Hi everybody, This is not an easy thing to write, so we’ll cut right to the chase: After being in development on and off for almost seven years, we had to decide to postpone Escape the Loop's development indefinitely. We realize many of you will be upset, and we get that. This was not an easy decision, and it’s even more difficult because we know so many of you were looking forward to Escape the Loop. You’ll have lots of questions, so we’ll try our best to answer them: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [h3]What does ‘postponed indefinitely’ mean? Is it canceled?[/h3] For all intents and purposes, yes. It wouldn’t be fair to you to say otherwise. We may revisit it in the future. We still have everything we produced in the past years, and we still own the trademark for the name. But for now, it’s stuck in development hell and there’s no telling when or if that may change. [h3]Why did you cancel the game?[/h3] The simple truth is: We didn’t find a publisher. This was our most ambitious project, and in turn, our most expensive one too. Most of the development so far was funded by a combination of grants and our own cash. We hoped to develop a prototype that would convince a publisher to sign with us. In the end, that didn’t happen. [h3]Why did no publisher sign the game?[/h3] There’s no way to answer this for sure, but we assume our prototype just wasn’t convincing. Developing an open-world game is hard, especially one that is as experimental as ETL. In game development, you usually create what’s called a Vertical Slice, a small portion of the game that looks and feels as finished as it can. This could be a single level in Super Mario, for example. Because ETL would’ve been so thoroughly non-linear, we failed to do that and had hoped publishers could look past it with enough imagination. They couldn’t, and we don’t blame them. [h3]Why not go for crowdfunding?[/h3] Crowdfunding would be an obvious next step for some, but we feel it’s not for us. Most importantly, our budget needs are far higher than we feel we could realistically ask from the community. [h3]What happens next?[/h3] Over the next week, we’ll be monitoring ETL’s Steam forums to answer any questions you may have. After that, the forums will be shut down. If you have any questions after that point, feel free to get in touch on Twitter, or via email. [h3]What’s your plan now?[/h3] We’re heartbroken about this decision, but life must go on. Some of you may have already heard on social media that we already have a new project lined up, and it’s true. We’re currently working on ChromaGun 2, the sequel to our first game. It’s an adventure puzzle game about color, redemption, and the multiverse. If you want to find out more, you can check it out on Steam once the page goes live in a few days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pulling the plug after almost seven years is hard, and we all wish this could’ve panned out differently. If you’re looking for a way to patch that ETL-shaped hole in your heart, we recommend you try out these games: [list] [*] Outer Wilds [*] Twelve Minutes [*] The Forgotten City [*] The Sexy Brutale [*] Oxenfree [/list] So that’s it. We’re truly grateful for your support over these past years, and we truly wish this could’ve gone a different way. Hopefully, we’ll get to return to ETL someday. As mentioned, if you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask. All the best, The Pixel Maniacs team