Escape!

Escape!

Game and Level Design

Overview: Puzzle game where you must use “bugs” hidden in the game to solve puzzles. Discover these bugs by using the game’s designers documentation.

Design Goals:

  • Create an escape room game with a digital and physical component.
  • Interaction between the physical and digital aspects of the game must be meaningful.

How they were achieved:

  • Puzzle can only be solved with with the physical component. Information hidden in the physical component that tells you the trick to solving the puzzle.
  • Drew inspiration from bugs found in games like Portal and Half Life. This allowed players familiar with these games to more easily understand the puzzles.

Takeaways:

  • Players miss clues easily – especially when they’re written down. Players hate to read!
  • Red herrings can be detrimental to the player’s experience.
  • Relying on players past knowledge may lead to poor player experiences.
  • Even simple post processing effects give the game a sense of polish.

Additional Details

Team size: 4 days

Role: Game Designer, Level Designer

Project length: 4 days

Tools: Unity, Word