Mad Experiments: Escape Room - Sanctuary (2025)
GAME DESIGN
LEVEL DESIGN
PUZZLE DESIGN
NARRATIVE DESIGN
UNITY
MIRO
TRELLO
GITHUB
At the end of my bachelor’s degree, I had the opportunity to join PlayTogether Studios as a Game Design Intern. During this internship, I collaborated with the studio’s founder to design and develop a complete escape room experience. Since it was only the two of us on this project, we relied mostly on direct communication, used Trello to manage tasks, and Miro for brainstorming, level design, and puzzle design. In this role, I focused on puzzle design (mechanic design), level design, and narrative design, while also contributing to prop placement and the QA process. This hands-on experience allowed me to put into practice many aspects of game development I had studied, while also facing challenges that helped me grow as a designer and expand my skills.
Key takeaways
Puzzle Design
Puzzle mechanics & difficulty balance
Narrative
Lore & VO writing
Game Systems
Unity workflow & asset integration
Technical
QA & level art
Collaboration
Small team collaboration & iteration
My responsibilities
I joined the project with some ideas already established by the studio owner—for instance, two segments were partially prototyped, with environments and characters already chosen. During my first week, I studied previous games in the series and tested competitor games to understand what worked and what didn’t.
Based on these insights, I created a brainstorm of potential puzzle mechanics suited to the project and began developing the game’s lore to ensure a cohesive and engaging story.
Puzzle & Level Design
For each new segment of the game, I revisited my original puzzle mechanics brainstorm to explore new ideas and combine them with previously unused concepts.
With the mechanics selected by my supervisor and me, I created flowcharts for each segment, outlining the general level flow and player difficulty progression. These flowcharts included:
- Short descriptions of each puzzle
- Placement of clues for the players
- Timing of VO (voice-over) lines
- Locations of lore elements
Once the flowcharts were reviewed and approved, I created moodboards for the segment’s environment and began conceptualizing the puzzles. My supervisor, responsible for programming, then prototyped the mechanics to ensure they functioned correctly within our concept.
After testing and validation, I integrated all elements into the level, including the puzzles, clues, and lore objects, ensuring a cohesive and engaging player experience.
Narrative Design
As someone passionate about storytelling in books and games, I was responsible for all narrative elements of the project. I constructed the lore and story for the game’s environments and inhabitants, collaborating closely with the studio owner for approval and brainstorming.
I designed the player-facing story to evoke a range of emotions, guiding the experience through distinct ambiances:
- Magical and esoteric – introducing wonder and curiosity
- Mysterious – hinting that something was amiss
- Dark plot twist – culminating in the story’s final revelation
Each of the three main game segments maintained one of these ambiances, supported by the voice-over lines and lore elements I wrote, to ensure a cohesive and immersive experience.
Other Responsibilities
During my internship, I had the opportunity to contribute beyond my main tasks. I participated in playtests, gaining hands-on experience in the QA process and understanding the steps involved in shipping a game within a studio.
I was also responsible for placing the majority of in-game assets. This included:
- Constructing new rooms using a modular kit
- Placing props to create narrative coherence and environmental storytelling
- Integrating all gameplay assets into the level, as outlined in my level design work
These experiences allowed me to expand my skills in level construction, environmental storytelling, and QA, complementing my core design responsibilities.
