Dynamic Difficulty in Escape Rooms

Abstract

This industry-based research project explores how dynamic difficulty can offer a better experience to a select group of escape room visitors. It discusses the necessity of a correctly moderated difficulty level, and explores several technical implementations. Literature shows that sentiment analysis through physiological measurement as well as facial analysis show insufficient reliability to determine the desired difficulty of an individual. Additionally, it describes a method to determine the desired difficulty for a group as a whole with more potential.

BY NILS WESTHOFF
FEBRUARY 2021 | WORD COUNT: 16486 | READ TIME: 137 MIN

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Acknowledgements

I'd like to dedicate this page to thank everyone who's helped me either leading up to, or during the creation of this thesis. It would not have been the same without them.

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1

Introduction

One of the fastest growing markets of entertainment and real life gaming in the world over the past few years has been escape rooms.

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2

Literature Review

Theory of Game Design

To effectively design for escape rooms, it's important to know what makes them challenging and fun. This chapter aims to uncover why people like playing escape rooms and what makes a good escape room. We'll dip our toes into each of the defined research questions to get a fundamental understanding of the problem at hand.

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3

Research & Methodology

A project is only as good as its plan. This chapter describes the most important methods and tools used to conduct this research.

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4

Findings

State of Escape Rooms

Beyond what the literature says, there is a plethora of knowledge in the practice of escape room design, that's uncommon in theoretical analyses. Since escape room design is such a young industry, there are relatively few established rules. And the ones that do exist get experimented with or broken entirely, sometimes leading to a better experience. In this chapter, we'll learn how the real world differs from what the literature says.

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5

Conclusion

Designing for Enthusiasts

With this thesis I have explored how to implement dynamic difficulty in escape rooms. Unfortunately there is no cookie-cutter solution to implement dynamic difficulty (yet). The result of this research project are several recommendations, or levers, that can be considered when developing a dynamic difficulty system for escape rooms.

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Appendices

Appendices to the project. Includes the full panel as a podcast and several interview templates

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References

Academic

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  • Wiemker, M., Elumir, E. and Clare, A. (2015). Escape Room Games: Can you transform an unpleasant situation into a pleasant one? [Unpublished Thesis] Available at: thecodex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/00511Wiemker-et-al-Paper-Escape-Room-Games.pdf [Accessed 31 Jan. 2021].
  • Wirth, W., Hartmann, T., Böcking, S., Vorderer, P., Klimmt, C., Schramm, H., Saari, T., Laarni, J., Ravaja, N., Gouveia, F.R., Biocca, F., Sacau, A., Jäncke, L., Baumgartner, T. and Jäncke, P. (2007). A Process Model of the Formation of Spatial Presence Experiences. Media Psychology, 9(3), pp.493–525.
  • Wolf, M.J.P. (2017). Video Games as American Popular Culture. Quaderns De Cine, (12).

Trade magazines

Trusted Source

Personal Communication

  • Jonker, N. (2020). Dynamic Difficulty at The Gallery. [Phone Call].
  • Lely, J. van der (2020). Dynamic Difficulty at LiveEscape. [Phone Call].
  • Middleton, D. (2020). Dynamic Difficulty at BewilderBox. [Video Call].
  • Moran, N., Doorn, V. van, Orlov, R., Cooper, H.E. and Cooper, J.C. (2021). Panel on Dynamic Difficulty [2]. [Video Call].
  • Patel, J.M., Doorn, V. van, Honton, T., Rubin, A. and Danon, E. (2021). Panel on Dynamic Difficulty [1]. [Video Call].