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The Escapists 2 dev talks adding multiplayer, crafting a sequel
A portion of a Gamasutra interview with designer James Witcomb...
“It was essential to retain the sandbox nature of the first game, so we inherited all the ‘traditional’ methods (digging tunnels, chipping through walls, switching off generators to disable electric fences etc.) that returning players would be familiar with, but we also wanted to add an entirely new type of escape to the game.
The Escapists was a big success, and seeing the fans response to the game and subsequent DLC was amazing. It very quickly became clear that fans really wanted multiplayer, but the only way we could get multiplayer to work was to re-write many of the game systems. This presented us with the opportunity to not only add multiplayer, but to work with The Escapists' creator Chris Davis to iron out issues with the first game, and show our gratitude to the community by taking on board their ideas and feedback via community surveys prior to starting development.”