Unsung Escape

Unsung Escape is a vertical action-platformer where you outrun an ever-rising Void. Use Energy Orbs to gain movement abilities like double-jumps and dashes. No enemies—just pure platforming, exploration, and survival.

"Originally, we were discussing a game idea we could whip out fairly quickly and easily to prove that we could produce a game as a team, in order to include it in the CMF funding application. We exchanged various ideas and collectively came up with the concept: a platformer where you keep going up. We decided to treat it almost like a game jam project… but we ended up spending a few months putting everything together. lol"

— Taq

"We actually had a plan to have the player not only control the character as they platformed up a procedurally generated vertical level… but to in essence wrap that level around a central pillar almost like a helix and using the top trigger buttons allow the pillar and the platforms to be rotated completely independently from the character. So the early goal was to have Proto rapidly ascend these levels using traditional platforming techniques but then also add in some Fez style level manipulation to spice things up.

"As discussed above, the biggest purpose was to prove ourselves as a team. However, as we went through the development process, we knew we wanted to achieve a certain quality—visually and mechanically. The game presentation had to look appealing, taking full advantage of Unreal Engine 5, and the character controls needed to feel great as you leap up each level at a fast pace. In the end, even though the game is small, we’re proud of what we’ve achieved. Despite the game’s origins, we came to love it—especially the characters we created: Proto and Eye. We’re planning their appearance in our next main project, so stay tuned!"

— Taq

"I think trust and belief in each other is hugely important. As this was our first project as this core team we had to figure out how each of us works and communicates, and what each of us brings to the table and how that fits with everyone on the team. Seeing that trust and belief grow within the team as we solved problems together was very empowering and a huge confidence booster. Especially as we move onto a much bigger game now, the trust we have in each other is going to be a huge part in our belief that we can deliver something truly next level."

— Kade

"I don’t think it was so much a technical challenge but nearing the end we did run into that thing where we kept saying “what if we add this?” and then “what if we add that?” and that can sometimes become a difficult thing to just know when to say no we’re good. All of those little wish list things take time or have the chance of maybe affecting something that was working adversely. We had this cute little game that was fun and worked and relatively issue free. So we started to have a hard time actually finalizing the game and submitting it to Steam because we kept trying to add little things."

— Kade

"I listen to ENERGY 106 on the radio pretty much every morning on my way to work and I hear Tyler talking passionately and lovingly about games every single morning. HE LOVES GAMES. That joy and passion for them inspires me and makes me remember how I felt as a kid about games. One of my goals with ENEME was to create a place where anyone that wanted to work in games… where it was their DREAM… could maybe have that opportunity to do so. I remember when making games was just a dream for me and sometimes it felt like a very hard thing to realize. I want to work with people that dream like that and have that same passion and love for it that I do.

"I’d say that it was a lot of fun making Unsung Escape with this team. It bonded us and brought us closer together and showed just a taste of what’s possible from this team. We realized how good we work together and kind of became this close knit family in a lot of ways. We’re working on something much larger now and much more ambitious but we now know that we can achieve it realistically together."

— Kade