Designing Immersive Experiences in Escape Room Puzzles

Recording of Wero Creative's lead game designer Adam Clare talking at FITC 2017. To learn more about escape rooms read Adam's book: Escape the Game. You can follow his research and commentary on escape games at his website RealityisaGame.com
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Edited by Wish You Were Here Productions.

[@superescaperoom991]

we make escape rooms all over the world and I want to say that Adam is really right. The main thing in the ER - a consistent, coherent plot, which correlates happening, keep the players and attract new ones, and rambling alienate.

[@NedWasHere94]

I really understand why he has an aversion to locking people in a room. It is definitely added stress. However, for me, that's part of the fun. Different players are drawn to different things.

[@TylerBevanOfficial]

It’s also a major fire hazard

[@Pyroteq]

This guy obviously creates puzzles for game journalists. Stress? What stress? It's a game. The players know it's a game. If they want to leave they can leave at any time. You don't need to treat people like toddlers. The whole point of doing an escape room is for the immersion you get from being in a real life environment picking up real life objects. If the thought of being "locked" in a room causes stress you should stay at home and play video games on Easy.

[@EkwyFields]

@@Pyroteq Well sure, yeah, if you know what you're getting into then being locked in isn't a problem. But most of the escape room clientele are NOT enthusiasts looking for the immersion, to be really locked in or be handcuffed to a railing or whatever. No, they're there as a team event with work, or because a friend or partner or family member thinks they might enjoy it. If they have a bad experience because a game designer has arbitrarily decided that they need to be locked in, well they're going to have a bad time from the get-go. They might LOVE the puzzle aspect and actually be really good at it, but that part won't matter because they're already scared and uncomfortable. And then what will happen? They won't have FUN. FUN is what's the most important, isn't it? FUN is what brings a customer back to try another one. FUN makes them want to pay for the experience again. I have comforted many an anxious person before they enter one of our rooms with "don't worry, the doors aren't locked, you can leave and it's fine" and guess what? That person ends up staying the entire hour anyway and end up having a blast. You don't need to lock the doors for people to be immersed. Just make the game fun enough for people to stay in it because they WANT to, and not because they HAVE to. (And don't even get me started on the fire safety issue, people have died from the "you need to be locked in for real or it's not immersive" mentality. Because of the fact that this is NOT in fact a game, it takes place in REALITY, you absolutely need to account for accidents.)

[@KrazeeKraftZ]

Good information, thanks

[@dexiangli819]

Thansk

[@kevganhiga]

04:00 Cosas clave para recordar al diseñar rompecabezas inmersivos de escape room 08:00 Diseñar experiencias inmersivas en rompecabezas de escape room requiere considerar la percepción y el contexto del jugador. 12:00 Diseñar acertijos para salas de escape requiere un flujo lógico y coherente, que mantenga a los jugadores en un estado de compromiso. 16:00 El cambio a los juegos de escape gratuitos es inevitable. 20:00 Uso del diseño de niveles y la psicología del jugador para crear experiencias inmersivas en rompecabezas de escape room 24:00 Diseñe experiencias inmersivas con configuraciones de rompecabezas claras, momentos visuales y una estructura de historia en tres actos. 28:00 Diseñando experiencias inmersivas en rompecabezas de escape room 31:55 Evite los cuellos de botella en los juegos de escape introduciendo acertijos adicionales y objetivos claros.

[@AlexMRL]

Interesting talk

[@mikedavis8559]

I only watched a few minutes.. unfortunately you are so out of touch with the escape room industry. "I want players to break in rather than breaking out"... 100% of my customers want break out experiences. They drive hours, sometimes even states away to experience it. As far as puzzles.. you said we are jerks if we design hard puzzles. That is false. You should stick to video games and stay away from the escape room industry.

[@Little1Cave]

Mike Davis he never said that designing hard puzzles makes you a jerk, designing UNSOLVABLE puzzles makes you a jerk. Actually listen to what he’s saying and quit putting words in his mouth.

[@dirkdogger11]

"I only watched a few minutes but let me tell you how wrong this guy is in the entire video"

[@InobuZ]

Mark Twain said it best......

[@danielsilva9502]

This guy is talking about intelligent puzzle / room design, nice job not listening to his words and strawmanning all his points.

[@jamesjohnson5948]

No value in this talk at all.

[@persephoneemmert4818]

James Johnson that’s not very nice 🤭

[@vaylaria9945]

lmao ... If the information someone presents, on whatever topic under the sun, is at a level of knowledge beneath your own, there's literally NO value in commenting on the fact. So you knew all this. Good for you. Apparently you felt there was 'value' in letting the world know. As a newbie to this topic, and for my personal purposes, the whole talk was extremely valuable.

[@KrazeeKraftZ]

Haven't you heard, if you don't have something nice to say, shut the hell up!!