

Awfy The fact that you had to stop at level 7 kinda torn me

You have to understand that, even if I am a hobbyist indie dev, I don't play many games. This one in particular has a very specific target, which I am not, "precision platformer" is called?. For example, I haven't played Celeste, I haven't even tried it , because I know I'm going to suck at it

So please, don't get my playtest session as a meter for the difficult of the game.

The fact I got stuck in the 7 level is actually a good thing. It makes me go out of the keyboard with a sweet frustration sensation, and with a willingness to come back with renovated energy, to try again .

Awfy but I'll only be able to do that if I have more playtesters (which is currently a bit of a problem for me)

Let's change that, I'll approach you by DM here

Awfy 'd love it if you could play the full version once it is out.

Buff, of course

Awfy The line will also insert "points" which show when you jumped and rolled, etc.

I see you are working on improving the line/path view. I am sure you will manage to make it as appealing as the rest of the aesthetics

You have a good game in your hands. It is now just a matter of building nice appealing levels and properly balancing the difficulty ramp.

papalagi · Sep 24, 2023

Excellent little game, great style, too difficult for me, but allright by precision platformer standards

I guess the full version has smoother difficulty curve, wall sliding is hard

MikeCL · Sep 24, 2023

Awfy I think the difficulty was good. I had several moments where I felt it was very difficult, but then also very rewarding when I managed to figure out the path and timing.

Awfy · Sep 24, 2023

MikeCL Thanks, glad you liked it. I'm actually trying to adjust the difficulty a bit more, so the final version could be a bit more balanced.

I was wondering if you could playtest the final version of the game and provide footage. I'd like to have as much playtesters as possible to get lots of feedback. My game is actually finished and I just need to change a few thungs here and there.

Awfy · Sep 24, 2023

I'd like to inform everyone that the game is finally finished ^^

Would to have playtesters for my game so if anyone is interested, please let me know.

d2clon · Sep 30, 2023

Awfy Would to have playtesters for my game so if anyone is interested, please let me know.

I'm interested

d2clon · Sep 30, 2023

I just came up on this channel, and I think your game fits perfectly on it. The streamer has this series called "X Games made in Godot to inspire you" ...

Awfy · Oct 31, 2023

Jailbreaker now has a Steam Page! Consider wishlisting the game on Steam. It will release Q1 2024

MikeCL · Oct 31, 2023

Awfy Added to wishlist!

Awfy · Nov 9, 2023

Jailbreaker now has a revamped, public demo on Steam! We are getting closer and closer to the release. I'm excited but also kind of nervous. Anyone have some marketing tips for me to help push the game to more people (preferably with minimal cost)?

xyz · Nov 9, 2023

Awfy Probably best to try to reach youtubers that review/stream games in your niche.

One other thing, not marketing per se, and you possibly won't like it, but I'll say it anyway .

Add some color. Obviously, monochrome-ness was your stylistic choice but adding color might work wonders for emotional impact. For your game it could be as simple as using a single additional accent color for some elements in the level (saws and collectables are an obvious choice). The colors could be from a "retro" RGBCMY palette, and perhaps wary per level or groups of levels.

xyz · Nov 11, 2023

Awfy I gave demo a go. Went through all 10 levels twice. It's good. Quite hard but easier than expected, though from the looks of it I expected ultra hardcore.

There was a bug (or feature) I couldn't replicate. In the second part of tutorial I fell down from the right platform and the screen went white. The game become completely unresponsive but not fully frozen as crt glitch animations were running normally. Needed to restart.
Sliding up the walls mechanic is not communicated clearly enough. I completed the first playthrough totally unaware of how it works, just winging it. Perhaps it needs to be directly stated that the closer to a wall you jump the higher you slide up. Maybe best to do it in the tutorial as you need to use it there.
The tutorial rooms with sliding walls are a bit disorienting, given that these may be the first areas the player encounters. It does look cool though. Maybe have full walls drawn a bit fainter and keep those sliding highlights for effect.

Awfy · Nov 13, 2023

xyz

There was a bug (or feature) I couldn't replicate. In the second part of tutorial I fell down from the right platform and the screen went white. The game become completely unresponsive but not fully frozen as crt glitch animations were running normally. Needed to restart.

Was the screen white or grey? I don't think I've seen this bug before. Is this the room with the moving platforms and the door?

The tutorial rooms with sliding walls are a bit disorienting, given that these may be the first areas the player encounters. It does look cool though. Maybe have full walls drawn a bit fainter and keep those sliding highlights for effect.

Which rooms do you mean? The tutorial rooms with moving platforms?

xyz · Nov 13, 2023

Awfy Was the screen white or grey? I don't think I've seen this bug before. Is this the room with the moving platforms and the door?

In this tutorial room:

Got something like this. It may have been kind of grayish not fully white I suppose, not sure.

Awfy Which rooms do you mean? The tutorial rooms with moving platforms?

The two tutorial rooms. They look like moving platforms but actually work like full walls. I think it may be a bit too confusing for the very first room(s) you see in the game.

Awfy I don't think I've seen this bug before

I have a proclivity for breaking things . My wife says I should be used as a high-profile all-around tester. Every product I regularly use typically breaks or starts malfunctioning way before its warranty expiration date.

Awfy · Nov 14, 2023

xyz As a programmer, I wish to have the skills of casually breaking things like you do.

Awfy · Jan 15, 2024

Hey everyone! My first commercial project, JAILBREAKER, releases January 23 this year! I'm super stoked for all the support I've gotten from this community. I'm happy to finally have something to show everyone. Hope you are all excited too!

xyz · Jan 15, 2024

Awfy Great. I already wishlisted it. Break a leg at release!
Btw. Did you manage to reproduce that bug?

Awfy · Jan 16, 2024

xyz Nope, but I increased the death range to see if it helps.

MikeCL · Jan 16, 2024

Awfy Fantastic news! And great trailer! I remember playing this and having a lot of fun. Hope you will have a stellar launch!

Awfy · Jan 23, 2024

JAILBREAKER is now out and available on Steam and Itch.io for $4.99, on Windows and Linux. Thank you all for the support! No matter how small the game is, I still had a lot of fun making the game and Godot was a lot of fun to learn. And your feedback was incredible as well.

If you like 2D puzzle platformer with unique game mechanics, please try it out!

https://awfy.itch.io/j41lbr34k3r

Awfy · Jan 30, 2024

Awfy Today is the last day to get Jailbreaker at its Discount price. Please check it out if you like it.

Awfy · May 7, 2024

Awfy Wow, it's been a while. My short experimental game did pretty well! Since the game is a bit dead though, I've decided to post a 3 months summary of the game's sales.

280 copies sold
1700+ wishlists
Around $1000 of sales revenue
$800+ of profit

For a short 10 month project, $4 indie platformer game, I'd say it's very good!

kuligs2 · May 7, 2024

Awfy thanks for posting!

xyz · May 7, 2024

Awfy Congrats! Did you run any PR campaigns?

kuligs2 · May 7, 2024

Awfy Also does the steam handle your local taxes? i mean you gained $800 stuff so in the end its already tax free money or do you have to pay additional taxes as per your local laws?

But im guessing youre from US based on the currency, so it might be different.

Awfy · May 7, 2024

I'm not from US so Steam deduct taxes accordingly. The revenue is without the US taxes while the net profit is with the US taxes applied.

Steam will also take a 30% cut from my net profit whenever they transfer the money to me at the end of the month.

From this money, I would be paying my local taxes. So my local taxes comes last, which I pay manually.

Awfy · May 7, 2024

xyz I tried a lot of things but nothing much worked aside from a few twitter and reddit posts.

I did work with The Indie Game Collective to let more streamers play the game but I don't think it increased sales by a large margin.

kuligs2 · May 8, 2024

Awfy Damn so the $800 profits are no profits 800 - 30% ~ 560 - 22% = $436 so basically real tangible profits in your pockets = 0.5 * steam page profits.

well.. game better be doing good if you want to be a millionaire and smarter than 5th greaser

xyz · May 8, 2024

Awfy Will you be doing a sequel or the next game?

kuligs2 · May 8, 2024

Awfy also i wonder, your game is on steam, if you would want to give out keys for the game, how many key you have? I mean do you have to set the number of keys in advance? Is that some special operation or you can just grab a key when you want?

Also can you disable games that someone bought? like set it to pirated/invalid or something if such thing happen?

Awfy · May 9, 2024

kuligs2 This doesn't seem right.
The revenue of $1000 has it's tax deducted. So $800 is after tax is deducted.

Steam would take 30% from $800 which would be $560, which is what I would receive from Steam. Not sure where the 22% came from.

Awfy · May 9, 2024

xyz I'll work on something else. This was more of a test project anyways. Now that I know Godot a bit more, I could work on something a bit more sellable.

Awfy · May 9, 2024

kuligs2 You can request as many keys as you want from Steam. They'll send you an email a few hours after the request was sent.

And no, I don't think you can disable/detect pirated copies. You can, however, revoke any keys that you have requested, in case you no longer won't those keys to be redeemable.