Designing an Escape Room
A common question we get here at Puzzle Effect is: “How do you guys come up with this stuff?”. The answer isn’t as complex as you think! Anyone can craft an Escape Room experience of their own with hard work, perseverance, and creativity.
Start with a Theme
Before you start with the puzzles, it’s important to figure out the story and theme of the room. Who are the players, and what are they trying to accomplish? This question is key to developing a theme. Perhaps the players are explorers trying to escape a lost tomb, or wizards trying to free a magical creature from an evil sorcerer. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box; come up with an engaging theme that will challenge and excite your players!
Decide the Difficulty
How hard will your puzzles be? We recommend starting off with an easy room, as that will help you develop your puzzle crafting skills. Start by making puzzles that have two or three step solutions. Perhaps the players come across a box with a colored dial, and they need to find some important objects that match those colors in the room. It’s a good idea to give your players an easy puzzle to start off with that involves searching the room, because that’s the first thing they’ll want to do.
Make it Fun!
When designing your puzzles, always ask yourself one important question: “Is this fun?”. It can be easy to make a challenging puzzle that’s no fun to solve. Make sure that every puzzle you craft adds to thematic elements in the room, and is a blast to solve! Just because you make a puzzle that’s easy to solve doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun!
Time to Test!
Now that you’ve come up with some puzzles, you need players! Before spending your resources on building a room, simply put your ideas on paper and make them testable. Give them to family and friends, and watch them try and solve it. Pay attention to where they struggle and what doesn’t make sense. Try not to lead them to the answer, as you want unbiased information. After you have some feedback, tweak the puzzles, and test again! This process can take a long time, but it’s important to stick to it until your design is just right!
Want to try out a finished product?
Book an Escape Room at Puzzle Effect Denver