Penny's Big Breakaway

Penny's Big Breakaway
Developer: Evening Star Publisher: Private Division Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch Released internationally: February 21, 2024 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused objects. This game has unused text.

Penny's Big Breakaway is a unique momentum-based platformer following Penny who uses her yoyo skills to swing through all kinds of levels, all the while avoiding capture for a "crime" she accidentally committed.

Sub-Pages

Translation Notes Development notes about text translation, some unused text as well.

Unused Models What's a Ferrari doing here?

Debug Level Select

By loading in Presentation/DebugMenu.cfg as a level, it's possible to access this debug level select. All of the main game's scenes are available to play, as well as the Starglobes, "Beautiful Corners" (see below), and a few test levels, namely Gym_Dilemmas, Gym_Valdillez, Gym_Min, and HunterSandbox, grouped under the "WORLD_SANDBOX" category.

Unused and Test Levels

The filenames for three unused Starglobes, namely 16, 17, and 18, can be found referenced in Data001.rsdk. When loaded in, these levels redirect to the start screen.

There are 7 unused levels categorized as "Beautiful Corners". Their names suggest they are the 0th scenes of Vanillatown, Zaphara, Bubblin, World's Edge, Pengoville, Lawberry, and Edditorium. All are similar, loading the HUD but not the player or any other objects, leaving a blank background. They have no music and entering any of these scenes softlocks the game.
01_Vanillatown/V0.cfg
03_Desert/D0.cfg
06_Bathhouse/BH0.cfg
07_WorldsEdge/W0.cfg
09_Penguinville/PV0.cfg
12_CourtHouse/CH0.cfg
14_Palace/P0.cfg

There are several test levels whose contents differ widely.

Sandbox/Gym_Dilemmas.cfg

This level is a flat grey platform with several test Denizen Dilemmas to complete involving various objectives. The denizens have generic dialogue. There is a goal in the middle of the stage with a denizen audience surrounding it.

Sandbox/Gym_Valdillez.cfg

A mostly pink and blue stage featuring many types of slopes and curves along with objects including teleporting books, pipes, fans, and others. One of them is an otherwise unused object that matches the description of "tape deck" found in the tutorial text data. It has a yellow button to stand on and throwing the yoyo through the blue spinners greatly extends the string's length.

Sandbox/Gym_Min.cfg

This stage consists of a grey platform with a single red carpet which unrolls into a complex curved shape.

Sandbox/HunterSandbox.cfg

A pink and blue stage containing various types of terrain and objects, including some draggable cubes. One piece of terrain near the zipline cannot be stood on. Unlike most of the test levels, this one has a kill plane under the stage which causes a unique death sound.

Sandbox/Test1.cfg

A small level with Bubblin's background that has a few objects and platforms. This stage is named Camera Path Test in one of the level select configs. It has a kill plane under the stage.

Sandbox/Test2.cfg

This stage is named Player Playground in one of the level select configs. Its terrain is similar to Gym_Valdillez but somewhat simpler and with solid textures instead of checkerboards. The background shows an alternate camera angle of the stage itself.

Sandbox/MobTest.cfg

This stage has many types of penguins, penguin-related traps, and weapons such as the hammer and bowling burger. The left and back edges of the stage have invisible walls.

Sandbox/MobTraversal.cfg

This stage is named Mob Traversal Test in one of the level select configs. It's a small stage with a few different shapes of terrain and a single penguin that respawns. Seemingly to test how it moves around the stage to chase the player. Similar to Test2, this stage's background shows an alternate camera angle of the stage itself.

Sandbox/DenizenTest.cfg

Another stage with an alternate camera angle background. This one has various types of denizens with different appearances and animations. None of them move or have dialogue. There are also a couple of springs and breakable blocks.

Prototype/GorgeousGazebo.cfg

This one is similar to the Beautiful Corners stages, with no objects and no player. Entering this stage softlocks the game.

Sandbox/FraserSandbox.cfg

This is a large stage with a great variety of different objects. Unlike the other test stages, this one has a proper scene intro labeled "Hey" instead of the usual world-scene numbering. Behind the starting point is a green platform containing some a non-lethal pool of lava and water features as well as a goal. On the starting platform itself are some fire and electrical hazards, a torch for lighting some candles and a fuse, some springs, a palm tree, and crushing blocks, a spinning speed booster, a hoop, and an elastic fence. On the right corner of the platform is a switch which triggers a small platform to start moving along a very long and winding course. Past the starting area are several other areas. A solid red platform on the right, past a platform made of crumbling blocks, holds the end of an extremely long zipline. Near that is a yellow platform with spike blocks, a glove, a checkpoint, some grabbable poles, a kicker bird, a fan, a hammer, a magnet, and the unused "tape deck" object. Beyond is a light blue platform containing various types of penguin hazards. A grey platform contains some springs, coins, popsicles, several show pieces, tutorial blocks (only one of which opens a dialog), a starting platform, and denizens. Most of the denizens have a line of dialogue and some of them walk around randomly. The red platform to the left has each type of obtainable powerup for the yoyo, as well as two invisible power-ups that have no effect. There is also a large lawn and a breakable block, as well as the beginning point of the extremely long zipline mentioned above. The zipline is bugged and it's not possible to traverse it all the way from beginning to end. It passes over a blue platform which lacks collision. Far above and to the left of the red platform is another fuse suspended in midair. Each platform is made of a different material, as evidenced by the sound of Penny's footsteps over it. There is a kill plane under the stage which doesn't generate a death sound.

(Source: Retro Engine Facts)

Unused Objects

Tape Deck

This object is described in unused tutorial text as "Need some extra reach? <m>THROW</m> <$>INPUT_MAP_THROW</$> through the spinners to extend Yo-Yo's string." It is only placed in test levels and appears as a platform with a large yellow button and two blue spinners. Standing on the button turns on the spinners. Throwing the yoyo through them greatly extends the string's length. An unused dialogue from Moltobene Scene 1 says "Step on this <h>Tape Deck</h> and <h>throw</h> to snag stuff far away!"

High Heels

This object is described in unused tutorial text as "You look great! Rock the Left Stick back and forth to strut your stuff." It is not used anywhere. Unused model data exists for this object, though its palettes do not show up correctly without editing to replace missing file paths. When the model is hacked in (in place of the hammer's model here), it appears as giant stilts taller than Penny herself.

Test SQLite Database

One of the game's SQLite database files, Testy.db, consists of a single table filled with test data. Below are the contents:

id	intVal	floatVal	textVal	boolVal
1	404	4.04	Not found!	1
2	1234	10.12	Oh ho ho ho	0
3	1337	1.234	Hey buddy	1
4	79	6.79503965377808	Blah blah blah test text	1
5	79	6.79503965377808	Blah blah blah test text	1
6	79	6.79503965377808	Blah blah blah test text	1
7	79	6.79503965377808	Blah blah blah test text	1
8	1337	6.79503965377808	Blah blah blah test text	0
9	568	5.68	Five Six Eight	1

Internal World Names

In most of the game's text data, the worlds are referred to by simpler and more literal names than they are in-game.

In-Game	Internal Name
Vanillatown	Vanillatown
Tideswell	Coast
Zaphara	Desert
Moltobene	Lava Restaurant
Bubblin	Bathhouse
World's Edge	World's Edge
Pengoville	Penguinville
Industria	Factory
Lawberry	Courthouse
Gala Night	Vanillatown Redux
Edditorium	Palace
Starglobes	Snow Globes

Oddities

Each world is numbered in the game's file system. The numbering is as follows:

World Name	In-game number	File system number
Vanillatown	1	1
Tideswell	2	2
Zaphara	3	3
Moltobene	4	4
Bubblin	5	6
World's Edge	6	7
Pengoville	7	9
Industria	8	10
Lawberry	9	12
Gala Night	10	13
Edditorium	11	14
Starglobes	--	15

This seems to suggest that three other worlds (5, 8, and 11) once existed.