What is a game scenario? It is a parallel, fictional dimension that the players accept in all its specificities. The players’ brains will then immerse themselves in a universe and get ready to feel emotions, face challenges, encounter obstacles, and feel powerful. And it’s up to the game designers to make sure that all the elements of the game are brought together to maintain an immersive and coherent universe. So how do you go about it?
1. Imagine a scenario that makes sense
The scenario is the basis of your escape game room, it is its DNA. It is also what will make players come to you rather than to your competitor. So, even if a game world is fictional, it must have a well-crafted logic, otherwise you will lose your players. Beware of anachronisms, the scenaristic facilities can quickly turn into serious incoherences…
We can find walkie-talkies useful to communicate with the players but they were only created in 1937, so they can’t be used if the scenario takes place during Prohibition for example. The game designer must therefore put a lot of care into building the story of the game, the general plot as well as the psychological characteristics of the characters – we are thinking in particular of the Game Masters’ characters who must be particularly well worked out! These are the elements that will really allow the emotional investment of the players in the game universe.
2. Develop the scenario into a concept for an escape game
After writing your scenario, the game designer will have to develop the concept itself – the idea being to make the player want to get involved in the game and take up the challenges. This requires thinking about the concept on two scales: the global scale by imagining the experience itself and its unfolding, the articulation of its puzzles and missions, but also the microscopic scale (positioning of obstacles or clues, difficulty levels, logic…). Keep all the players active, distribute the puzzles among them regardless of their number, avoid dead time…
3. Work on the variety of your gameplay
If the scenario is essential, whatever it may be, the gameplay is even more so when creating a game: variety and difficulty of the puzzles, game springs, ergonomics, interactions… In the escape game, the game designer is the master of time and space, so it is in his interest not to make any mistakes. It is also the gameplay that will allow players to persevere until the end of the game. And, indeed, there is nothing more frustrating than a room made only of padlocks or screens for example, the pleasure and the success are in the diversity! What could be more satisfying than a ventilation plate you have to unscrew yourself?
4. Do some testing!
A good game designer is an experienced and curious game designer. You can create games on any occasion, so don’t deprive yourself of this opportunity: test your ideas on your family and friends during your parties. Their feedback will be the most instructive in defining what you need to rework in your way of imagining puzzles and more generally games.
You are now armed with our best advice to create a good game design. This is the beginning of the road… And if you need to be accompanied, our teams of professionals are available to advise you or even create your scenario!
