September 30th, 2026
#009: Between design and creation!
Question of the Month:
“What kind of engineer designs these puzzles?”
Submitted by Joe M.
Short answer: All kinds!
But, we do look for a few primary skills! Typically, our engineers come from a mechanical and industrial background, but their greatest strengths are often communication and collaboration! Let’s dive into what our specialty engineers do to help our puzzles become the best they can be!
Rachel
on our engineering team!
Where engineers play the biggest role:
Our game design process can broadly follow 5 steps: Ideation, concepting, fabrication, deployment, and mass production. Of course we have a team of engineers that assist with fabrication and mass production, but their real time to shine is in concepting! A small team of specialized engineers work with our game design team to advise on what all is possible in production and to push the boundaries of what’s possible!
The primary role of an engineer:
Not only do our engineers help create the physical components, but they help verify what is possible, within physical constraints, budget, and durability concerns. While our game designers dream big, engineers make those dreams as real as possible!
From a sketch to a cheese wheel
Rachel talks shop:
How Engineers change puzzles
A prop in Murder with a Side of Meatballs went from a Goodwill clock to something entirely new due to a conversation between a game designer and an engineer. See the process:
When beginning production for Murder with a Side of Meatballs, Rachel knew she wanted to use a clock concept for a puzzle and brought the idea of "teching up" a regular clock to integrate it seamlessly. Our engineering team listened to her idea and said, "what if it was more custom than that?"
From there, they brainstormed unique elements in an Italian restaurant until the cheese wheel was conceptualized. From there, the engineering team prototyped off of Rachel's sketches and iterated until the puzzle as it is today came to be!
Rachel
Game Designer
Background:
Rachel has been taking things apart to figure out how they work since she was four years old, from household appliances to, eventually, puzzles. Raised on Nancy Drew and a love of mysteries, she studied criminology with a focus in psychology and sociology before discovering escape rooms in 2015 and beginning her professional design career in 2017. Since then, she has played more than 250 escape rooms, designed complete immersive experiences, and joined The Escape Game as a Game Designer in 2022.
BONUS Question of the Month:
“If you had to assign a Pokémon type to each TEG game, what Pokémon type would they be? Dual types are allowed. For example, I think Cosmic Crisis is Dark & Steel. Personally I have a list started so I am curious how it compares”
Submitted by Jonah W.
Okay... I took my best stab at this...
I will admit, I’m going off vibes here mostly but here’s some of my thoughts.
Legend of the Yeti - Ice and Rock type
Ruins Forbidden Treasure - Grass and Flying type
The Heist - Water and Normal type
Prison Break - Dark and Steel type
Murder with a Side of Meatballs - Psychic and Ghost type
Do you have a different opinion or have thoughts on other games? Put it below 👇👇
