Behind the Scenes: Episode 1
BACKGROUND
Welcome to the first episode of a new series of articles we’re writing called “Behind the Scenes” (we’re going for clarity in the name, ok?). In these articles we’ll be letting you in to the creative process that results in the games you play. If that doesn’t interest you, the following 1500 or-so words will be very boring. But if you want to know what it’s like to design an experience that brings joy to people around the world, then read on!
Also, in this series you can expect shamelessly cute videos and pictures of our kiddos!
For several months now, we’ve been working at a ridiculous pace - conceptualizing, designing, testing, producing and mailing 1 episode per month - and while that can be sustained for a season, the creative mind needs a chance to inhale, get its head above water (insert gasp sound effect), and take a look around. Part of looking around is looking back, so our hope is that by looking back, we can reflect, and refine. We hope some of you comment on these articles (seriously, do it!), track with our process, and even weigh in on the creative direction of future games and puzzles. Because, after all, we’re doing this for you. And we literally implement suggestions on a weekly basis.
Sometimes, we get amazing comments, like this one from David F:
“Great family entertainment. We have played quite a few escape rooms and this matched the fun and difficulty of them. We played the hard level and it required different brain types and solving skills which kept everyone engaged. We ordered the rest of the season straight away. Excellent value for money.”
But it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. In these articles we’re going to give you a sneak peek into the difficult side of the process too (by difficult I mean soul-crushing). Because sometimes we get a 2-star review like this one from Veronica writing about Episode 8:
“Not our favourite one, we felt this series is getting too electronic. We quite loved the first couple of puzzles and how we only needed the internet to get an answer here or there. We loved being able to complete these by candle-light and being interactive with the paper. Now we feel one person has to be glued to the computer screen. We did love the picture roll, very clever!”
As an experience designer, I (Eric) read that review and my mind immediately goes to the puzzler - that’s you! - and your experience.
What will it be like for you to receive the envelope? To open it up? How will you latch onto the storyline? Where will your eyes and hands go first? Then, what puzzles will you start to solve? Will you have an easy time or a difficult time? What skills will you need to employ? What supports or clues will you rely on? What sounds are you hearing? If you are playing with others (as many of you do!) what will they be working on? And finally, in the case of Veronica, how would a digital compliment work with the materials?
My job is to ask myself those questions and a myriad of others, often at the same time (I feel like I’m going crazy most days). But when we first started Escape Mail, with Episode 1 Family Secrets, the questions I was asking were slightly different.
IN THE SLOWCOOKER
It was the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions and our Mobile Escape Room business had ground to a halt. With my head in my hands, it was business partner Paul who stepped in and said, “I think we could do this escape room thing in the mail!” We’d spent the last 3+ years not only building professional escape rooms in a mobile unit, but we’d also been relentlessly prototyping simple paper-based puzzles with students in schools. That’s one of the biggest reasons we were able to pivot so quickly and have Episode 1 to market in a mere number of weeks.
This *might be*? the very first picture of the very first playable version of Escape Mail in my basement about to be cut up, packaged, and delivered to play testers.
And so, for that reason, Episode 1 has a bit of a magical spark to it. When a dozen+ staff spend a few years working at one type of expression of escape room games (simple paper based puzzles) the transition to bring that type of game to market is… dare I say… smooth. Ok, smoother. My point is, it had been slow cooking for years and it was ready to be born.
We picked a price-point that was both sustainable for us, but also very reasonable for you (we personally felt that many escape games were needlessly expensive). To this date, one of the most consistent things we hear is that we’re reasonably priced! Yay!
A LARGER STORYLINE
Escape rooms are motivating for a few reasons, but one of the secret ingredients to the success of the industry is one simple, often-overlooked reality: you get to escape. There’s a literal door that motivates you to solve puzzles and succeed. When you do succeed, you progress from one reality (the room you’re in) to another. As an experience designer, that euphoria is difficult to replicate in any other fashion, be it online, or with stationery.
So, we relied on the storyline to carry most of that load. We landed on your “cousin” JJ as the main character for a few reasons (besides the fact that Mike is dastardly good looking): “cousin” works for any age, gender, last name, geography, etc and also implies there is a bond there that’s difficult to shrug off. He’s family after all! The hope is that the bond would entice you with a challenge that is reminiscent of the often-spammy requests from “distant relatives”. And, hilariously, we’ve had several people receive episode 1 as a surprise gift from someone else and think it was spam - so they threw it out without solving it!
That just CRACKS US UP. Of course, we do aim to be a bit light-hearted as well and not take ourselves too seriously! It is a game after all :)
PUZZLE COMPONENTS
When we started Season 1, we had very little experience developing web apps, and so we relied moreso on the paper itself to contain codes and reveal the answers. It’s riskier to do it that way! Sometimes super-sleuthers will be able to bypass clues by noticing patterns and making inferences. But rather than rely on digital means of “gating” content, we tried to do the majority of it in the paper-based game design.
Wonderfully paper-y with some cloth and string for added texture too :)
Episode 1 features simple paper crafting - cutting and folding - which we believe can be a very rewarding experience. We’d been practicing in the school context for years! In an ideal world we’d have some paper craft in every episode :)
We leaned heavily on the cypher as a mode of puzzle-solving. And we learned a couple things about cyphers:
A long-form cypher can be tedious and not enjoyable for every type of user. So, we trimmed down the length of the one longer cypher in the Shipping Manifest.
A cypher that follows the English language in structure can be deduced through guess-and-check methods. So, we altered the arrangement of the stone letters in the King’s Decree to be indistinguishable as separate words in their unsolved format.
We also LOVE overlay puzzles for two reasons:
They are simple to execute and yet profound in the ah-hah moment that they create for puzzlers.
There are an infinite amount of things you can overlay in different arrangements and patterns.
They are inherently physical, which is a core focus of ours experience design.
And while much of the episode is physical in nature, we also incorporated some digital components as well.
DIGITAL ACCOMPANYMENT
A few months prior, Paul and I (who are brothers-in-law) were talking to “Uncle Mike” (Paul’s brother) and he was recounting how he had secretly set up an email account with an auto-responder to serve as a “surprise” invitation for his wife to go on a trip. We thought that was not only romantic but quite a creative “real world” way to receive a communication from someone!
The email is the only digital part of the puzzle solving experience in Episode 1.
We also thought you - the puzzler - would love to see JJ in the flesh, so we shot a video of him concluding the episode and leaving you with a cliffhanger! Most people love the cliffhanger, and for the low cost, have no problem going on with the season. Some feel unsatisfied with the lack of resolution, and that’s a risk we knew we were taking with the plot.
We’ve also got feedback that our video was underwhelming to some, so we reshot it - just one example of the countless ways we have improved this series for you. And in return, you voted and we won 2nd place in a global competition for Best Tabletop Escape Game of 2020! Thank you!
WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU
If you have any comments about the design process, the puzzles, or anything at all that you’d like to see, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Every customer interaction that we have is one that we really value. Whether you’re David leaving a 5 star review or Veronica leaving a 2 star review, you make us better!
Thanks for reading!