Behind the Scenes: Episode 4
At the beginning of COVID it became apparent that travel would be restricted to some degree. We didn’t know QUITE how restricted that would be, but nevertheless we thought a travel-based episode would be cool.
[Funny enough I did actually travel during the development of Episode 4, and I haven’t been on a plane since!]
AH the irony…
So, enter “On The Run.”
Puzzle Style: MAKE IT REAL
While Episode 3 was ambitious in its fantastical nature (can we send you an entire room in the mail?) it required you - the player - to use quite a bit of imagination. But in Episode 4 we strove for absolute realism.
This meant designing the passport with my (Eric) own passport out beside me the entire time.
We worked closely with the print shop to ask what they were (and were not) capable of doing. We came to realize that many aspects of a passport were possible to replicate, with the exception of a few aspects: cover weight (a normal passport cover is very heavy and would have put us over the weight limit) round corners (too cost-prohibitive) and of course various official safety markings, which we only imitated but did not authentically replicate.
Other than that, we tried to be as real as possible in every way.
EscapeMail STORYLINE
This episode introduced a couple curveballs into the storyline as well as some new characters. We meet Svetlana via text message and see Hans Nilsen’s face in the passport.
We also are led to question the relationship between Svetlana and JJ or perhaps more accurately between JJ and ourselves. One reviewer Escape Mattster commented in his review of the episode that he appreciated the plot development:
“The addition of Svetlana introduces an unsettling force that hopefully brings about waves of surprises onto a plot that I've already come to relish much in the past months.”
Thanks Matt! In case you’re not 100% caught up, I won’t spoil anything, but will just say that your intuition is… impressive.
PUZZLE COMPONENTS
While this is one of the simpler episodes, it’s also one of the best reviewed including an award from EscapeTheRoomers.
The episode consists of a very dynamic passport, a boarding pass, baggage tag and intro letter.
That’s it! The least amount of items in the envelope of all episodes (notwithstanding unreleased Episodes which at the date of publication include 10-12).
And we hear from many Escape Mailers that one of the reasons this episode was so successful was because it starts with the bar low… you open the envelope and think, “That’s it?” And then through the course of the next hour or so you discover there’s much more to it.
We also [MINOR SPOILER] were able to create an ah hah by having players “deconstruct” the passport… an action which in the “real world” is a terrible no-no!
Kinda fun to upset the norm ;)
Episode IMPROVEMENTS
We’re not perfect, and so having only created an Escape Mail episode 3 times before, we were still learning some things and hit a couple bumps in the road:
The first bump came when the printer accidentally cut too much off the ends of the passport. As you know, the long edge of the book is crucial for deciphering a puzzle, so we had to reprint nearly half the inventory. We’ve since learned - and are continuing to learn - about margins of error in the printing process and how that affects design.
The second bump came when we realized that after moving some pages around, we didn’t accurately reflect which page contained one of the clues, leading you - the puzzler - a tad confused if we meant “two” or “four”. But you figured it out and were gracious with us :)
And the third phase didn’t include “bumps” so much as improvements - you challenged us in the reviews to make better use of the baggage tag, so we did, and totally redesigned it. (Thanks K Hart!) We also clarified the sticker on the envelope to decrease frustration and increase clarity on the world map puzzle.
These changes are only possible because you - the puzzler - leave your reviews and your thoughts and you engage with us to improve the product… thank YOU!
PERSONAL
On a personal note, this was a special time for me as my son Kairo was born and Belle became a big sister.
Having a baby isn’t exactly the BEST environment for putting in long hours and developing a new escape room game, but somehow we made it happen.
I’m thankful for our team, our family, friends, and all the love and support in this time.
WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU
We’ve so appreciated all the interaction on social media lately. I’m thrilled that we’ve got Angelica helping us out in that area. Angelica is an Escape Mail subscriber and escape room aficionado, and when she heard we were hiring for a social media position, she applied - wowing us with her abilities. She’s been phenomenal and so whether you’re connecting with her there, or with Paul at our main phone number, or with Carolyn at our general inbox or with me right here in the comments and reviews, we SO, SO, SO appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks for joining us on the journey to #awakenwonder