before we begin

I do not own Escape Goat!! Nor am I affiliated with the person who has made Escape Goat (Magical Time Bean)! I simply like the game and think it'd be fun to host some weird competition!

Also, I am the sole and only judge, and it is entirely based on my opinion.

There is no time limit for this competition, it simply lasts forever! Anyone I see sending me their level will instantly enter, and as soon as a level beats the current victor it will be featured here on this website!

tips and tricks

Here are some general tips and tricks if you want your levels to have a higher quality. You know what they say though, "You need to know the rules to break them". If you feel like you don't want to abide by any of these tips for some reason, you're probably right and should go ahead and experiment with it please! I especially do not even entirely agree with some of the 'rules' here, they're mostly just the standard.

Please... Include an Exit Door!

I'm glad to see less impossible levels and more exit doors recently but it really should make sense that your level should be *beatable*. And, on that note...

Playtest Often!

The baseline for playtesting is usually to make sure a section is beatable, but it's also good for other reasons! If you play your own level and don't find it fun, it's probably not fun, so remember to playtest often.

Divert and Deceive!

This is for making puzzle levels (the kind Escape Goat was made for). I personally have lots of trouble making interesting puzzles most of the time, but for some reason I've found some success in Escape Goat. In my experince the way to making a puzzle starts with making the solution, and then add a few weird distractions to confuse and lead players astray! What does *not* count as a puzzle however is throwing a random invisible skull switch in the corner of the room, which would be more of a search than a puzzle. Not that it's inherintly bad to throw an invisible skull switch in the room, it's just that I rarely find it interesting.

Be Clear and Perceive!

This is for making platforming levels (the most common user levels as of late). The point of puzzle levels is typically to confuse the player, but that isn't usually the point of platforming levels. Unless part of the challenge for the platforming is to make it confusing where to go, it's usually best to make it clear where the player should go. Some wandering is fine, and I think open-endedness is great, but all I'm saying is don't hide invisible required switches at the end of some meaningless looking stretch of platforms.

Decoration is Awesome!

I see quite a few levels that completely ignore making a level look nice, which is fine, but I think it's weird! I mean, decorating a level is my favorite part of making a level! Sure, I forget too sometimes, but why not give some of those decorative tiles a try? Maybe some music other than complete silence? Use a tileset other than the standard Prison tileset? This isn't very important to follow but the looks of a level is also a factor in quality.

Remember the Rodent Direction!

People like to underutilize the rat, or give out magic hats for free. That's probably a bad idea, if the main challenge of your level is Reapers or Switches! Remember that the magic hat can easily be used to destroy/kill various things, and even without the hat the rat can hit switches. Even further, make use of it! Make levels based around rat switch hitting or total hat Reaper destruction!

...and finally, DON'T PUT SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN YOUR LEVEL NAME!

I've fallen into this trap before. Apparently there's a bug where if you put special characters in the level's name such as '#', '?', '!', or any other similar things; your level won't load. Remember that please, so people can PLAY your levels! (Special thanks to RolinGP3 by the way for translating my 'badly named' levels into playable versions.)