X-scape is a virtual reality game that transforms the escape room experience into the virtual world.

This immersive adventure is designed for puzzle solvers and escape room enthusiasts, all within your Virtual Reality (VR) headsets.

Users will embark on a mission to steal a diamond secured within a safe.

To get to the prize, participants must decipher a series of puzzles strategically placed throughout the escape room.

The puzzles in this museum are integrated into paintings, sculptures, and sounds.

Following a designed path, successfully solving all puzzles leads the user to the ultimate goal, the diamond.

Overview:

Timeline:

January – May 2024

Team:

8 cross-functional members (Designers, Developers, Researchers)

My Role:

UX/UI Designer

Tools:

Fusion 360

Platform:

Oculus Quest VR

"We designed a high-fidelity virtual reality escape room game focused on accessibility, collaboration, and immersive design."

The Problem:

Traditional escape rooms face key limitations:

Require in-person attendance and physical space

Often inaccessible for remote or global users

Limited by safety and realism in puzzle design

Our Goals:

Create a VR escape room playable from anywhere

Support team-based puzzle-solving

Design intuitive interactions that enhance immersion

Research & Insights:

We began research with a review of literatures regarding:

Existing VR games & escape room mechanics
HCI principles for immersive UX
Accessibility considerations for diverse gamers (e.g. audio/visually impaired)

Alongside, we decided our user focus and created personas to match:

User Focus:

Ages 13+ (teenagers and college students)
Tech-savvy, collaborative, socially engaged

Personas:

A male high school student in front of a blue background

Wynne (main persona)

17 years old
Blacksburg, Virginia
High school student
Hobbies/Interests:
- Playing video games
- Reading, especially mystery novels
Personality Traits:
- Imaginative – often pictures himself as the protagonist in mystery stories
- Problem-solver – enjoys solving puzzles and uncovering hidden clues
Social Life:
- Has friends who share his enthusiasm for mysteries and gaming
- Frequently discusses books and game strategies with them
Motivations:
- Passion for mysteries fuels his curiosity and enhances his problem-solving abilities

17 years old
Blacksburg, Virginia
High school student
Hobbies/Interests:
- Playing video games
- Reading, especially mystery novels
Personality Traits:
- Imaginative – often pictures himself as the protagonist in mystery stories
- Problem-solver – enjoys solving puzzles and uncovering hidden clues
Social Life:
- Has friends who share his enthusiasm for mysteries and gaming
- Frequently discusses books and game strategies with them
Motivations:
- Passion for mysteries fuels his curiosity and enhances his problem-solving abilities

18 year old girl with arms crossed and smiling

Hannah

18 years old
Interests:
- Traveling to visit historical art museums worldwide
- Trivia games, especially involving historical facts
- Heist and prison break movies with complex, strategic plots
Personality Traits:
- Curious and intellectually driven
- Enjoys challenging herself mentally through trivia and strategic thinking
- Appreciates clever storytelling and plot twists
Social Activities:
- Plays trivia with friends and family
- Desires more trivia- and puzzle-based games to enjoy with others
Motivations:
- Driven by a love of learning and discovery
- Inspired by clever problem-solving and historical knowledge

young boy with headphones on and is waving is hand

Carl

14 years old
California
High school student (just started)
Hobbies/Interests:
- Playing video games, especially multiplayer games on PlayStation
- Communicating with friends through gaming headsets
- Game design and puzzle creation
- Virtual reality (VR) technology
Personality Traits:
- Curious and forward-thinking
- Social and enjoys connecting with others through gaming
Tech Interests:
- Believes VR will revolutionize the gaming industry
- Actively researches VR and its applications in various fields
Motivations:
- Interested in both playing and potentially creating VR-based games

Based on our research, here is what we learned:

✅ Users prefer visually distinct, interactive objects [2][3]

✅ Spatial and audio cues improve puzzle clarity [2][3]

✅ Most users need a guided tutorial in VR [1]

So the question we are answering is:

"How might we design a remote, immersive VR escape room that supports teamwork, and intuitive puzzle-solving?"

Alongside, we came up with 3 metrics to define what success looks like:

75% task completion
less than 30 seconds to learn basic interactions
Positive qualitative feedback on engagement and flow

Ideation & Design:

Our ideation process started off with writing down all and any ideas we had for the app. We also drew out some concepts, and created a storyboard:

Wearing the VR headset

The player puts on the VR head-

set to start the X-Scape room experience.

The player puts on the VR head-

set to start the X-Scape room experience.

Onboarding screen

In VR view, after the Welcome Screen, the player will see a pop-up screen asking what difficulty they want to select. Additionally, an option to select ”RULES” will allow users to learn how the game it-self operates, and what tools are available to them.

Painting Challenge

Two players work together to figure out which of the

paintings in a display is not a real painting. They then use the painting’s year, which is

written on the painting’s artwork label, as the code for the safe to retrieve the key inside. We will use generative AI to develop a

believable ”fake” painting for this puzzle.

Two players work together to figure out which of the paintings in a display is not a real painting. They then use the painting’s year, which is written on the painting’s artwork label, as the code for the safe to retrieve the key inside. We will use generative AI to develop a believable ”fake” painting for this puzzle.

Break-in 1

One player correctly inputs the ”fake” painting’s year as the safe’s passcode and receives a key in return.

Song Challenge

Each displayed work of art has a

musical piece that accompanies it and plays from different sides of the room. Players must select the correct three works of art corresponding to the musical pieces to progress with the challenges.

Each displayed work of art has a musical piece that accompanies it and plays from different sides of the room. Players must select the correct three works of art corresponding to the musical pieces to progress with the challenges.

Statue Challenge

The player discovers that they

should shake the hand of the statue to unlock the next part of the mission. Users will see

the hand glow to signify that an action can be performed on the statue’s hand.

The player discovers that they

should shake the hand of the statue to unlock the next part of the mission. Users will see the hand glow to signify that an action can be performed on the statue’s hand.

Laser Challenge

There are lasers surrounding the

vault containing the diamond. The user must use a mirror to align the lasers in such a way that disables the lasers.

There are lasers surrounding the vault containing the diamond. The user must use a mirror to align the lasers in such a way that disables the lasers.

Final Break-in

Once the user disables the lasers and is able to access the vault, the user will need to use the key obtained from a previous puzzle to open the vault, where the diamond

is contained.

Once the user disables the lasers and is able to access the vault, the user will need to use the key obtained from a previous puzzle to open the vault, where the diamond is contained.

Success

The user successfully removes the gem from the safe, fulfilling the mission.

Congratulatory Message

The user wins the game! A congratulatory message window pops up to let the user know that they have completed the mission.

Following the storyboard, we decided to have the challeges in different rooms.

This was a point of contention between us teammates, but was swiftly resolved when myself and two other teammates suggested to start with two rooms, and add the third (vault room) if time allowed.

Fortunately, we did have the time, and we were able to create all three rooms as planned.

Game Structure:

1. Tutorial Room – Learn controls (e.g., keys, switches, flashlight) 🔦

2. Main Room – Solve multi-threaded puzzles collaboratively 🧩

3. Vault Room – Unlock the safe, steal the diamond 🎯

UX/UI Elements:

Visual hierarchy via object color and shine
Audio/visual feedback for puzzle transitions
Realistic museum setting (CAD-based assets)

Game Flowchart:

Prototyping:

With this, we started with a preliminary prototype developed in Bezi.

In this initial stage, the team wanted to start brainstorming and having a first idea on how the escape room was going to look like.

We took our research, ideation, storyboarding, and user flow to design our prototypes.

A 3D museum with purple walls and paintings and benches

While Bezi was a useful tool for starting out and learning about game development, we found Unity to be more capable and intuitive to use.

We developed a high-fidelity Unity prototype with:

VR controls optimized for Oculus Quest

C# scripting for puzzle logic

GitHub for internal collaboration

Adobe Photoshop GenAI for art reveal puzzle
Audio cues (e.g., stone grinding, evil laugh)
CAD 3D modeling imported from Thangs.com or Thingiverse.com, or custom-made by our team members using Fusion 360.

Testing & Results (summarized):

Once we finished our prototype, we had to test it. Here is a summary of how we tested, the key iterations during and after testing, and what the results were.

User Testing Methods:

Benchmark tasks (e.g., time to first clue, puzzle completion)
Observations on user behavior
Feedback from ICAT Day & CHCI Symposium

Key Iterations:

🧱 Statue puzzle was hard to notice → Added sound + red glow
🎓 Tutorial was unclear → Added clearer visual tasks
👥 Multiplayer bugs → Pivoted to co-located verbal collaboration
🗳 2nd place winner at CHCI Symposium via user vote!

Once we finished our prototype, we had to test it. Here is a summary of how we tested, the key iterations during and after testing, and what the results were.

User Testing Methods:

Benchmark tasks (e.g., time to first clue, puzzle completion)
Observations on user behavior
Feedback from ICAT Day & CHCI Symposium

Key Iterations:

🧱 Statue puzzle was hard to notice → Added sound + red glow
🎓 Tutorial was unclear → Added clearer visual tasks
👥 Multiplayer bugs → Pivoted to co-located verbal collaboration

Results & Impact:

50+ players tested at live events
Strong user engagement and immersion
Demonstrated mastery of Unity, 3D modeling, and interaction design
Showcased creativity through puzzles that defy real-world limitations

50+ players tested at live events
Strong user engagement and immersion
Demonstrated mastery of Unity, 3D modeling, and interaction design
Showcased creativity through puzzles that defy real-world limitations
2nd place winner at CHCI Symposium via user vote!

Reflection:

After completing this project, my team and I learned a number of valuable lessons and skills in HCI and UI/UX Design.

Here are the biggest ones of them all:

Designing in VR requires multi-sensory thinking
Visual + auditory cues are essential for usability
Team communication tools (Jira, GitHub) are vital for complex builds
Sometimes pivoting (e.g., multiplayer → co-located) is the best call

💡 In the future, I’d love to explore networked avatars and multi-difficulty levels for broader appeal.

Game Trailer:

Sources

[1] J. Wann, and M. Mon-Williams, ’What does virtual reality NEED?: human factors issues in the design of three-dimensional computer environments’, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 44, no. 6th ed., p. 829-847, 1999.

[2] D. David, E. Arman, and N. Chandra, ’Development of Escape Room Game using VR Technology’, Procedia Computer Science, vol.157, p. 646-652, 2019.

[3] S. Yeasmin and L. A. Albabtain, ”Escape The Countries: A VR Escape Room Game,”2020 3rd International Conference on Computer Applications and Information Security (ICCAIS), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2020, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ICCAIS48893.2020.9096727.

[4] Z. XR, “Programming with Interactions”, Unity Learn. 18-Dec.-2020. [Online]. Available: https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/creating-your-interactions. [Accessed: 1-May-2024].