Course Project

Cold War Escape

Objective

In my Cornerstone of Engineering class, we were tasked with creating a virtual escape room that included puzzles designed using SolidWorks and MATLAB. The end-goal was to finalize the escape room so that other groups in the class could attempt it. My project group, including five other students and myself, decided to create an escape room centered around the theme of the Cold War.

Escape room website
Cold War Escape homepage

My contribution

As the project lead, I scheduled and led weekly meetings to provide long-term vision and communicate weekly assignments. I continuously sent reminders and updates and exchanged ideas with other project leads about logistical issues. While my teammates designed individual puzzles, I created a flowchart that synthesized them into a storyline. I designed various objects in SolidWorks for puzzle locations and aesthetics and combined my own designs with my teammates' designs to create the second room. I suggested creating a website for the escape room and built a Wix site with the puzzles and SolidWorks room images.

Escape room flowchart
SolidWorks CAD models
Escape room view
Escape room view
Escape room flowchart
SolidWorks CAD models

Results

Group

After the escape room was finished, we went through several rounds of peer testing. Feedback for the finalized escape room included:

"This was hands down amazing, every aspect of this felt like something I would actually find in an escape room."
"This room was the best I played. The theme added so much to the experience."
"The Wix site was flawless, and the rooms you designed in SolidWorks seemed to be straight from a professionally developed game."

We received an A for our efforts on the project, a feat that only 1 out of 16 other groups accomplished.

Individual

At the end of the semester, we submitted peer feedback for the members of our project group. Feedback I received included:

"Your guidance these past few months was really helpful and the end result of our project was incredibly satisfying."
"I honestly thought your leadership over the whole escape room project was perfect."
"I would attribute a lot of our success in the overall composition of the room to him."
"Sean was the perfect group leader."