Research and Audience

Practical material and Audience Research

'Escape' games are categorised within a subgenre of point-and-click- adventure games, the genre of escape games was popularised in 2004 by the Japanese game 'Crimson Room' by Toshimitsu Takagiescape. These games usually consists of the player, being in locked room or trapped within a certain area in which they must find ways to escape, using found objects to interact with other items in the room. Some objects can be hidden and is up to the player to use their resources and initiative to escape.


These games are typically designed to look very minimalist, as most are set in a dark, almost empty room or area and with an ambient soundtrack to create the impression of complete isolation.

Other popular escape room games consist of; 'Virdian Room', 'Motas' and 'Droom'

The audience I have identified is typically gamers who gain rush from solving a puzzle, typically these kind of games target millennials to divert their attention to something new and challenging. I have looked at many popular escape room games such as ones mentioned above and researched the kind of people who play those games, being typically.....
I want my target audience to experience a challenge from engaging with this artefact I am going to create.


As  part of my research I have also looked at real life escape rooms for inspiration for my artefact. Escape Rooms are initially designed as an interactive live game-play, providing a real life experience they can share with friends which they may not gain with virtual games. Most escape rooms offer almost people of all ages to come and play, encouraging young teens to use their energy and older persons to use their knowledge to tactically escape, though many of these Escape Rooms are designed to create difficulty escaping and so require some technical ability, therefore those under the age of 12 are required to have an adult with them to help assist and provide guidance to escape.




I have looked at examples of interactive games and short films that informed my approach to create an escape themed interactive short film/ game. 

A short interactive game created and uploaded by ADCF Productions titled 'The Escape', consist of footage filmed on a wide angle camera/ go pro style to maximise visibility and create a realistic impression from a first person perspective, as if the player is there in that situation. In this case, the player wakes up trapped in an apartment and must find a way to escape using found objects such as rope or a chair. The viewer also see's footage through what looks like CCTV surveillance to create the impression the player is being watched which adds to the feeling of adrenaline and sense of urgency. The player has choices throughout the duration of the game and which ever choice they click on, redirects them to a new video thus part of the story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_957410&feature=iv&src_vid=NPkMQ5rdeXM&v=v0-XkVryCA0

An interactive video titled ‘The Chase’ by DreazeEdits is another story i have taken inspiration from. The difference between 'The Escape' is location. Here the character is being chased in a city rather than in simply a room. I found that by setting the narrative in an open space, it may appeal to a wider audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFsv8tGHkHY&t=128s 

This research has informed my approach and developed my ideas as I wish to create an interactive game escape style using similar techniques, such as the use of a wide angled camera from the perspective of the player. I will create an escape style room or escape situation, recording different options the player can choose within the game in order to control the narrative. This use of agency (choice and control) will be used to engage the audience.

The specific mediums I am going to use is twine to map out ideas then Video recording
with a GoPRO Hero, Canon DSLR Camera, video editing in premiere Pro, Interactive video in Eko.

The platform where these will be disseminated on will be Youtube.