Software:Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning

Short description: 2018 parody horror video game

Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
Developer(s)	Micah McGonigal
Publisher(s)	Basically, Games!
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows macOS Linux Android iOS
Release	Windows, macOS March 31, 2018 (original game) October 21, 2022 (remaster, Windows only) Android, iOS December 17, 2019
Genre(s)	Horror, parody, puzzle
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 parody horror video game created by American indie developer Micah McGonigal, known by the pseudonym Mystman12. The game satirizes educational games of the 1990s through poor graphics and similar themes (such as Sonic's Schoolhouse, I.M. Meen and 3D Dinosaur Adventure), and later deconstructed its elements into a metafictional horror genre in recent updates, such in conclusion of a package version Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered.

Game history

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, titled Baldi's Basics Plus, was published in early access on June 12, 2020, with development still ongoing.

During said development, Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered was released on October 21, 2022, a remastered collection of the main classic game, the anniversary Birthday Bash edition, and a Demo mode, having features and gimmicks from Baldi's Basics Plus

Plot

A friend of the protagonist forgets seven notebooks at the local schoolhouse but cannot get them himself because he would 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), offering a chance of getting "something special" if they answer all of them correctly. Once the questions are all answered correctly, Baldi offers the protagonist a quarter, granting them access to use a vending machine that distributes boosters when they first get past the yellow swinging doors. 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.

Alternate ending

If the player chooses to answer every question wrong in seven notebooks, they will experience an ending that includes an enlarged and rotated version of Baldi and another hidden character, Null (Previously known as Filename2), asking the player to destroy the game, before the game closes itself.

Gameplay

In the game, the player must locate all seven notebooks without being caught by their teacher, Baldi. Each notebook typically contains two simple arithmetic problems using the mathematics subject, 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 them before shouting at the player to "get out while you still can" in the Classic game/telling the player to "find an exit before he catches you" in the Remastered version. 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 "Zesty" bar that keeps their stamina from dropping for a short period of time, a soda named BSODA that can be used to blast characters away, a pair of scissors named Safety Scissors that can temporarily disable some of the obstacles, and several other items.

As the player proceeds throughout the game, numerous students and staff of the schoolhouse will come into contact with them, forcing them to participate in numerous activates. These include Playtime, a young nearsighted girl who will force the player to play a game of jumprope; Principal of the Thing, the schoolhouse's principal who forces the player to stay in detention for a short period of time if they break any of the school rules within his sight; and It's a Bully, a school bully who will block the player's path and refuse to let them pass unless they give him one of their inventory items. Additional characters include 1st Prize, a robot with romantic feelings towards the player who can be helpful with pushing the player away from Baldi; Gotta Sweep, a giant broom that will sweep the floors and cleaning the schoolhouse while announcing it and can get the player and Baldi caught in its path, pushing them both around the schoolhouse; and Arts and Crafters, a sock puppet with googly eyes that will teleport the player to the starting point of the game close to Baldi once they have collected seven notebooks.

Characters

The original characters in the first version of the game are the following:

•Baldi, the titular character, follows the player around wielding a ruler. He will be the player's main enemy throughout the game. If he makes contact with the player, the game is over.

•It's a Bully blocks the path, stopping the character from progressing unless they give the Bully one of their items.

•Principal of the Thing wanders around the school. If he catches you breaking one of the school rules, he will rush towards the player telling them what rule they broke "In the halls". When he catches you, he teleports you to his office for a few seconds of detention.

•Gotta Sweep resembles a broomstick, and pushes characters around at high speed.

•First Prize is a robot which won the science fair, and charges at the player for hugs, pushing them.

•Playtime challenges the player to a game of jump rope. When you jump 5 times you are free to roam around again.

•Arts and Crafters resembles a giant sock puppet. Once the player collects all possible notebooks and makes eye contact with them, they will very quickly charge at the player, teleporting both them and Baldi.

As well as these, there are also newer characters in updates. These are:

•Mrs Pomp asks you to attend her lesson before a certain time. You can find her classroom on the map. If you fail to get there within the time, she will charge at the player in a mad rage, and drag you all the way to the classroom themselves

•Chalkles slowly fades into existence on empty chalkboards. Once he fully materializes, he will trap you in whatever classroom you are in, alerting Baldi in the process.

•Beans spits globules of chewing gum at the player, which slows down whatever character he hit.

•Cloudy Copter creates a wind tunnel through a hallway, which softly pushes characters in that direction.

•The Test is an extremely rare character who will, if they look at the player, but the player not at them, cast a blindness effect on them.

Development and release

Release timeline

2018	Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning
	Baldi's Basics Field Trip Demo
2019	Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash
	Baldi's Basics Full Game Early Demo
	Baldi's Basics Kickstarter Exclusive Demo
2020	Baldi's Basics Challenges Demo
	Baldi's Basics Plus (early access)
2021
2022	Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered
2023
TBA	Baldi's Basics Plus

The game was initially made as an entry in the annual Meta-Game Jam on Itch.io, where it received 2nd place. In an interview with Game Developer, the game's developer cited the 1996 game Sonic’s Schoolhouse as his main inspiration. The game was originally going to be made for the Nintendo 3DS using SmileBasic.

The developer launched a Kickstarter campaign for the game, where he announced that an early access prototype for the full game, titled Baldi's Basics Plus, would 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, similar to a first-person roguelike and dungeon crawler hybrid game.

On October 21, 2022, a remaster and compilation of three games on PC platforms titled Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered was released, which includes the original game, the birthday edition Baldi's Basics Birthday Bash, and the demo Baldi's Basics Plus, with additional features such as fun settings and more alternate endings.

Reception

Despite its poor graphics, it became highly popular for its humor, difficulty and surreal gameplay. Popular YouTubers such as DanTDM, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, PewDiePie, CoryxKenshin, Guava Juice, FGTeeV, Thinknoodles, 8-BitRyan, FusionZGamer, Video Game News, Kindly Keyin, The Frustrated Gamer, Bijuu Mike, MediaGamesGuide, PghLFilms, and Dakblake made videos on the game, helping to boost its popularity.