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    Escape the Game: How to Make Puzzles and Escape Rooms
    Escape the Game: How to Make Puzzles and Escape Rooms
    Escape the Game: How to Make Puzzles and Escape Rooms
    Ebook184 pages2 hours

    Escape the Game: How to Make Puzzles and Escape Rooms

    By Adam Clare

    3.5/5

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    Read preview

    About this ebook

    If you are thinking of opening an escape game or are wondering what goes on behind-the-scenes at an escape game this book is for you.

    Escape the Game addresses the most common questions that people have about designing, making, and running escape rooms.

    In the book you will discover:
    -How to design for a fun play experience
    -What documentation you need
    -How to design for a fun play experience
    -Ways to make sure your escape room succeeds
    -How to create good puzzles and challenges
    -What business issues impact escape rooms
    -How to run your escape room

    There are more than 2,600 real escape games in 60 countries with more opening every month. How will you make yours stand out?

    Find out how you can stay on trend and make puzzles that really engage players!

    Escape the Game examines ways that you can make puzzle and puzzle paths that will give players a positive experience. It will encourage you to think about the puzzles as they fit into team dynamics and how you should have a diversity of puzzles. By thinking critically about your escape room and designing it accordingly, you can increase the chances that players will want to return.

    How will you make sure your escape room is profitable?

    Get the inside scoop on what previous escape room owners wish they knew before they started.

    Escape the Game goes beyond just examining design issues to cover the business issues which concern escape room creators. The book will get you thinking about all the costs that go into running a successful escape room. Getting people to come to your room is one challenge, ensuring that you make money from their visits is a whole other challenge.

    Stop making poor design decisions

    The book exists due to so many poorly thought out escape rooms. Poor planning can lead to escape rooms that make major, but easily fixed, game design mistakes. Learn how about how to avoid making these critical errors.

    Word count: 28,060

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAdam Clare
    Release dateAug 2, 2016
    ISBN9780995022102
    Escape the Game: How to Make Puzzles and Escape Rooms
    Author

    Adam Clare

    Adam Clare is Lead Game Designer at Wero Creative and a professor of game design at Sheridan College. He has worked on escape rooms in multiple countries, and wrote the book Escape the Game about designing escape rooms and puzzles! Adam has worked on award winning games and on games for nearly every platform from digital to the real world. He continues to co-organize the annual Board Game Jam. You can follow his research and find his games at RealityIsaGame.com.

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    • 3/5
      They made a lot of really good points. As I was reading it, I was constantly wishing there were more concrete examples. Everything was very high-level, generalized, or theoretical. I wish there were more specifics.

    Book preview

    Escape the Game - Adam Clare

    ABOUT THIS BOOK 6

    WHAT IS AN ESCAPE ROOM? 10

    CHAPTER 2 DESIGNING ROOMS 13

    CHOOSING A THEME 14

    THE PREGAME ROOM 21

    THE ROOM 28

    THE EXIT 43

    CHAPTER 3 MAKING EXPERIENCES 47

    CORE PUZZLE DESIGN 48

    GAME FLOW 69

    WINNERS AND LOSERS 81

    PLAY TEST 90

    REPLAYABILITY 98

    LENGTH OF PLAYTIME 105

    CHAPTER 4 OPERATING THE ROOM 108

    LOGISTICS 109

    NUMBER OF PLAYERS 111

    DEALING WITH THE PHYSICAL WORLD 115

    MONITORING THE GAME 124

    CHAPTER 5 BUSINESS 127

    EXTERNAL CONCERNS 128

    PROMOTION AND MARKETING 137

    WHAT TO CHARGE 144

    LEGAL CONCERNS 149

    STAY ON TREND 157

    CHAPTER 6 EXAMPLE PUZZLE AND TEMPLATE 167

    EXAMPLE PUZZLE 172

    About the Author

    ENDNOTES 185

    Chapter 1

    Introduction

    ABOUT THIS BOOK

    With this book I hope to address the most common questions that people have about designing, making, and running escape rooms. I want anybody who designs puzzles and challenges to know that the mechanics are the message. Ultimately, if your game is not a cohesive experience from the theme to the puzzles then the player experience will suffer.

    I was inspired to write this book by playing escape rooms that made major, but easily fixed, game design mistakes. I hope to inspire designers to think holistically, to think about their escape rooms as more than the sum of their parts.

    My interest in escape rooms began in 2012 and since then the genre has surged in popularity. There is now a Wikipedia pagei on real-life room escape games, further proof that they are getting more popular.

    Escape rooms have seen massive year over year growth that shows no signs of slowing down. They have branched out from where they started in Asia and have now landed seemingly everywhere from New York to Prague.

    There are more than 2,600 real escape gamesii in 60 countries with more opening every month. The growth in Toronto alone has been amazing to witness with 0 in 2012 and now there are 56 escape games in 2015 plus an additional 40 in the surrounding suburbs. This seemingly impressive number of games pales in comparison to Beijing which has 182!

    This book looks beyond design issues to the business issues that concern escape room creators based on the broad questions that have come my way as a consultant, game designer, and professor of game design. Indeed, the first iteration of this book was just answers to questions that people have emailed me because of the popularity of my posts on designing escape rooms.iii This book is now more than that.

    The first half focuses on the design of an escape room while the second half focuses on the operation of an escape room experience.

    It starts where most people start when thinking of an escape room: the theme. From there, the rest of the first chapter focuses on the fundamentals of making a room. The second section is about making the play experience memorable and how to make puzzles that people like to play.

    The second half of the book talks about aspects of making and running rooms that last. The final chapter of the book addresses questions that arise in terms of the business of escape rooms. This book will not give you answers but it will bring to your attention many issues owners of escape rooms wish they thought about before they started.

    Feel free to skip to whatever section is the most interesting to you or go ahead and read it straight through.

    How you use this material is up to you. It is my intention to make you think differently about games and to make you think about games in a new way. It is my hope that by sharing this information on game design with people make escape rooms that we will all get to play better, more fun, escape rooms.

    It is time to add your escape room to this nascent field of play!

    WHAT IS AN ESCAPE ROOM?

    Escape rooms are a new, fun, and immersive way for people to play. They provide a venue for players to work together to overcome an exciting challenge - a challenge you will make!

    Despite their name, escape rooms do not need to actually involve escaping.

    Escape rooms all operate with the same core idea: players are put in a room with a series of puzzles or challenges with the goal to complete them all. If they do all of the tasks before the end of the allowed time they win the game (i.e. escape). Sometimes the victory condition for a room is physically leaving while in other escape rooms it is to complete a task. A core aspect of these games is that they are played as a team in groups as small as two, but more commonly done with a greater number of people.

    Escape rooms are sometimes known as escape games, exit games, puzzle rooms, adventure rooms, riddle rooms, and many other names. Currently, there is no consensus on what to call these types of games but escape rooms are presently the most common based on feedback from escape room owners.iv In this book the term escape room is used to reflect the popular usagev; where used the term escape game refers to larger concept of the genre.

    The first wave of escape rooms were rooms which people enter and are tasked with escaping. The current wave of escape rooms are much more. They are not inherently about escaping; instead, they are exploring new ways of creating immersive experiences using game mechanics. There are an infinite number of victory conditions available to players - escape rooms are no longer only about escaping they are about winning.

    The first wave focused on logic puzzles and random activities for players to complete. The present wave has focused on creating rooms that are more immersive to all senses. It is not rare to find movie-caliber props and decorations in escape rooms, nor is it rare to find rooms with polished introductory videos. Over time the level of care and detail put into a room has increased.

    As escape rooms (and games) evolve they will bring with them greater challenges for players will increase the sense of immersion for players.

    Chapter 2

    Designing Rooms

    CHOOSING A THEME

    What makes a theme

    A theme really brings the room together. A theme provides context between all of the elements that go in to a really good escape room experience.

    Simply put, themes are how you convey the narrative and justify the challenges the players must experience; a theme is the context of the entire room. The theme matters (and starts) before the players even start playing. Your location and the pregame room can be themed to match the game and add immersion to the whole experience.

    A strong theme can even be used to attract new players. For example, people who are interested in Egyptology or history would likely be drawn to a room themed like a mummy crypt more than other themed rooms. Use your location to your advantage - particularly if you have a space that lends itself to a particular theme.

    The themed experience of your game can matter more than the puzzle design if the presentation is well done. Indeed, the theme can even cover for mistakes made in the puzzles (or elsewhere during the player’s experience). This is because people essentially love to look at and play with shiny things - this cannot be underestimated. However, you shouldn't rely on the theme to make a good experience itself. All of the elements of the room should work together and theme on its own, even if impressive, can leave some players wanting more.

    The theme is all about creating a narrative and getting players engaged!

    Delivering narrative through theme

    Ultimately, it is the player's experience that matters the most and an effective theme can add a lot to that. The theme can draw the player in and keep them engaged; however, be sure to connect the theme and the story.

    The way the room is setup can establish the very beginning of a story. You can show a character's personality

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