The game is a pretty standard mobile runner. There isn't anything new brought to the genre but its still a decent casual game.

There are a few nuanced game design choices made by Ketchapp that I'd like to take a look at.

Level system

This is a level based game. The player starts in a safe area, goes through some obstacles that last about 30 seconds to 1 minute before reaching the end of the level.

The interesting part is that there is no level selection screen. There is no way to go back and play a previous level. I think this is because most players just don't do that in these kinds of games.

This design choice declutters the UI/UX and simplifies gameplay. It also removes the need for the developers to put it in the game.

Ketchapp also does not say how many levels there are. I think they did this for a couple reasons:

Players WANT to finish the game but don't actually know when that is going to happen. I would argue this adds a sense of mystery and keeps the players wanting to keep going Ketchapp can keep putting out more and more levels without anyone knowing

This can also backfire and actually turn players away. Since there is no known end, progression doesn't really mean anything. Completing 50/100 levels means you are half way there, but completing 50 levels in of itself doesn't mean anything without context.

The subtitle "Escape" also plays on this. That word suggests a story without the need for dialog or cut scenes. The player is trying to escape. However, at this point, there is no escaping. I searched online and no one has seemed to reach the end of the game.

I'm really interested in the data Ketchapp is getting on this game and whether this kind of level system is increasing retention or not.

Level Creation

It's pretty clear that the levels are created from reusable sub-sections. These can be connected easily by the flat areas with no traps. To be clear, I'm not saying the game is pure random procedural generation. Everyone who plays level 5, is playing the same level 5.

What is happening is either human or computer generated sequencing of these sub-sections to supply unique levels. The combinations of these could be in the thousands.

Ketchapp could introduce new sections and increase the overall amount of levels.

Death is Inevitable

In most infinite runners, the player is shown all the information to survive and given a split second to react and avoid death. However, in this level based system, that is not a requirement.

There are certain situations where sometimes the player can't see what is coming next. They will almost always die the first time they come across these situations.

For example, the player could come across a drop where they have to jump down, but they can't see where they are going to land. There are spikes on part of the landing, but they don't know which part of the landing. The player has to figure that out by trial and error. The first time they will likely fall and hit a spike. The next time they may try a long jump, but still hit a spike. Finally they realize they have to jump a few feet before the ledge in order to land in between the sets of spikes.