Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
File:Cover Art of Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning.jpg
Developer(s)	Mystman12
Publisher(s)	Basically, Games!
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows macOS Linux Android iOS
Release	March 31, 2018
Genre(s)	Survival horror, educational, parody
Mode(s)	Single-player

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning (also known as Baldi's Basics and Baldi's Basics Classic) is a 2018 independent parody horror video game developed by Micah McGonigal. The game parodies educational games of the 1990s through poor graphics and similar themes. Baldi's Basics was first released in beta on March 31, 2018 via Itch.io for Microsoft Windows and macOS. A full release of the game, including additional content and a story mode, was published in early access on June 12, 2020, with development ongoing.

Plot

A friend of the protagonist forgets seven notebooks at the local schoolhouse but can't get them himself because he'd be late for 'eating practice', so he asks the protagonist to fetch them. Once the player arrives, Baldi, one of the teachers, quizzes the player with simple math problems every time they find a notebook (three per book), with the promise of a prize if they answer all of them correctly. Baldi is also very easy to anger, and after presenting the player with impossible math problems will start to chase them when they inevitably fail to answer them correctly. The protagonist is forced to continue to search for all the other notebooks while also avoiding other students and various obstacles. If the player chooses to answer every question wrong, they will experience an alternative ending which includes a distorted version of Baldi and another hidden character asking you to destroy the game.

Gameplay

The player must locate all seven notebooks without being caught by their teacher, Baldi. Other students and faculty attempt to hinder the player by forcing them to participate in various activities. Each notebook contains three simple arithmetic problems, but the third question is unsolvable in the second notebook onwards. As the player continues to fail the impossible questions, Baldi moves faster and becomes harder to avoid.

Once the player collects all of the notebooks, Baldi will seem to congratulate the player before screaming, "GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!". There are three trick exits and only one that will let the player escape, and the player has to trigger all three before they can use the real exit.

The player can collect different items from around the schoolhouse, such as a candy bar that keeps their stamina from dropping for a short period of time, a soda that can be used to blast characters away, a pair of scissors that can temporarily disable some of the obstacles and a teleporter that will place them in a random position in the school among others.

Characters

All characters are voiced by Micah McGonigal unless otherwise noted.

• Baldi - The main antagonist. A lanky, bald teacher who seems nice at first, but becomes frustrated by wrong answers. A brief jumpscare will play when he catches the player, ending their game. Once angered, he starts slapping a ruler against his palm, moving forward a short distance every time.

• Principal of the Thing - The school principal, depicted as a choppily edited image of a shouting man. He moves silently through the halls and if he sees the player breaking any rules (such as using certain items or running), he will chase the player and lock them in the detention room for a short period of time.

• Playtime - A scribbled bitmap of a young girl skipping rope. She will run towards the player on sight and force them to jump rope five times, anchoring them to the spot. If the player mistimes a jump, she'll make them start over again.

• Gotta Sweep - The janitor, a large green broom. It moves in unpredictable patterns and carries any characters it crashes into along for the ride, shouting all the while "GOTTA SWEEP, SWEEP, SWEEP!'". Can just as easily carry the player away from Baldi as carry him directly to the player.

• It's A Bully - A distorted render of a tall, chubby boy in an orange hoodie. He will block the player's path unless the player has items in their inventory, in which case he'll take a random item and teleport away.

• Arts and Crafters - A sockpuppet with googly eyes. Normally will only be visible at the end of hallways and is apparently shy, but once the player has collected all of the notebooks, will chase the player and teleport them (and Baldi) to the start.

• 1st Prize - A poorly-designed robot that resembles a tank. Behaves much like Gotta Sweep, but will only push the player and can only move in straight lines, turning very slowly. Seems to be the romantic sort. Voiced by the Dr. Sbaitso program.

• Filename2 - Only accessible by getting every answer wrong and escaping the school. A corrupted image of a man in a T-pose, all traces of flesh gone. His voice is highly distorted and muffled, punctuated and censored by loud electronic noises. He implores the player to destroy the game before it's too late.

Development and release

The game was initially made as an entry in the annual Meta-Game Jam, where it received 2nd place. In an interview with Gamasutra, the game's developer cited the 1996 game Sonic’s Schoolhouse as his main inspiration. It became popular for its humour, difficulty and surreal gameplay. Popular YouTubers such as DanTDM, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, PewDiePie, and Kindly Keyin made videos on the game, helping to boost its popularity.

The developer launched a Kickstarter campaign for the game, where he announced that an early access prototype for the full game will be released on June 12, 2020. The Kickstarter raised a total of $61,375. Development has been ongoing ever since, with additional content such as new characters, new items, minigames, challenge modes, 'field trips' and a new layout for the schoolhouse, incorporating multiple levels and procedural generation.