As designing and playing escape room games is essentially our bread and butter, we would like to take the opportunity to look into some common factors that we see time and again throughout the escape room game genre. These are details that you can find in many beginner escape room game set-ups that can be off-putting to many customers. Many are subtle, meaning that neither you nor the customer, will necessarily be aware of the exact reason as to why the game was less than fulfilling. It’s often a case of being unable to see the wood for the trees. So, with that in mind, let’s take a closer look at these gameplay factors that could really do with closer inspection.

Do  Away With Checking Mechanisms

Most of today’s games follow a pretty fixed formula which involves discovering, solving and then checking the results. The problem here is that this last part can be very clunky and as a result “take” players out of the immersiveness of the general game itself. Any of the different methods for checking that the player has the right answer include an online answer box which requires a website access or the use of a portable phone, a physical device like a mechanism to align objects, turning over a card to check if they’re correct and finally, asking the games master. In all these cases, if they are correct, then they are instructed to move forwards to the next part of the game.

This constant breaking of the game flow, to check if the answers are correct is a sure fire way to break the game into separate parts, instead of the gameplay flowing seamlessly as one continuous flow. The bottom line is that the puzzles should have the correct answers built into them. An example would be when you’re trying to open a paddock. You put in the numbers and if they are correct, ten the lock opens. Simple!  Yes, we understand that it’s really hard to design puzzles like this. But we feel very strongly that it will be worth it. From the customer’s experience, it will certainly pay dividends and you should see a huge jump in positive feedback on the company's social media platforms as customers will feel much more satisfied.

Connect Puzzles

If your escape room is filled with unrelated and unconnected puzzles, then the game play will be super-frustrating for the players. What you’re doing is forcing the players to make guesses as to how these many different items are related. Many designers will create puzzles but without anchoring their context, leaving them “floating” in mid-air, without any clues as to their relationship to other puzzles. The player will not have any idea as to where to begin. So make the effort to link clues and puzzles to each other in the form of a flow, with the solving of one leading to the next clue. 

Show, Don’t Tell

Many games will start with a description and narrative story to set the scene. This is all well and good and serves a vital element of the overall game experience. But, we have also seen games where the story is too bloated, leading to boredom. Also it totally ruins a game if every tiny detail is explained thereby taking with it the mystery and intrigue that would otherwise make the game more exciting.

Please don’t read an intro. This kills any sense of excitement stone cold dead. If you can, don’t use words to set scenes, describe the story-line or tell the players their goals and puzzles. First off, the puzzles should be designed in such a way that they don’t need explaining, as their result should be the self-evident solution. Likewise the goal of a room should need any explanation in that a locked door or locked box should make this obvious. Using words is lazy. By not using them you’re making the players use logic to connect puzzles and clues. Again, this is so much more satisfying for those taking part. Here’s a general rule of thumb for you: The game should never have more than 1 minute of reading in total. Secondly, the whole game should take no longer tanut a single minute to set up at the very beginning. Yes, it doesn’t sound long enough. But any longer than this will make the gae self-defeating for the players. 

Make The Exit Obvious

A properly designed escape room should make sense to a player the moment they step into it. So..if there’s a huge red door, that should signal you’re meant to go through it. If there’s a pirate chest with a large padlock on the front, then that’s a clear signal that you need to open it. All puzzles should be constructed with this thinking in mind. A well designed puzzle is one that signals the goal of the puzzle itself, meaning that it’s not enough to design a great puzzle, but it needs context within the flow of the gameplay.

Understanding The Game’s Flow

Talking of “flow”, we need to discuss probably the most difficult aspect of puzzle design, and that’s crafting a puzzle that can walk the tight-rope between being too difficult or too oring and easy. If all the puzzles in your escape room game are far too easy, then the players will feel cheated. Conversely, if those puzzles are too difficult, then it leads from frustration to boredom. The perfect spot within these two wide parameters is what we call the “flow.” It’s important to understand exactly who you’re trying to appeal to as a customer base. For example, a group of accountants is going to be needing a totally different set of puzzles than a group of housewives. 

There’s no right or wrong answer here. You must set clear goals, design the set-ups and then start testing. In act the testing of the gameflow and puzzles is absolutely mission critical to the overall gameplay customer experience. We feel that any escape room games fail to test properly leading to a less than stellar experience for the players. Real testing takes time and effort. It also involves truthfulness using independent persons, not just your friends and colleagues. 

Never Place Red Herrings

Of all the possible things that can make a man angry, nothing comes close to placing red herrings around the rooms. After all, it’s nothing more than a lazy distraction and a means of drawing out the time. No one will thank you for a red herring. In fact they are nothing more than a cause of extreme frustration and anger, with players feeling, quite rightly, they have been cheated. Go ahead and place some if you want to see your game’s feedback take a dive down the toilet. Horrible things!