Team Concept:
| Premise/ Synopsis
You wake up in a strange room and realized you are strapped to a chair. You can’t seem to remember what happened or how you got there but in front of you, there is a timer that is slowly ticking downwards. There is a message below the time that reads: “Can you breathe underwater?” And at that moment you realized that you must escape this room or the water that you just noticed around your feet will rise and consume you. But first, you must get out of the chair… |
| Physical Setting
When our group thought of space what first came into our mind was the beautiful campus we are on. We’d want to include some of Stanford’s buildings in this game. We also reasoned that incorporating numerous rooms would allow us more creative freedom and flexibility when building the game than confining it to just one. McMurtry, Cantor, the Chem-H building, the Law School, and the Cactus Garden are some of the buildings we’d want to use. However, there are some challenges with using numerous buildings that we need to consider and test out, such as the level of proximity that players are comfortable with and how to make the location relevant to the game. |
| Feeling
We want to evoke intensity. The narrative context and physical setting are both mysterious and provocative, and because the gameplay can be summed up as a high-intensity escape that involves outwitting the system, we want there to be emotions of stress and urgency. During the immersive escape, we anticipate feelings of fear, confusion, and maybe even horror. We also hope for intrigue and allure while players explore and discover the game world. |
| Mechanics
In terms of the mechanics of our game, players are expected to solve a series of puzzles and/or logic games in order to successfully escape and win the game. In trying to escape, players would be required to open different objects to either discover hidden clues or move through a different level/phase within the game. Finally, we considered adding an element of surprise in the game by having characters chase after or frighten players to evoke feelings of fear and confusion from the players. |
| Theme: starts as a utopian paradise, turns into a dystopian dehumanizing reality that becomes the opening setting for the players. High-intensity escape, outwit the system. Thus, fellowship is also a theme. |
Jialin’s post: https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2022/04/28/checkpoint-1/
Cathy’s post: https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2022/05/02/checkpoint-1-concept-doc-individual-6/
Kathleen’s post: https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2022/05/03/p2-checkpoint-1-3/
Alahji’s post: https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2022/05/03/p2-checkpoint-1-individual-concept/
Ji Hong’s post: https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2022/05/03/checkpoint-1-concept-doc-ji-hong-ni-individual/
Hi y’all, love the idea! It seems like you’re going for a horror/suspense mood which is really fitting for an escape room. I think one of your challenges will be figuring out how you’re going to connect the Stanford campus setting with the intended mood. For me, campus buildings invoke more “beauty” and “awe” as a default rather than intensity persay, so I’d keep in mind to align your setting and intended mood throughout your design process. I’m looking forward to seeing it, I think it’s really cool that we’ll have a Stanford-centered room 🙂
This looks awesome! I appreciate the mood board in the featured image to get a feel of things, too. I had a bit of trouble going from the premise to the discussion of Stanford buildings — will this be a physical escape room that you are able to set up in different spaces, or will there be different room options on a virtual medium? I’m also curious about the dystopia/utopia aspect of things — will the puzzles themselves convey this high-stress factor as the game continues, or will they receive some other form of communication? Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out!