Two Ways to Immortalize Yourself in Our Upcoming Game, “Before Moonrise”
No, you don’t have to be bitten by a werewolf or find the Hircine Ring. We are rolling out our upcoming escape room, “Before Moonrise” (trailer here) in a much more deliberate way than any of our previous productions, and since it won’t be a mad dash to the finish this time, we’d really like you to come along for the ride. Or, if you just want some updates on our progress with “Before Moonrise,” scroll to the bottom!
#1: Sign Up in the Yeller Pages as a Wacky Contractor
A major new element in “Before Moonrise” will be our hint system, where you’ll be able to dial up “contractors” — their voicemails will help you out with aspects of the game you might be struggling with. (Don’t worry, our awesome game operators will always be available if you need help — just dial “0.”) Each contractor has a character, voiced by our staff, and some of them are hilarious. They have job titles that range from mundane (“Plumber”) to specialized (“Cartographer”) to wacky (ever met a “Mineral Activation Specialist” or a “Labyrinth Master”?), and most of them (voiced by, yes, us) have personalities that might be described as a little… extra.
We’d like to fill out this contractor listing, which we’re calling the Yeller Pages, with extra contractors — characters who won’t provide hints, but are there to add some flavor to the game. Want your name immortalized in “Before Moonrise”? Make up a specialty or a company name, hit us with your best tagline, and we’ll consider you for a spot in the prestigious Yeller Pages. Unless you’re feeling particularly inspired, we’ll even design your ad. All free of charge! What a deal!
To sign up, click the button below. You can submit as many times as you like, and we’ll choose our favorites on July 7.
#2: Tell Us Why You Should Be a Beta Tester
“Before Moonrise” is loaded with technology… not to mention a thousand hours worth of coding and fabrication. We’ve done our own internal testing at our studio space downtown, but for this game, beta testing is more necessary than ever before. We want to hunt down any bugs before we launch, not after. (Anyone who remembers our botched Game Show launch and subsequent re-launch knows what I’m talking about. We’re still truly sorry about that.) So we’re looking for a good mix of teams — young, old, veterans, newbies, you name it — to come in and push the boundaries of what the game can do. As always, beta testing is free, since we understand and respect the fact that you’re sacrificing your opportunity to play the game for the first time in its finished state.
To apply to be a beta tester, just tag us in a post on Facebook or Instagram (making sure it’s public so that we see it).
Tell us 1) your group size, and 2) why you’d be good beta testers for this game.
Beta testing will likely happen the week of July 15 and/or the week of July 22, and we may not be able to provide much notice about available beta slots.
Extra! Extra! “Before Moonrise” Nears Completion!
The props are built. The tech is tested. The puzzles make sense. (At least, we think they do.) We’re just putting the finishing touches on all of the surfaces, making sure we’re happy with the lighting & sound, and working out the last few kinks. Barring disastrous beta testing, we are all set to launch by the end of July. And it is without a doubt our finest game yet.
We thank you for your patience — especially to the superfans who have played all of our games and been waiting for us to make something new for almost two years. We didn’t quite nail the “Spring 2019” launch goal, and we definitely didn’t hit our initial “March 2019” projection — which, being optimistic but also a little bit wiser after 4 years, we thankfully avoided publishing — but we are on track to tear down the Space Station on July 8 and start loading in everything we’ve built for Moonrise. That’s when things will really get hectic, but with some luck and a few 80-hour work weeks, the build will be over and we’ll be opening up ticket sales before you can blink.
A note for longtime fans: For “Before Moonrise,” we will not be pre-selling tickets or planning an official launch party before beta testing has commenced. As my mom used to say: it’ll be ready when it’s ready.
Follow Our Progress
Check us out on social media (Facebook and Instagram) to follow along as we finish our preparation, demolish the Space Station, and prepare the new game in its place. We’ve been hesitant to show too much of Moonrise in its prototype state, but I imagine we’ll be getting more prolific as the game nears completion. And when load-in starts, who knows? There might even be some loopy 4am vlogs!
If that’s too much information, and you just want to know when bookings for the new game are open, just sign up for our mailing list if you haven’t already. Our next e-mail will be the announcement that “Before Moonrise” bookings have gone live, and mailing list subscribers will be the first to know.
Until moonrise,
Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent
and the Escape New Haven team