DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, David Spira and Peih-Gee Law interview Christian Vernon and Zac McCrell, the creators behind the immersive and highly replayable escape room experience 'Doors of Divergence' in New York City. The guests discuss their unique blend of escape rooms, immersive theater, and choose-your-own-adventure storytelling, and how they structure branching narratives and meaningful choices with real consequences.
Vernon and McCrell share insights into their design philosophy, including centering the audience, empowering players to make impactful decisions, and crafting morally ambiguous choices without clear right or wrong answers. They also touch on the challenges of replayability, managing multiple storylines and scripts for their talented ensemble of immersive actors.
The interview delves into the duo's background in children's theater, themed restaurants, and interactive experiences, which influenced their unconventional approach to escape room design. As Doors of Divergence prepares to close its current venue, Vernon and McCrell tease plans for their upcoming game 'Causality, 1971' and their search for a new home.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Doors of Divergence is an escape room experience that blends elements of immersive theater and choose-your-own-adventure storytelling, with a focus on replayability and branching narratives.
- The creators, Christian Vernon and Zac McCrell, prioritize centering and empowering the audience through meaningful choices with real consequences.
- Their design process involved an iterative approach, anticipating and accommodating unexpected player choices to build out branching storylines.
- The games feature morally ambiguous choices without clear right or wrong answers, with subtle hints and cues embedded in the narrative to encourage deeper engagement.
- Vernon and McCrell's backgrounds in children's theater, themed restaurants, and interactive experiences influenced their unconventional approach to escape room design.
- Replayability presents significant challenges in terms of managing multiple storylines, scripts, and accommodating variable player choices while maintaining cohesion.
- The duo's current games, 'Heresy, 1897' and 'Madness, 1917,' showcase their unique approach to replayability through distinct paths, spaces, and narratives.
- Doors of Divergence is closing its current venue but plans to remount their experience elsewhere, with an upcoming game 'Causality, 1971' exploring a closed time loop concept.
Top Episodes Quotes
- βYeah. A lot of that came down to when we were sitting down and writing the script. We had general ideas of where we wanted plot lines to go, but then as we sort of naturally wrote things and talked it out and role played it over the table, we realized, oh, we'd have a point where an actor might ask a question and we had to plan for what if the audience does say the thing we're not expecting them to say here? And that would sometimes go into a little offshoot and work back in, but a lot of times we would go, why don't we just make a whole other branch here? That'd be interesting. See where the variable storytelling space was. It was very iterative for a lot of the process, I think.β by Christian Vernon
- βAnd the muddy part was also very important. There are cues and there are hints on all paths that what looks maybe like the most straightforward choice maybe isn't. But if you're just focused on the puzzles and you're not reading some of the flavor text that we've been throwing in, you're not going to be able to pick up on that.β by Zach McCrell
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Episode Information
Reality Escape Pod - Escape Rooms & Immersive Games
David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
10/2/23
What if you entered an escape room where the choices are real and every decision you make causes ripples down the line of your adventure? Replayability is one of the hottest topics in the escape room world, and right now, no company showcases it better than Doors of Divergence in New York City. In Season 6, Episode 1 of REPOD, we chat with Christian Vernon and Zac MacKrell, the creators behind Doors of Divergence. They spill the secrets of their success, including their secret weapon when it comes to their immersive actors.
They describe their games Heresy: 1898 and Madness: 1917 as "escape room meets immersive theater meets choose-your-own-adventure novel." We learn about how the branching narratives work in their shows. They talk about being surprised at the popularity of their achievement system "Chivo." Christian and Zac tell us how they got their start in the immersive worlds of themed restaurants and extreme zombie paintball. We also learn about their philosophy when it comes to onboarding and the magic circle.
It's clear that these two creators have a wildly ambitious approach to designing their escape rooms in ways that empower their audience. Sadly, they have lost their venue and will have to shut down operations while they hunt for a new home. Doors will remain open through October 20, 2023, and I highly recommend you experience their special brand of madness while you can.
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Episode SponsorsThank you to our sponsors Morty, Buzzshot, and COGS:Β
MortyMorty is a free app for discovering, planning, tracking, and reviewing your escape rooms and other immersive social outings.Β
Morty News:
- Morty now features haunt attractions
- Morty for Android is here
Special Badge for REPOD listeners:
You can learn more at morty.app/REPODΒ to sign up and get a special badge for our listeners (works for existing users also).
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BuzzshotBuzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS.
Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:
REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.
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COGSCOGS by Clockwork Dog is an easy to use software/ hardware platform for running interactive events, including escape rooms, and other immersive experiences. They have plug & play hardware that seamlessly integrates with their software so you can create a show with lighting and sound cues without having to write a single line of code.Β Map all kinds of inputs to outputs by building up simple logic steps which determine what you want to happen and when.
Special Offer for REPOD Listeners:
REPOD listeners can get the COGS Starter Set for only $130 + free shipping to the USA. This bundle is usually valued at $257. You can learn more and purchase your Starter Set at cogs.show. Use code REPOD at checkout.
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Production CreditsHosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law
Produced by Theresa Piazza
Supported by Lisa Spira & Richard Burns
Edited by Steve Ewing of Stand Inside MediaΒ
Music by Ryan Elder
Logo by Janine Pracht