VR Escape Game Selection

This article was originally published at Escape Front.

Being a creative person, you can make your own VR game or you can save your time and buy a ready-made one. In any case, it is better to analyze the checklist. Here are the main points you are to pay attention to.

Teamwork

Some VR games can be beaten by one single player, for others, it is necessary to interact with

each other. If it is possible to cope with all difficulties alone, the game is far from real-life escape as it lacks cooperation.

Timeline

45 minutes are supposed to be the best timeline for sheer gameplay. Then in a few minutes, you can prepare a room for newcomers as you need to reset the room and choose the game. Every hour it is possible to offer players exciting pastime.

Clarity

VR escape game is a team-based excitement and it should have just one clear goal.

Communication Between Players

In VR escape teammates need to interact with each other that is why interactive communication is of great importance. Participants are to recognize each other, so they need to see the names. They are to have a voice chat to talk and discuss matters. Any social feature would be great. In some games, players can smile at their friends and hi-five.

Hosting A Session

During a game, any participant might get in trouble and the game host should resolve any issue by hitting a button or talking to a player.

Audience

Unlike arcades, any escape game can embrace a much broader audience. One should note that the games are to target not just gamers or geeks, but everyone regardless of age and gender.

The broader audience you attract the more prosperous business you have.

VR escape games are not just a fun pastime for teenagers and children. It is a good way of birthday celebration, sitting around with friends, hen or stag parties, corporate events and family holidays.

Unprecedented Experience

What`s the use of VR when your player can experience approximately the same in real life?

Don`t choose a single setting trapping a player in just a cave or room. Choose actions and locations which the audience will remember for a lifetime. For instance, flying in outer space, fighting with enemies, traveling back in time, shooting fireballs with bare hands, etc.

Seated Or Walking-Only?

Free-roam allows players to see arms (not hands) and legs interacting freely in a game. For smooth gameplay, there are wireless adapters, VR backpacks, and way more space.

The downside of it is that a game operator should monitor players as they can stumble upon each other, walls or other obstacles.

Seated VR games (free hands, hand tracking) have their advantages. Imagine an amusement park: everyone is screaming, yelling, laughing while most people are sitting in a comfortable chair. Seated VR games are similar. They are thrilling and ‘commodious’ at the same time.

The most space-efficient games are seated ones. You can have up to 6 players in 25 sq m playing. If you are interested in seated VR escape games pay attention to Avatarico (European and Asian market) and Entermission (Australia, The US, Mexico, Canada).

As far as free hands VR presupposes hands tracking, players manipulate with bare hands inside a game. There are some pros:

when a person sees their hands there for the first time, they are excited! It is difficult to realize that you can safely shoot fireballs, fly or do other things impossible in real life.
it makes interaction easy and intuitive.
players perceive VR escape as an attraction, not as a video game.

Would you like to see or experience a VR escape room with hand tracking? In Sydney, there is a showcase. Having dismissed the idea of adding VR to the Escape Hunt franchise location, the company opened Virtual Reality Rooms with more than 20 seats and makes approximately 50 sessions weekly.

Capacity

There is no necessity to speak about the importance of capacity as it closely corresponds to the profit. Concerning the maximum number of participants, you analyze the size of a space needed and the workload of a room. The less space you need for maximum participants the more profit you will get. Review income per square meter.

A Virtual room franchisee will be able to place only 4 participants in his space. Ubisoft accommodates teams of 2 or 4 players (you can’t play it with 3 players) in the area of 35 sq. m. ARVI offers 35 sq. m. for 6 players. Avatarico experiences need 25 sq.m and 6 players for seated games and 35 sq. m. and 6 players for walking games.

escape game selection — Source: Entermission

Costs

You are to spend around $40k on starting with Virtual room. The total cost of Avatarico games, for example, is €22k: €13k for the license fee and €9k for the hardware.

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Some companies like ARVI, Exit VR, and others deliver games for 4 participants in 35 sq. m. on a pay-per-play or profit-share basis. While comparing these two models, 1 year of auspicious operations returns upfront payment. In the case of pay-per-day, you will still have to pay monthly even after 1 year passed.

Partnership

Purchasing the product is as easy as ABS, but your future success depends on the company you`d like to collaborate with. Pay attention to its success story, the variety of games it offers, reviews, marketing, and tech support, Net Promoter Score.

Ubisoft is the company with PC gaming background providing various experiences like Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft`s key features:

NO real-life escape games operations background,
1 year of experience,
weekly number of sessions – unknown,
NO ratings on Tripadvisor,
Net Promoter Score is unknown,
240 locations across the globe,
marketing limitations (you must use only approved materials and can`t place the most fruitful product for you in the first place on your website if it’s not a Ubisoft game),
NO distributors.

Virtual Room is a company owned by one of the Escape Hunt franchise`s branches. They have:

real-life escape games operations background,
3 years of experience,
weekly number of sessions – unknown
5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor,
Net Promoter Score is unknown,
27 locations across the globe,
marketing and technical support,
NO distributors.

Avatarico has a sibling company named Aventurico (ex-Lostroom) running real-life escape rooms in Madrid and Barcelona.

real-life escape games operations background,
5 years of experiences,
weekly number of sessions is 40-50
5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor,
Net Promoter Score is 50%,
more than 50 locations across the globe,
marketing and technical support,
distributors providing turnkey solutions and training in the US, Europe and Australia.

Hopefully, you found this article helpful. VR escape is a modern trend and it gathers attention every day. Mind careful planning, right partnership, the peculiarities of VR escapes (equipment, space needed, space-efficiency, expenses, etc.) to start your business in this sphere and to run it successfully.