Claw Control

Express

Engage & Persist

Physical Fabrication

Our project is a puzzle, which is part of a larger escape room. This escape room is made for our client Red Fox Escape Room who is one of our neighbors in Central Square. Maze Master has the user trying to match two lights in their blinking patterns. One of the lights doesn't change, while the other lights does. This other light changes based on which fireflies are powered. The idea of our project comes from a warm place, a childhood memory of going outside and seeing fireflies. This memory is all very nostalgic for me and bright and almost embracing in a way, all of these emotions are what we based our project off.

I grew a lot in time management due to having to work without my parter for a considerable amount of the project. This threw off my schedule as I would have to complete the work by myself which took longer. I will use this strengthened time management and apply it to later studios where it will likely prove very useful. Another way that I grew was by reacting to user feedback. We had NuVu Senoirs come to playtest our project, which was very helpful, because it gave us insight that we wouldn't have had from just ourselves. For example, we were told that our project was too easily brute-forced. We applied this feedback and it made our final project better.

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Iteration

Collaboration

Envision

Physical Fabrication

The Hidden Move is a puzzle built around child memories of chess and video games. This project was created in partnership with Red Fox Escapes in Cambridge, Central Square. Red Fox Escape's is opening a new room and was looking for new puzzle ideas. The room was specifically built around child memories which brought us to many ideas. However, our final puzzle idea was where you have to look for certain video game posters around the room that relate to certain chess pieces. By using certain descriptions on the posters the players had to put pieces on the chessboard in a certain placement. Once placed correctly the drawer opened up giving the players a name. To complete this puzzle all members would have to work together causing a connection between them for sometime. This has them remember and cherish the moment of them all helping and contributing together.

In this studio, two of my goals were envision and collaboration. I accomplished these goals in many ways. These included combining both my teammates and my ideas together. These ideas where chess and video games, so to put them together you would have to use as much imagination as possible. While doing this project, I also had growth in rhino and woodworking. This increased both my physical and digital fabrication skills. In the future these skills may come to use when I am designing group project that combines many random ideas. Using my imagination I could connect all of the ideas together and then model it online. Next I could then create it physically in the real world.

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Iteration

Express

Collaborate

Physical Fabrication

Project

Growth

Iteration

In Escape Room Design I set a goal to successfully communicate and express my ideas in physical prototypes, I was successful in accomplishing this goal. Throughout the studio, I consistently produced iterative prototypes that acted as vessels to communicate my thoughts to my partners and coaches. The high frequency of prototypes amongst a group three people of high conviction made narrowing our ideas to one cohesive project difficult at times. That said, our commitment to iteration made synthesizing our ideas quick and efficient. In addition to working on the quantity of my iterations, I was also continuing to raise the fidelity of my prototypes. In this studio I worked on building my knowledge of constructing mechanical systems. This knowledge not only helped construct a better final project, but will also help further my work as a designer at NuVu and beyond.

Teddy Bear Tea Time is a series of mechanical and cryptic puzzles that help create new memories while invoking old ones. Teddy Bear Tea Time was conceived out of partnership with Red Fox Escapes, more specifically the new escape room that is in development. The goal of Teddy Bear Tea is to discover the name of a young girl. The players do this by solving a 6 sided puzzle box with 2 different puzzles. The first puzzle on the box is a dial combination lock. The three dials are each made up of different symbols (numbers, icons, letters). The second puzzle is three pull tabs that are solved when pulled the correct distance. Once both puzzles have been solved, the puzzle box will open revealing a photo album and a tea cup. The photo album has numerous photos of the little girl playing with her stuffed bear. A couple of those photos show her having a tea party with this bear. The tea cup the players received is included in many of the photos along with other tea cups from the same set. The tea set from the photo can be found throughout the room, as can a child sized tea table. If the players arrange the tea in the order they are arranged in the photo and look from a top down view, they will see that letters in the bottom of the tea cups spell the child's name. Teddy Bear Tea facilitates the development of happy, communal memories by helping people of all ages connect through shared childhood memories.

Collaborate

Envision

Material Exploration

Teddy bear tea party is created by a series of mechanical and cryptic puzzles. This is project designed for the new developing escape room in the Red Fox Escape Room. The teddy bear is related to a childhood memory of a girl who's name will remain hidden. The goal of the players is to collect and associate this childhood memory to the correct person. 

The first part of the puzzle is to find the batteries from the riddles provided in by the teddy bear. After receiving the clue from the teddy bear the players will use the information received to solve the lock box. The lock box can be unlocked when both mechanism on the walls are solved. With the photo album collected from the lock box the players should find and collect the tea set displayed in one of the pictures. Lastly the players will need to arrange the tea set in the correct order to read the name written on the bottom of the tea cups.

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 Physical Fabrication

During this studio I learned how to work with different materials, especially wood as it is the main material we used to create the lock box. We experimented with the different mechanisms with different materials and used a combination of wood and plastic and 3D printed elements. It was very challenging to create a series of puzzle that relates and connect with one and other. As a team we had to spend a lot of time brainstorming and planning out the different steps. I think we worked very well as a team and I grew in communication and collaboration skills.

Engage and Persist

Collaboration

Lo-Fi Prototyping

The Hidden Move is a puzzle using elements of chess and video games to replicate the childhood nostalgia most people associate with games. The player must analyze elements of video game posters to identify where to position chess pieces. When done properly, this will result in a checkmate. This opens the drawer in the box which reveals this child's name. This puzzle was created as a proposal to Red Fox Escapes to include in one of their rooms.

This studio I relearned how things were going to work this year. I did fabrication using wood and cardboard, but I think my most developed skill was 3D-printing and how to interact with the printers. The collaboration mostly went fine, and I tried not to be uncooperative or distant this studio. I worked on code I never worked on before, and it somehow actually worked.

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Physical Fabrications

Empathize

Express

Material exploration

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

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Lo-fi protoyping

Have you ever played an escape room game? Knowing that the time is running out in the escape room, you are attempting to figure out how to open this door. There is a keyhole, which is obvious, but you don't need to know where the key is to use it. You start looking at the space. Tea Time is helpful in this situation. You must solve a six-step problem in order to find the key that unlocks the door. The first thing you discover is a riddle and a pen in a drawer within a chest. There are words that refer to certain items in the room yet are misspelled. Later, the artwork includes a light that lights up when you position it correctly. The door opens as the teacup Merry-go-round begins to spin and the key pops. As children, we were all in favor of riding roller coasters. The Mad Tea Party at Disney World is one of the Tea Times roller coaster rides. To ensure that people were interested in the entire procedure, there were several colors employed throughout the process. Working with Red Fox was great. I loved their feedback it really shaped our project. Additionally, we wanted to make sure there were activities that everyone from 7 to 80 could take part in.

My soldering abilities are where I have noticed the most improvement. I had no idea what soldering was when I first started this lesson. The machine, in my opinion, was interesting to look at. Right now, I can solder. Coding is another area I've noticed growth in my abilities. My relationship with coding has improved. The opportunity to work with my coaches one-on-one was a learning experience that aided in my development. I believe that by developing the abilities I already possess, I will be able to include more soldering and programming in my projects. I have experimented with writing in this studio more than other studios. This studio, in my opinion, has been incredibly helpful to me.

Habit of Mind

Engage & Persist

Physical Fabrication

Project Paragraph

Growth Paragraph

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Material Exploration

Claw Control is an entertaining puzzle game, using the mechanics of the widely known grabber arm game. We are making something exciting for all ages. Using buttons, control your crane and pick up the correct pieces, make sure not to collect the others! The claw is using hydraulics to open and close the clamps, and dowels are being used as levers to move the crane on the X & Y axis. There are slots embedded into the "chamber", you will need to grab shapes that will fit into their respective slots as quickly and precisely as possible. The twist is that the arm's controller cannot see what and where the claw is. Another player who can see everything must guide the other through. This puzzle brings people together and requires teamwork to complete.

In this studio, my main goal was to improve my physical fabrication. I have noticed that I spend a lot of time on my Lo-fi prototypes and I thought I should be able to make these faster, I would say I've succeeded in some ways. I still took time, but by the end of the studio, I was faster then the start. having an absent partner put pressure on me to keep pumping out iterations because I was working by myself, and my early prototypes were rough. Another reason I improved my speed was because the amount of trial and error I had to go through, everything I did I had to do at least 3 times. I hope that my newfound skill of physical fabrication will help me in the future, speeding me along for more prototyping. I also think that I am better at handling cardboard properly, using etching and perferation on the laser cutter.

Tea Time

By India Benzan & Victoria Huggins

engage & persist

Collaborate

Physical fabrication

Teddy Bear Tea Time is a linear mechanical puzzle designed to create new memories while reminiscing about old memories. Our main mechanical object is a 6 sided cube with 2 different puzzles. The main idea of the puzzle is to discover a little girl’s name. We accomplish this by directing the players through different puzzles around the room all centered around the puzzle box. The first puzzle on the box is a dial combination lock, the second is a series of pulling tabs that release when pulled the correct distance. Once both puzzles have been solved, the puzzle box will open revealing tea cups that can be arranged in a certain order based on a photo in a photo album that can be found laying around. This project is important because it helps us have the opportunity to be implemented in a real escape room and can be played by people and remind them of their childhood.

In this studio one of my primary goals was to collaborate with new people. In the first week I knew nobody and wanted to meet new people. When we were put into groups, I didn't know my group-mates Audrey and Beckett but they ended up helping me a lot. Another way I grew was in my physical and digital fabrication. Over the studio I learned how to use Rhino a 3d modeling program that I used to 3d print and laser cut. Over the course of the studio I built and assembled 12 prototypes that gave me experience with physical fabrication. All these new skills I learned in this studio will benefit me in the future because being able to make connections is very important. Going forward, I'm also taking away the ability to fabricate digitally and physically.

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Digital fabrication