The Time Loop Escape Room was created during my Master's in Game Design, it was designed to be completed within a 30 minute timeframe and by 2 to 3 players. These players are tasked with escaping a sci-fi themed time loop or risk to get stuck in it forever, guided by a cryptic audio message from the future where they initially met their doom.
Escape Room Structure
The game area is divided into 4 different rooms, each locked by an email which the players need to figure out the passwords in order to reach the last room. To do that the players need to go through a sequence of physical and digital puzzles, using UV lights, codes/hints, find the combination for locks, and decode/navigate maps.
ROOM 1
Players reach the mission folder, find the UV flashlight, and decode the first computer login information.
ROOM 2
Players find blueprints that indicate which chairs contain a braille code to unlock the "stars in the ceiling" puzzle which will give the login information for the second computer.
The players find the headphones (locked in a box) necessary for the next room.
ROOM 3
Players find a puzzle contained in a celestial map which will guide them to the login information for the third computer.
The players gain access to the "binary code" puzzle and the "clock puzzle" necessary to unlock the headphones to find the login information for the fourth computer.
ROOM 4
The players find the missing part of the password for the Main Station.
ENDING POINT
The players realise that they need to unlock one last computer to escape the time loop, there are hints present in all the previous rooms (coloured letter from each email) to crack the last password
puzzles
During the creation of the escape room, most of my contribution was the creation of physical puzzles by designing 3 of the puzzles and aiding the remainder of the teammates with their puzzles. Bellow can be found a puzzle dependency chart to better visualise the general flow of the room and better understand what each player has access at any given point.
Mission Folder Puzzle - Room 1
The Mission Folder is an object that the players gain access at the beginning of the escape room. This folder contains a post-it with a cryptic message, a blackout cipher, a short story, a braille cipher, and written with a UV pen the login information for the first computer.
With the first interaction with the Mission Folder players find a short story about an astronaut that with the blackout cipher that directs them to the next puzzle (Blueprint and Stars in the Ceiling puzzle) and indicate that they need to find a flashlight near the first computer.
Upon finding the flashlight and batteries, players should shine the light on the post-it and get the login information for the first computer.
Blueprint and Stars in the Ceiling Puzzle - Room 2
After unlocking the first computer the players get access to the blueprints of the room where the various workstations and where to find the pieces of the of the braille code. Even if the players explore the room without any direction with the map it is still possible to decipher the proper order of the message, to decipher the message the players need to use the braille cipher found in the Mission Folder.
After deciphering the puzzle the players are directed to look at the stars, in this case, stars glued to the ceiling from there workstation/computer 1 all the way through workstation/computer 2. These stars contain the login information for the second computer, on some of the stars it will necessary to shine the UV light to reveal the hidden information.
Binary Puzzle - Room 3
This puzzle unlocks the fourth computer. For this puzzle, players need to decipher the binary code with the cipher that can be found in the Mission folder, after deciphering this puzzle the players already have the login information for the fourth computer.
