Award winning
escape room design
Bringing together our two specialisms of game design and scenic design, creating escape rooms is our original forte. We enjoy working on a range of projects using the escape room style for new applications and pushing the creative boundaries of what the concept can be.
Led by our Creative Director and established UK escape room designer, Katie Falcon-Uff, we’ve created a range of experiences, including 10 full-length, historically-themed games at our original venue, TimeTrap Escape Rooms. Take a look at the possibilities of working with us via our previous client projects below…
Want to hear about our design and creative process? Listen to Episode 1 of the Cipherdelic Podcast, featuring Katie, here.
Escape rooms for Recreation and Entertainment
Working with those looking to create a commercial leisure activity to sell to the public. For example, a newly launched escape room venue or an existing attraction looking to add an exciting element to their offering.
SAW: The Experience, London – Redesign
– Path Entertainment/Lionsgate
We were approached by Path Entertainment to act as the game designer on the refresh of SAW: The Escape Experience, London. An existing attraction was already in place, but Path wanted to bring on board a seasoned designer to raise the quality of the puzzles and gameplay to the same level as the theatrics in the experience.
We joined the team to design fresh gameplay that solved the issues with the previous version and contained content true to the SAW brand. We then oversaw the prop and set teams to ensure the design was brought to life with accuracy, quality and longevity.
Escape the Power Cut – Crate Game
– Battersea Power Station/Control Room B
Collaborating with Rebel Brain, we designed and built a bespoke crate game to be stationed in Battersea Power Station’s original Control Room B. The space is occupied by an experiential bar, run by Inception Group, and they were looking to add another element to their offering.
An experience that can be set up and taken down when necessary, it uses the ready-made immersive environment to influence puzzles and add value to the space; all while taking care of the protected elements of the original power station. The design considered this very carefully throughout to allow players to interact with the space without touching it.
Escape rooms for Education and Engagement
Working with those looking to impart knowledge or engage consumers or stakeholders through a captivating activity. For example, management looking to train a team on a new process or a PR department looking to create a memorable product launch event.
Video Game Launch Event – Immersive Challenge
– Circle Agency/Team 17
We were engaged by Circle Agency to create a bespoke escape room-style experience as part of the launch event of the video game ‘Classified: France ’44’ at the ‘Battle of Britain Bunker’, in Uxbridge.
We worked within the constraints of the Grade I listed bunker, 18 metres underground, to create an experience that incorporated exploration of this historic space, live actors and puzzle-solving that felt genuine within the story to reach an end goal.
The overriding aim of the brief was to make a very visual and large scale experience that would appear well when filmed as promotional content for the game’s release,
The Divide – Socially-conscious Game
– 58 Workspace/Launchpad
This first-of-its-kind game was created, not just to raise funds for a charity, but also to raise awareness of the issue tackled by them. The content in the gameplay itself, as well as the set, focussed on the real experiences of Launchpad’s work to prevent homelessness, and the complex situations that can cause anyone to become disadvantaged.
The original game was a limited run but it went on to have stints in locations across the UK and Germany. It won a Golden Key Award in 2018 and was also featured in the national press.
Escape rooms for Assessment and Relationship-Building
Working with those looking to evaluate individual’s strengths or grow the connection in a team. For example, a hiring manager looking for key competencies at an assessment centre or a team leader looking to gel a newly-formed department.
Team Assessment
– Cisco
Communications corporation, Cisco, engaged us to run a two-day assessment event for a series of teams of their staff. We created an adapted escape room-style experience, which needed to be portable to transport to their choice of venue, which would allow us to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those playing.
By watching behind cameras, in the traditional escape room set-up, we were able to be distanced from players and observe without the so-called ‘Hawthorne Effect’. We then provided Cisco with reports detailing how each person had performed in the challenge, focussing on set key competencies.
Team-Building and Reward
– NHS
To accompany training days, the NHS invited us to run a series of tabletop challenge sessions for their delegates. The tabletop challenges were all standalone puzzles deigned to be completed in under 10 minutes by teams of 2-4 people.
Each challenge was inspired by the history of the local area where the attendees live and work and were designed to create a brain break in the form of some light-hearted competition.
In the absence of a set the challenges were illustration-based to create a sense of looking into another world, if not able to be in it.