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 that we wanted to create an escape room centered around the theme of the Cold War.
As the "architect" (project lead) of the group, I scheduled and led weekly meetings to provide a long-term vision for the project and to communicate what needed to be completed for each week's assignment. Outside of these meetings, I continuously sent reminders and updates to my group regarding any changes to the project. Also, I conversed with the project leads from other groups to exchange ideas about logistical issues, such as how we planned to create our escape rooms.
While my teammates were designing their individual puzzles, I created a flowchart that synthesized them to create a storyline and sense of progression for the players as they made their way through the escape room.
I designed various objects in SolidWorks, either for a puzzle location within the room, like the sonar station, or simply for aesthetic purposes, like the doors and periscope. I also combined my own SolidWorks designs and designs from my groupmates to create the second room of the escape.
As for the medium in which this virtual escape room would take place, I suggested that we make a website for players to immerse themselves into the 3D space of the rooms. I designed a Wix website with the puzzles that my teammates provided for me and images of the rooms we designed in SolidWorks.
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. If this isn't the best escape room in all of his classes I would be heavily surprised."
"This room was the best I played. The theme added so much to the experience and looking around for the different clues made the escape room very fun."
"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.
At the end of the semester, we submitted peer feedback for the members of our project group. The feedback I received from my group included:
"Your guidance these past few months was really helpful and the end result of our project was incredibly satisfying, all due to you."
"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."