schoolbreak.io - A simple, fun IO game with surprising similarities to Space Station 13

Off-Topic
1

So I recently found an io game called schoolbreak.io, which I think is pretty fun and (surprisingly) reminds me of Space Station 13. Basically, you play as either a student or a teacher and roles are randomly assigned at the start of the round. Students cause chaos around the school while trying to avoid being caught by the teachers. Teachers try to catch the students causing chaos and send them to detention. Students win if they generate a certain amount of chaos, while teachers must prevent the chaos from reaching this level until the game’s time limit is up.

 

The game reminds me of a simplified version of Space Station 13, except almost everyone is an antagonist. Both roles are fun to play, and despite only having WASD and two mouse buttons for controls, the item system is surprisingly robust like a simplified version of SS13. Some of the items can interact with each other to cause even more chaos, and sometimes there are multiple ways to use an item like in Space Station 13. As a student, you eventually learn how to use effective item combinations to generate chaos faster. This learning curve is similar to the learning curve for a role in SS13, although obviously this game is much simpler.

 

One example is that you can throw paint in the game. But if you left click on the paint, it goes on your hands as well. Any teachers that spot you can easily catch you ‘red handed.’ However, if you right click on the paint, you can throw it and avoid getting it on your hands. But the game does’t tell you that you can do that, so you have to figure it out for yourself. Throwing it at someone else covers their hands with paint instead, so you could even throw the paint at another student to trick teachers into thinking that student did it.

 

Overall, the mechanics are actually pretty robust for an io game, like a simplified SS13. The students are like hard mode traitors and the teachers are like security.

 

I’d be interested to hear what you guys think about this game.

Show less

 

2

In-app purchases, repetitive gameplay, .io extension, and family friendly content?!  Brilliant. Just brilliant.

3

Looks like some people have been confused by this post, so I’d just like to clarify:

I wasn’t trying to say that the game was very similar to Space Station 13 or that it will appeal to all SS13 players, just that it has certain features that are a little unusual, niche or complex in ways not immediately obvious to players, which reminds me of a simplified version of SS13. For example, the unusual controls that aren’t found in any other game and do different things depending on if you have an item equipped or not and what that item is.

For example, right clicking when you have nothing equipped makes you sprint in the chosen direction and knock items out of peoples’ hands. But right clicking when you do have an item equipped throws the item. And rather than picking items up by left clicking them like you’d expect in most games, you pick them up by right clicking them and left clicking will instead ‘use’ the item in most cases.

The other thing that reminded me of SS13 was hidden mechanics that aren’t immediately obvious to players , like multiple ways to use paint which I explained in my original post and using a stolen bunsen burner to set certain items on fire which gets you more points in one go. As you play more games, you learn the hidden mechanics and are able to obtain points more effectively and faster.

On 10/3/2021 at 4:08 PM, UnitedStates said:

In-app purchases, repetitive gameplay, .io extension, and family friendly content?!  Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Unfortunately, the game has made several changes between July (when I discovered it) and October (when you saw this post). They have put a bigger focus on micro-transactions, increased the number of ads and made bad changes to the UI. Can’t say I’m surprised, that’s always been the standard for most browser games and particularly .io games.

But at any rate, the game you saw in October is unfortunately not the same game which I described in July. I checked the game out again earlier this month to see what they had changed and I was not impressed either.

 

To address the specific points which you raised:

Micro-transactions are the standard for most ‘modern’ games these days, whether browser based or not. They are annoying and it’s one of the reasons why I generally prefer to play older games, but when playing more recent games they are unfortunately just something we have to get used to. They already existed in the game back in July but were (and still are) just cosmetics with no actual gameplay advantages. They have increased the emphasis put on these cosmetics since I originally found the game though. In July, there were also only ads every 3-5 games, but since then they increased it to one after every game.

I personally don’t think being a .io game inherently makes a game bad. The trend has been abused in recent times and lots of trash io games have been released, but there are a few gold ones. They generally are extremely simple and do have repetitive gameplay but are designed to be played for short periods of time (5 minutes or so) when you’re waiting for something, not to be played over a long period of time like SS13. They essentially serve the purpose which flash games used to, except they are multiplayer and often subject to recent trends such as lootboxes and battle passes.

When I first discovered the game, the direction they were taking it in was less obvious. I never saw people being that naughty when I was in primary school and the ‘pranks’ in the game remind me more of high school. However, between July and October they seem to have made it blindingly obvious that they are aiming for a target audience of kids in primary school. Which is a real shame, as I thought it was a pretty decent game before they ruined it. I guess either they were afraid there could be backlash if they made their game high school themed or just decided to focus on the age group most likely to fall for their micro-transaction trap.

 

Welp, yet another game ruined by greedy, money-hungry devs. Just a normal day for gamers in 2021.

4

Those kind of money-hungry game development strategies are unfortunately universal. Very few games avoid the money traps.

That’s why it’s important (and cool) that SS14 is open source. We as a community are contributing to the solution right now. I think that’s really cool. :slight_smile: