Behind the Scenes: Episode 8
At the end of Episode 7 behind the scenes blog, we mentioned the introduction of Kristy to our creative team.
Episode 8 was Kristy’s first major foray into Escape Mail puzzle development, and collaboratively we designed the episode’s puzzles, storyline, and plan.
The season was planned as early as March 2020, but the evolution of the creative process necessitates flexibility… and sticky notes!
Kristy challenged us to not take ourselves too seriously… this is a game after all… and so you’ll see some new humour added in to the season that hopefully provides a bit of a different take and feel. Plus, in days like these, we can all use a chuckle!
JJ and Svetlana feeling goofy in downtown Calgary… er… I mean… Ratselstadt.
“We liked this episode and thought the content of the material was pretty funny. Reading the brochure gave us a giggle. Looking forward to the next puzzle.” - Lisa L.
STORYLINE
The vision for this episode was to have JJ roaming around a metropolitan centre while being utterly lost as to where to go next. Thus, he needs your help, Cuz, to navigate him to different Hunter drop sites around town. These drop sites contain valuable information for where to go next (think Amazing Race).
The story has developed thus far in the season to make this episode unexpected - JJ didn’t know he would lose the Joro key to the Hunters (Episode 6) and he certainly didn’t know he would be buried underground (Episode 7). Not knowing either of those events makes Episode 8 come as an unforeseen tangent, but crucial to getting the key back and getting the treasure.
Our hope was that we could create a “real world” feel by having JJ “on the ground” and sending info back to Cuz. Some users have felt that creates too much of a focus on the electronic components.
We hear you, and we’ve since tried to be “real world” but have less digital puzzles (squinting at a phone is not fun!)
PUZZLE COMPONENTS
What do you get in Episode 8?
Since JJ is just coming out of The Hunters’ underground hideout in Episode 7, he conveniently swiped some crucial documents that looked like they might come in handy. And wouldn’t you know it, they do!
As always you get an intro letter, outlining the backstory and providing you a link to chat with JJ.
The map puzzle evolved quite a bit. Often I (Eric) will have ideas that I think are awesome, but there is a disconnect for players when it comes to execution and solving. My team lets me know this, and sometimes it’s hard to listen to them! But I’m getting better ;)
There’s two tourist documents produced by the City of Ratselstadt: a brochure and a map. They are intended to have some humour embedded, and I’ll have you know that Paul and I (Eric) laughed so hard making these documents we were crying on Zoom as we reviewed them prior to printing. The tackiness of this quirky town was too much to handle!
There’s also a photo strip which we had to work pretty hard with the print shop to produce. They got creative and used a machine in a way that they had never done. Big thanks to All Rush in Calgary! The asset is very satisfying for us even if it isn’t exactly like a real photo strip (which wouldn’t have worked because we wanted to print front and back).
And of course the infamous metro pass. This asset has been the single most difficult asset to create in the entire season and even caused Episode 8 to go out 2 weeks later than we hoped.
Why?
Well, the precision of a printer is typically within 1/16 of an inch. Now imagine the print job is off in one direction by 1/16 of an inch on the front and off 1/16 of an inch the other way on the back. That’s 1/8 of an inch and our asset was requiring that the user align pieces with more precision than that. Plus we needed vertical alignment as well, so now you add that and you have 1/4 inch of possible misalignment. NOT okay!
It was a nightmare, but we eventually adjusted the design, and a few hundred test tickets later, we had a design that accommodated the printing process.
Sheesh!
REFLECTIONS
If we could do some things differently, we would make the ending feel more satisfying. Some of you commented that it was abrupt. We always wrestle with “what things would be like if this were really happening” vs “what is satisfying to see, hear and feel in a game.” In this case, we thought that if JJ was getting “spooked” he would hang up abruptly and debrief later. But the reality is, as a game player, you want to get the satisfaction of completion.
We recognize that and have altered our approach to be less “real” and more revelatory, clear and satisfying.
On a personal note, this episode was a tipping point from a creative perspective. We were so tired from creating 8 episodes in 8 months (repeatedly taking the puzzle from concept to completion in 4 short weeks) that we knew we needed to slow down.
It’s too much for one month!
conceptualize
verify the plan with the team
create drafts
approve the drafts
fully design each asset
play test the assets internally
link all the assets’ codes to gate each other
create the online portal plan
design the online portal
get the online portal developed
create clues
send prototype packages to players to have formally play tested
make edits and revisions
order inventory for finished assets
assemble 1000+ assets
ship!
plus we were doing a couple one-off events for our main business which had been shut down due to COVID.
Paul preps for a pop-up event serving Calgary’s medical community who had been under a tremendous amount of stress due to COVID.
You deserve better than us trying to cram. You were telling us that Episode 8 wasn’t your favourite and we knew it was true before you even told us. So, slowing the remaining season down would be in everyone’s best interest.
We’re so thankful for how you - Escape Mailers - responded to this news of a slowed release schedule. You were gracious, understanding, and even appreciative of our renewed commitment to quality.
And we’re happy to say that the games since Episode 8 have been the best of the season.
But more on that in the next blog post ;)
PS. The cousins here enjoy some early October snow… with more cousins on the way!
