Gameplay Overview
"Escape: Life" is a mobile escape room game where you play as David, a test subject in a secret underground experiment. As a test subject, you'll be challenged to solve intricate puzzles and escape room scenarios, all while being unaware of the sinister experiment that you're a part of. But when your brother Joe disappears, you'll begin to unravel the twisted reality you've been living in, and it's up to you to uncover the truth and escape before it's too late.
​
The goal of the gameplay is to simulate real-life escape rooms as closely as possible. The game was initially planned to be in AR, where the player scans their surroundings to spawn the level around them, the game was later changed into a gyroscopic game. In order to create a more immersive experience, most objects in the game have been made interactable. Players are able to pick up and inspect almost all objects in the room, and there is audio feedback provided upon interaction.
​
GIFs of interacting with the environment
Roles, Responsibilities and Contributions
Over the course of about 3 months, I had the privilege of leading a project team consisting of 12 members. As the sole designer on the team, I took on the role of both lead designer and project lead. While it was a challenging task, I found myself growing as a designer throughout the duration of the project.​​
Design Process
The aspect of my contribution to the game that I would like to emphasize the most is the process of creating a level.
​
As escape room games are usually narrative-driven, I start off by listing down the narrative objective of each level.
​
Some examples of the objectives
​
With the objectives listed out, I start planning the puzzles that would portray these said objectives.
​
The pictures above are the room plan and a room block out I made to get the list of assets needed and the exact measurement of each 3D model to pass on to the artist.
​
Here's the final look of the room.
In order to convey that there are two distinct characters in the game, I included two beds in the room and split the room down the middle (metaphorically). This allowed the player to easily identify which items belonged to each character. The room is dressed in bright colours and filled with childish items, as the setting of the room is a room for 10-year-old. Additionally, to let the player know which side belonged to whom, we placed test papers with the characters' names on their respective desk drawers.
​
On the left side is our player character named David and on the right side is his brother Joe. Besides the names, they also provide other additional insights into the characters' personalities and backgrounds. The player can see that David is intelligent as he is excelling in subjects like Algebra and Chemistry which are not typically taught to 10-year-olds. On the other hand, it indicates that Joe may not take the tests as seriously as David as his answers are more witty.
​
David's Side
I also wanted to portray David as a kid who loves exploring and adventures. To do so, I placed items such as a world map poster, drawings of animals, adventure genre books and a globe on his side of the room.
​
​
Joe's Side
I wanted to show that something is wrong with Joe and that he's not been himself recently. Firstly, I showed that he had an interest in comic books by having them stashed in his drawer and an action figure on his shelf given to him by David. A picture of the brothers was also present to emphasize their brotherhood. Secondly, to imply that something had happened to him, I placed crumpled-up superhero posters in the trash can. Additionally, there were supposed to be torn poster marks on the walls, but this was scrapped by the artists. As the player progresses through the level, they will discover a letter written by David to Joe asking why he has been acting strange recently. They will also find an escape plan and a torn-up teddy bear locked inside Joe's drawers. The torn-up teddy bear revealed a microphone on its insides and cameras in its eyes, indicating that these teddy bears were surveillance devices of some sort. Joe had discovered them, and that's why he has been acting differently.
​
Escape Plan & Teddy Bear, Crumpled Poster, Letter
​
Additionally, the escape plan provides many details that enrich the game's narrative by establishing the game's setting.
The drawing of the layout of their living quarters and the lines "I saw an elevator after the door" and "Remember to bring gas mask & cover-up" are particularly significant. The inclusion of the layout and elevator line should make the player feel that something is not right and that there may be more to the story than what is initially apparent. Additionally, the gas mask line implies that the characters in the game have been told that the outside world is uninhabitable or radioactive, providing a possible reason for their confinement in the small living space.
​
By the end of Room 1, the player should have a sense that something is not quite right, but they won't have a complete understanding of the situation yet. The narrative and environmental cues have been carefully designed to gradually build tension and intrigue, leaving the player eager to explore more and uncover the truth.
Room 2
Similar to the workflow of Room 1, I first create a block out and room plan, followed by listing the required assets and measurements before passing them to the artists. After the assets are ready, I proceed to place and dress up the scene accordingly.
​
Final look of the room
Room 2 is set in the exact same room as Room 1, but takes place five years later and there is a significant difference: Joe's belongings are missing. It suggests that someone has been trying to erase his existence. The room appears much emptier and messier, indicating that whoever cleared out Joe's belongings did so hastily and recently. Although the initial plan was to include moving marks on the floor to suggest furniture dragging, this idea was scrapped by the artists. A blue jewel box similar to the one in Room 1 is on the table, but this time it serves as a decoy since the escape room test was rushed and lacks any puzzles. The note on the corkboard hints at the real set of puzzles.
​
The note suggests that there is something hidden behind the map poster. Once the player interacts with it, the poster will fall down, revealing a vault containing a locked book and a note. The note leads the player to the puzzles created by Joe to aid David's escape. We ensured that the puzzles and their design appeared homemade and easily constructed to make it convincing to the player that Joe was the one who made them. Here are some examples:
​
A sticker on the ceiling light that is visible once the lights are off
A puzzle where the player has to rearrange bottle caps to reveal a pattern
Room 3
This is the final room of the game; however, it wasn't implemented as we ran out of time. Nonetheless, the documentation has been completed. Similar to the previous two rooms, I first create a block out and room plan, followed by listing the required assets and measurements before passing them to the artists. However, the props were not completed as we stopped the artists from making them as soon as we found out that there would not be enough time to save their effort.
​
The original plan for the end of Room 2 was for sleeping gas to fill up the room just as David was about to escape. When he wakes up, he finds himself alone in an office and must use his past experiences solving escape room puzzles to find a way to escape the office.
To create a believable scenario where David is captured and left alone, I placed a message on the whiteboard stating that the person watching over David has gone out for lunch and will be back soon. This also conveys the time limit for the player.
​
This room is also where the player and David discover the truth about his life, breaking the false reality.
​
On the left is the building plan of the facility, which reveals that David is trapped in an underground facility beneath a city and that the world outside is entirely normal, contrary to the lies he was told.
On the right are supposed to be profiles or reports of thousands of test subjects, including Joe's and David's. This is where David would discover everything about the experiment, including the fact that Joe was killed for attempting an escape and that David was left alive because he has been acing the tests and is considered a valuable asset to the organization. The plan is to brainwash him and place him back into the experiment.
Room 4/Epilogue
The player will find David in an elevator ascending to the surface after completing Room 3. However, the elevator alarm suddenly rings, and the player has to disarm it by smashing the alarm to continue ascending. The game ends as the elevator doors open up to bright sunlight shining into the elevator.
That concludes my reflection on this project, thanks for reading!