Week 2: House Management & Running Crew

Although our group’s main job will be during the final week of the Escape Room, we have been working hard to ensure that everything involved in that week runs smoothly. To begin with, our team has been working with the Writing Crew in developing the script that we'll follow to lead the players into the escape room. Along with the script, our group has been finalizing what all of our jobs will be during the actual escape room. Two members, Nikki and John, will be behind the front desk and will be in charge of signing people into their time slots. They will also be playing “receptionists” and will be in charge of telling the players the rules of the room. The two ushers, Matt and Erik, will be “scientists” and will be in charge of giving the players the lore and background information of our room. They will also be in charge of leading the players to the room and immersing the players into the experience. Finally, we will be having one member, myself, downstairs in the control room, ready to give clues to the incoming players.

The people at the front desk will be in charge of telling the players the main rules of the room. These rules include the time limit as well as how the players will be able to leave if there's an emergency. Then, the ushers will come in and start giving the players the background information. Currently, the working story of the room is as follows: The players are coming in to work on their first day on the job. The ushers, dressed as scientists, will bring the players down to the room, giving them an overview of what’s been going on in the lab and why they were asked to come. The two scientists bringing them down will give the “new recruits” basic orientation - "Don't break company property," "Ask for help as needed," etc. However, the big twist of the room is that one of the ushers is actually a shapeshifter and he is here to trap the players in the room and kill them. Once locked in the room, the players will get a notification that the good scientist is only able to hold off the shapeshifter for thirty minutes, and due to limited power will only be able to offer them three hints. The players will then have to make their way through the lab in order to escape. If they lose, the shapeshifter comes in to "kill" them. If they escape, they successfully stop the shapeshifter and lock him away back in the containment chamber.

Other than working on this beginning script, our team has also been working on thinking of costume ideas for the ushers and receptionists. The receptionists shouldn’t be too difficult. They will just be dressed in nice clothes, nothing too fancy and things they can get from their closets. The ushers, however, will be decked out in full costumes. They are scientists, so the most important thing that they need to wear are lab coats. From there, we are planning to build up the design. The scientists can go down 2 paths: either your average, every day scientists; or crazy, mad scientists. Either way, they will be wearing black latex gloves and some form of safety goggles. We’d also love to give them name tags with their names and the company's name on them. If we were to not go down the “mad scientist” route, the ushers would also be wearing nice button down shirts and either ties or bowties. In order to fit into the story, the shapeshifter usher could possibly look a little more disheveled than the other scientist, whether that be some of his buttons undone or his tie messed up, etc.

The last thing our team has been working on has been developing the “success” and “fail” signs that the players will hold once the escape room is over. We have been brainstorming sayings for the signs and also how we'd like to make them.

- Rowena Sullivan