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dESIGNER bEHIND THE SCENE

Escape room — Saya‘s room

Design By: Cythia Zhang, Katrina Lau, Joey Matsumoto, Galina Zhu

Escape room — Saya‘s room

Design By: Cythia Zhang, Katrina Lau, Joey Matsumoto, Galina Zhu

Hi! Welcome!

Saya's Room is an escape room design that emphasizes emotional engagement. It combines immersive shows with escape rooms, blending storytelling, puzzle-solving, and emotional involvement to create a unique and memorable experience for players. I'd love to share my experiences from designing this innovative escape room. Let's delve into the story behind the scenes to understand why we chose to design an escape room like this!

Introduce our team

Introduce our team

meet our wonderful designer group in this project!

Cynthia Zhang

Spatial designer

Galina Zhu

Creative Technologist

katrina lau

Product Designer

Joey Matsumoto

Concept Designer

Mother's love is selfless, it transcends life and death and all obstacles. Even in the face of illness and challenges, this mother remained devoted to her children.

The story

The story

The player assumes the role of an investigator entrusted by Saya's mother to look into the disappearance of her daughter. Saya's mother had prepared a surprise birthday party for her, but the girl vanished under mysterious circumstances. The player enters Saya's room to begin the investigation. As they delve deeper, they uncover the profound love Saya's mother had for her. Even while battling cancer, she did her utmost to give her daughter a cherished childhood.

As the story unfolds, the player learns that Saya's mother succumbed to cancer. Yet, her love was so strong that her spirit remained trapped in the house, preserving her eternal love for her daughter. This tale reflects the enduring and powerful nature of maternal love. It's a poignant reminder that love transcends life's end, leaving behind everlasting memories and affection.

The puzzle

The puzzle

When designing the puzzles for our escape room experience, we consider the psychology of children to create a delightful childhood memory for our players. We integrate popular activities such as playing the piano, hiking, and collecting items with 'mom' into our puzzles. Our aim is to enhance the story and offer a fully immersive experience through a variety of puzzle types.

The puzzles not only advance the story but also incorporate fun interactive elements for players to enjoy freely. Upon entering the room, players are encouraged to interact with any object they come across, which is why we chose a playroom as our theme. Our goal is to give adults a chance to revisit their childhood memories and relive those cherished moments.

The Emotional Experience

I designed this escape room as a tribute to all the mothers out there fighting for their children. It's a story of maternal love, resilience, and selfless devotion. Through this escape room, my aim is for players to experience the immense dedication and love of mothers.

The story behind this room revolves around a single mother battling cancer, who devoted her life to giving her child a fulfilling childhood. Though she ultimately succumbed to the disease, her love will forever reside in her children's hearts. This narrative serves as a beacon of love and hope, honoring the memory of all such mothers who, through their strength, created beautiful memories. Their love remains eternal, even in their absence.

Concept of PINK in design

In the field of psychology, the color pink is known to have a calming effect on people's emotions. This soothing quality fosters feelings of relaxation and contentment.

However, many people mistakenly associate pink with excessive femininity or weakness, a stereotype perpetuated by society for far too long. It's time to challenge this bias against the color and reshape its narrative. Instead of letting this stereotype endure, let's redefine it and celebrate the strength of pink.

Pink is not synonymous with weakness or being 'girly.' It embodies strength and power, just like us. We can infuse The Pink Room with a powerful story—a tale of a resilient single mother battling cancer, determined to provide her child with a memorable childhood.

Next Step —Play Test

After playtesting the escape room, we gathered valuable feedback to enhance the player experience. Some players overlooked the initial puzzle, the toyhouse, so we'll be adding light strips inside the doors to guide them to the starting point. To address keys lifting during gameplay, we plan to use hot glue more extensively on the keyboard pieces.

There were instances where players tried to remove the family photo frame from the wall. To prevent this, we'll tape down the frame as a visual cue. We also noticed confusion with the letter lock puzzle after hanging birthday flags. To clarify, we'll make the photo decor more interactive by highlighting important letters beneath the flags.

The black light flashlight in the drawer was missed by several groups. To ensure all items are noticed, we'll place them on the ouija board. Some players were unsure about the ending, so we'll add indicators on the ghost lore page and provide prompts from the Game Master if needed.

To help players identify the actor as Saya's mom from the start, the GM will wear a beanie matching a photo of the sick mom. The bird poster had confusing labels, so we'll redesign it with clearer markings. Additionally, we'll secure the birds to their bases and tidy up the nests to improve the bird-nesting experience.

Players sometimes missed reading the ghost lore after opening the final memory box. To address this, we'll place it as the top paper for players to read first. Lastly, to indicate the unlocked door of the final puzzle, we'll add a blinking LED after its animation, signaling players to interact with the last desk drawer.

These solutions aim to streamline the experience, making it more intuitive and enjoyable for all players.

I can feel somethings here, When I saw"my mom cannot walk far" i was putting a question mark here but later it answer!

I can feel somethings here, When I saw"my mom cannot walk far" i was putting a question mark here but later it answer!

Mary Hawthorne

I love the story!!! The room give me the warm feeling but the end of the story is so sad. It make it thinking of my grandmom who pass last year.

I love the story!!! The room give me the warm feeling but the end of the story is so sad. It make it thinking of my grandmom who pass last year.

Taoxi Liu

Good escape room Experience. The shift of the room was unexpective. Also it increase the playablity of the room.

Good escape room Experience. The shift of the room was unexpective. Also it increase the playablity of the room.

Alice Zhi