Making a game
When I worked at Puzzle Break, my team and I followed a process to produce virtual escape room games. I want to walk you through that process for how I would make one
of these types of games.
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Defining the game
The first thing I start with is talking with stakeholders and departments within Puzzle Break, paying close attention to sales and customer feedback. What do our customers like and what do they want? Are there themes and games that sell better than others? What do our competitors offer? Based on this research, I generate ideas for themes and stories. I find it useful to start with a strong theme, because it influences and touches everything, from puzzle content to UX writing to web design.
Occasionally, there may be an existing theme or intellectual property that the company wants to prioritize (such as a sequel or expansion). While some game designers may see this as a restriction, I see them as opportunities to experiment with mechanics and create fun content.
Dabbling
This is the phase when I brainstorm stories, locations, puzzles, player interactions and mechanics using Miro and Notion. I like to make lists, such as this one.
THEME: SPORTS
Potential locations: Olympics, track & field, pool, ice rink, equestrian field, gymnastics, trophy room, lockers, baseball diamond, football field
Asymmetric competition
The players are two opposing teams. Each team solves different sets of puzzles. Goals: earn points, or solve faster than the other team.
Whodunnit?
A sports mystery, there is a missing Hall of Fame trophy. Need to solve the mystery w/in the time frame. Set number of puzzles, everyone plays the same game.
Call me maybe
Players have to find or decode a phone #. Interact with a voicemail, actor, get information.
Ready, set, draw!
Players collect symbols to draw with (specifically thinking of X's, O's, and arrows that you see on football plays). When they collect enough symbols, they have to draw and execute the perfect play.
Choose Your Own Olympics
Players choose 5-6 puzzles from a possible X number to make their own Puzzle Olympics. They get medals based on the time used to solve each one.
Hall of Fame
List of famous athletes. Pick out letters from their names in an artful way (by their placement in the Olympics, their rank in a competition, ribbon color, etc).
Secret signals
Decode secret signals given by the coach. Players search locations to find clues to the code. Could be a three-part code (signal -> words -> numbers).
Split information
Get players into separate "rooms" to relay different pieces of information with each other. Similar to the drawing idea, but emphasize verbal information rather than ability to draw.
Cross-City Race
Finding the correct destinations and route through a city as you're carrying the Olympic torch.
Crossword, but better
Simultaneous play crossword with pictures, symbols, gifs, connections between famous athletes. Maybe the crossroad creates paths. The paths have to fit inside of a shape.
What happened here?
An out-of-order picture story that needs to be organized. How do players figure out the story? Could be from written clues, sports songs and references, hall of fame
Out of this World
A sports setting not in our world, but in fantasy/sci-fi setting. This means we could make up sports, do puzzles that don't match up to conventional sports.
Weird physics
Physics-based puzzle where players have to hit/throw/swing balls in unconventional ways or using unconventional items (thinking of What the Golf, Warioware, Dino Galaxy Tennis)
A twist on Morse Code
Resembles tracks/paths, disguised as a graphic/embroidery pattern on athlete uniforms, pick out real codes by color in a rainbow of colors
Platform: Wix
Wix has several interesting features we could use: video embedding, music playlists, different types of photo galleries, HTML game embed, hover boxes
Style ideas
1960's mod, Josh Agle, retro futurism meets Olympic nationalism meets Nike/Adidas
Style ideas
Memphis, highly stylistic humans with thickly noodle arms and legs, round eyes, exaggerated geometric hair and sneakers
Style ideas
Early 2000s, vintage internet, Apple ad (black silhouette against color), live actors against animated backgrounds
After brainstorming ideas, my team and I select the ones that sound viable, fitting our budget and timeline. It's important to note that we have to make adaptations for physical vs. virtual puzzles, making important considerations for player behavior, interactivity, communication among players, as well as the quality and visual language of the puzzles, website, etc.
Developing a prototype
Where the fun begins! I make initial prototypes of puzzles and playtest them using Miro. At the same time, I'm making illustrations, game logo, advertising poster, characters, and graphics that fit the chosen style themes. I will also work on the flow of the game, how to direct players to certain places and "train" them to play the game.
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Discovery
This is the stage that is most critical to game development. I playtest our puzzles and game prototypes with users. In any puzzle game environment, whether virtual or physical, it's important for players to understand what their tasks are and where to find them.
I pay close attention to player reactions, behaviors & dig deep into how they were feeling as they played the game. I want to have a clear understanding of what I can do to help the players have fun, feel engaged & complete the game.
Because initial ideas don't always render well in reality, game testing & improvement are repeated many times. I might scrap puzzles, tweak the story, develop new puzzles. This is a process that can continue even after the game is released.