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New Genre - Escape the Room?

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Mon, 04/04/2016 - 17:32
Corsaire
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I've played Escape the Room point and click stuff on the computer. However, last week, I was on vacation and took my family to a live action Escape the Room.

These are apparently popping up all around and are getting great reviews.

Here's a link to one:
http://www.trappedescapegame.com/

Immediately upon finishing (we escaped!) we chatted with the guy running it who with his family had designed their rooms.

That got my inner game developer fired up, and thinking how cool these could be with same real game development behind them. In the car we brain-stormed how we would create one.

Is this a new genre of games? Has anyone else thought about designing one or played one?

It's easy to imagine TIME Stories might have started from someone thinking how to make an "Escape the Room" board game.

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Mon, 04/04/2016 - 17:59
#1
fayinsky
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Here's a very successful

Here's a very successful kickstarter project that pursuits the idea of "Escape the Room" - Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experiment. Hope it could inspire you to create your own one :)

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Tue, 04/05/2016 - 04:01
#2
Gabe
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I'm using a similar game to

I'm using a similar game to train my staff called "keep talking and nobody explodes."

See it here: http://www.keeptalkinggame.com

It's a good team builder and it's fun.

I think these types of games can definitely translate to board games with a little effort. But replayability will always be an issue.

Also, I just saw this: http://www.dicetower.com/game-video/escape-room-review-vasel-family

It's a game called Escape the Room.

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Tue, 04/05/2016 - 09:44
#3
Corsaire
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Thanks, cool links, hadn't

Thanks, cool links, hadn't realized there were direct board game versions.

I did more research on the live action games, which apparently have been around for about 10 years. So, just new to me :(

Given the throw away nature, coming up with a base game system that people can make scenarios for may be a worthy endeavor. It may also give me a tool for laying out a live action room. With a lot of theatre resources I may be able to do one maybe as a pop-up. Lots of possibilities.

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Tue, 04/05/2016 - 11:44
#4
Gabe
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I see what you're saying, and

I see what you're saying, and I think it would be really interesting.

You would basically be creating a toolbox. There would be example scenarios, but it would be like equipping a DM with everything he needs to run a campaign.

A person hosting a party could create a scenario for 10 people who are slightly intoxicated, and a dad could create a vastly different game for his 2 kids.

Sounds cool to me.

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Tue, 04/05/2016 - 16:14
#5
Corsaire
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Yea, that's where I'm leaning

Yea, that's where I'm leaning with it. Design it with a couple of scenarios and with tools for putting scenarios together. Flowcharts, card and document templates, cards pockets, etc. It's a "thing" in computer game design, to built out design toolsets prior to developing a game.

For anyone interested in the genre or creating games like TIME Stories or other puzzle driven games, I found this article pretty interesting:
http://scottnicholson.com/pubs/erfacwhite.pdf

In particular on page 18 he shows a mapping workflow of objectives to get to the final outcome.

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Tue, 04/24/2018 - 14:25
#6
sylla
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Apocalypse: track down a killer (escape box)

Just a little follow up on this topic.
It turns out I've designed an "escape box" or "escape the room" board game, that will be launched on Kickstarter this June.

It's called "Apocalypse", and if you're interested in the genre, check out:
www.argyxgames.com

Thanks!
Mat

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Tue, 04/24/2018 - 15:37
#7
Jay103
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sylla wrote:Just a little

sylla wrote:
Just a little follow up on this topic.
It turns out I've designed an "escape box" or "escape the room" board game, that will be launched on Kickstarter this June.

It's called "Apocalypse", and if you're interested in the genre, check out:
www.argyxgames.com

Thanks!
Mat


Might be a tough sell, since you can't tell people anything about what the game is :) I noticed that it's a one-time play, which is also going to be tough..

Are you building a following/mailing list ahead of time? (edit.. heh, I suppose that's exactly what you're doing now!)

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Tue, 04/24/2018 - 16:52
#8
bottercot
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An Escape Room toolbox kit

An Escape Room toolbox kit would be AWESOME but probably very hard to create.

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Tue, 04/24/2018 - 17:08
#9
Jay103
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bottercot wrote:An Escape

bottercot wrote:
An Escape Room toolbox kit would be AWESOME but probably very hard to create.

The one he has is a single use kit. Which (a) is probably the best way to do this and (b) is tough to sell even though I just did a 5-person escape room last weekend that was over $100 and was obviously "single use"

My main comment on the product, actually, is to reformat the website. All the information is in the FAQ, and nothing elsewhere. Turn it into a Kickstarter page (organized layout, etc.) and put that there...

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Tue, 04/24/2018 - 18:12
#10
Tedthebug
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Escape room for kids

I can’t remember where I read it so I can’t post a link sorry, but I read where a designer hid his kids pocket money under the guise of trickster fairies hiding it & left clues for them to solve just like an escape room so one clue led to another etc. The kids had to work together to solve it & loved it so much they now want their pocket money done that way each week. They were under 10yrs from memory

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Mon, 04/30/2018 - 04:33
#11
sylla
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Jay103 wrote:bottercot

Jay103 wrote:
bottercot wrote:
An Escape Room toolbox kit would be AWESOME but probably very hard to create.

The one he has is a single use kit. Which (a) is probably the best way to do this and (b) is tough to sell even though I just did a 5-person escape room last weekend that was over $100 and was obviously "single use"

My main comment on the product, actually, is to reformat the website. All the information is in the FAQ, and nothing elsewhere. Turn it into a Kickstarter page (organized layout, etc.) and put that there...

It's definitely going to be a tough sell, but as said, it has to be marketed as more of an "experience" than a re-usable board game.

You're right about the information/website layout. The thing is, for now, the website is part of an online puzzle which is some kind of prequel to the main board game. There is already a small community trying to solve it, if you want to join:) https://discord.gg/T3mRkSN

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Mon, 04/30/2018 - 13:21
#12
bottercot
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Jay103 wrote:bottercot

Jay103 wrote:
bottercot wrote:
An Escape Room toolbox kit would be AWESOME but probably very hard to create.

The one he has is a single use kit. Which (a) is probably the best way to do this and (b) is tough to sell even though I just did a 5-person escape room last weekend that was over $100 and was obviously "single use"

My main comment on the product, actually, is to reformat the website. All the information is in the FAQ, and nothing elsewhere. Turn it into a Kickstarter page (organized layout, etc.) and put that there...


I'm saying that if someone were to create a reusable escape room toolkit, it would be amazing. I'm not talking about any game already mentioned here.

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Mon, 04/30/2018 - 17:01
#13
Corsaire
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Kinda wish I'd spent the

Kinda wish I'd spent the three months on designing and scoping out starting a physical escape instead on building a generic construct. Though the process clarified some insights into my interests.

Two years later with some escape rooms tabletop games having come out around the same time as my first post, there is definitely a market. I've played quite a few of them and very few hit the essential experience for me.

Maybe I should dust this idea off and give it a shot.

p.s. Regarding Gabe's early note, My twelve year old is hooked on multiplayer online "keep talking and no one explodes" and it has a developer kit which he's recently downloaded is trying to learn Unity for.

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Mon, 04/30/2018 - 16:18
#14
Jay103
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I think a toolkit could work,

I think a toolkit could work, but it would have to be a TOOLKIT. Not something designed to create a complete escape room. A few kinds of locks with changeable codes and/or interesting keys, some old books, maybe a chessboard, and that sort of thing, some control electronics, plus like 100 written ideas for puzzles.

Then someone could "build" their own room in their house or wherever, using your pieces, but they'd supply the plot and the brains for things like having a completed chess-piece puzzle open up a drawer (by clicking a remote that unlocks a rigged drawer).

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Tue, 06/05/2018 - 08:54
#15
sylla
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Just a little follow up: our

Just a little follow up: our "Apocalypse" escape box project is now on Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/argyxgames/apocalypse-escape-box

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Tue, 06/05/2018 - 10:22
#16
Jay103
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Nice start.. good luck!

Nice start.. good luck!

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Sun, 07/01/2018 - 06:10
#17
sylla
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A few days left... Our

A few days left... Our funding objective has been reached and now heading towards the first stretch goals;)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/argyxgames/apocalypse-escape-box

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Sun, 12/02/2018 - 07:38
#18
sylla
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Some news about our project:

Some news about our project: we'll be releasing the game soon (hopefully before Xmas :)
And we developed other scenarios, which are available here:
http://pocket.argyxgames.com

We'll be happy to receive some feedback from you guys.

Cheers

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