How to create an Escape Room? Complete Guide

23 Jul How to create an Escape Room? Complete Guide

How to set up an escape room is a somewhat complex choice, especially for those who see this recreational activity as a profitable business opportunity. Especially for those who see this recreational activity as a profitable business opportunity. Is it? Of course it is. But, as it is a project, it is necessary that the whole logistical and bureaucratic process is carried out in the best possible way. That is to say, we are not going to start directly with the fitting out of the facilities.

The first step to open a room escape room is to draw up a business plan that establishes what our objectives are and where we want to go. Therefore, we can start by opening a company or an association, in this way, we will have no limits on turnover and it will be easier to sponsor our business.

How to make an escape room: Step by step

Thinking about how to set up an escape room  The successful design encompasses a methodical and careful process. The work must be planned, creating detailed projects on paper about each of the aspects of the future escape room, both in its general idea and in the puzzles, riddles, etc.

Once we have developed our business plan and our company/partnership has been created, we can start with the logistical process which involves the following steps:

Choosing the right place for an escape room

A space for a real escape game requires at least 25 square metres (for 2 to 9 players to play). If we want to create secret passages or a multi-room scenario, we will need more space. In addition, in some cases it is advisable to soundproof the environment to prevent teams arriving later from understanding what is happening inside the room.

But, this is not all, other important areas within the facilities must also be established in order to offer a complete and quality service, such as:

• A waiting room for players.
• A room for the teacher or provide console space in the waiting room.
• Toilets.
• A storage room (could be the same room as the operator's room).

Let's also consider the possibility of enlarging the space in case we want to start with a escape roomand then open others within the facility itself to allow different teams to play at the same time.

Other important factors:

• Check the state of electrical, LAN and water systems.
• Access to the facilities should be allowed for disabled persons.
• To be accessible by car, it should therefore have adequate outdoor parking.
• It has to comply with fire/natural disaster regulations.
• GPS and internet must offer signal inside.
• Create an air conditioning system to ventilate the room(s).

Try to have a good idea   

The process of how to set up an escape room also needs to be nurtured by an idea that properly contextualises the interior environment. There are three keys to creating a high-impact escape room:

• Create an original story.
• Exploiting local myths and beliefs.
• Follow the example of past stories, films or current events.

Create the escape room

Following the completion of the first stage of preparation on how to set up an escape roomWe share some practical and useful tips for creating an exciting game, fun and memorable:

• Writing history

A successful escape room makes the escapees begin to identify with the story before they enter the room, and they also understand what scenario they will encounter thanks to the information they have read beforehand.

To achieve this, it is necessary to give the players an introduction to what is going to happen. This can be done in different ways, textual or graphical, but certainly through a short introductory text. Therefore, before creating an escape room, it is advisable to write the story about the whole adventure and then use the introduction as the element that hooks the adventurers.

• Planning future rooms

A very important factor in the creation of a room escape game is that this adventure will not be a long-lasting fun proposition. Over time it will be necessary to modify or create a new game scenario to allow those who have already tried our room to have fun with different challenges to those we have already offered.

Therefore, it is necessary to plan future rooms by logistically providing the possibility to modify the scenery and puzzles. Of course, all the time we invest in designing other games is an investment of time and money.

• Design the outline of the puzzles

When we think of how to set up an escape room Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is the design of the puzzles, perhaps because they represent the soul of the game. The fact is that the most elaborate escape rooms involve consistent puzzles that demand the solution of micro-problems that are presented one after the other in order to be solved.

Planning consistent puzzles requires that there is a design behind it, and that the correct order of appearance of clues is analysed so as not to create confusion or deadlocks.

In order not to fail in the attempt, it is useful to create a mental map to correlate the different tests that the players will face.

• Modularising puzzles for reuse

Good puzzles are like diamonds: they last forever. But, given that they are complex to produce and involve an investment in money and time, it is advisable to reuse them in different scenarios. How? By changing only their appearance and keeping the solving mechanism.

For example, a remote automated lock can be reused by applying it to different containers.

• Avoiding deadlocks

One event to avoid in an interactive escape room is deadlock conditions where the team cannot solve the problem and remains stuck.

In cases where there is a high complexity of puzzles to create an almost insurmountable obstacle, it is necessary to calculate that teams will usually resort to the help of the gamemaster to overcome the problem and the critical point, avoiding the feeling of frustration and loss of interest to continue playing.

Let's pay a lot of attention to the ambiguity of the puzzles. It is important that the players do not misinterpret the resolution of the puzzles and, in the case of obvious critical impasses, think of a possible alternative resolution to propose to the team to modify or eliminate the enigma.

• Taking care of the scenography of the room

How to set up an escape room suggests a difficult task and it is even more so when we seek to create the game environment. Especially because we have to pay attention to the small details, being empathetic to the players.

To do this, we have to think about setting up the scenery better than a film set. Unlike a simple shot, the players will examine the furniture carefully and closely. The elements to work with are different:

• Furniture: Let's insert objects in the room that complement the story. This will make the game environment more realistic and players will be fully immersed in the story. Therefore, the different elements should be related to the environment and the historical period of the game to create a greater sense of immersion.

• FurnitureIf possible, use real furniture to avoid the appearance of fakes. Let's make a proper iconographic research and, if necessary, let's take advantage of second-hand markets. If we wish to integrate unused furniture, we can age each element by scraping the surfaces, smoothing the corners and dirtying them in the right way.

• Riddles and props: The interacting elements should be in harmony with the environment and not clash with the scenography. Remember that even furniture can contribute to riddles (for example, insert a clue behind a cupboard).

• Decoration: Every good prop master knows, it's the details that make the difference. An abandoned room has dust and cobwebs, while a murder scene always has blood in it. So you have to pay attention to the small details and make them last for a long time.

Finally, make the scenery interact with the players.. When this happens, participants experience a greater sense of immersion. For example, in a clinic where human experiments are conducted, it would be ideal to include 'human' organs inside a drawer where the team rummages for clues.

• The environment must interact with the five senses

When creating a truly interactive escape room it is essential to make the environment engage the five senses of the participants:

View: The easiest way to make the human eye interact with the environment is to quickly switch players from light to dark (and vice versa) through a lighting game. In this case, the participants' eyesight will have to get used to the different lighting conditions in order to function. Be careful with colour-based puzzles because colour-blind people will have difficulties.

Hearing: Sound is very useful to cause fear, offer more clues or alert the players, as long as it is in keeping with the environment and what is happening in the room. We can also think of sound puzzles. For example, combinations of different sounds to open certain objects or doors, where a clue is revealed through a louder sound as it gets closer.

Touch: At first glance one item may look identical to another, but in reality it could be different to the touch. A fabric panel of the same colour as a wall or upholstery could conceal valuable clues.

Smell: Hardly anyone thinks about it, but the nose sends us important signals about where we are. A clinic or hospital should smell of chlorine, a kitchen of food, an herbalist's shop of various natural substances (cinnamon, cloves, etc.), an oriental-style incense room, etc.

Taste: This is the most difficult sense to satisfy, but it is also the least used for solving puzzles or when we need to understand where we are. However, a big challenge could be to create puzzles that are solved only by testing certain elements - but pay attention to health regulations!

Consider that an escape room that exploits all 5 senses is not optimised for participants with different disabilities. For example, people with hearing impairments will not perceive sounds unless they are broadcast via Wi-Fi by special devices according to hearing aid protocols.

• Thinking about accessibility for people of different ages

When creating scenery and puzzles, always make sure that they are accessible to the majority of users. Elements that are located in very high areas will not be accessible to children or people with motor disabilities, while overweight people or people in wheelchairs will not be able to access material in holes that are too narrow.

If the room in your escape room exploits all 5 senses, it is important to explain this to users before booking so as not to create frustration for people with disabilities.

Conclusions

How to set up an escape room is a work of art. But, the only way to find out if you have really created an exciting and satisfying game is to test it out. Testing is very useful not only to understand the times, but also to identify whether the puzzles we have created are understandable to the users.

Therefore, tests should be carried out with players of different levels to determine whether the degree of difficulty corresponds to the one chosen.

Of course, the real test will begin when the room opens its doors. However, it is recommended to make the necessary calibrations related to the level of difficulty and the number of puzzles, depending on the gaming experience of the participants who took part in the tests.

The more sessions that are held, the less chance there is of errors arising on the opening day of the business because corrections can be made.