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The first constraint is how to divide learners ac-
cording to available time slots and rooms. This will
set the number of participants (eg 3, 4 or 5) as well as
playing time. For a Serious Escape Game the recom-
mended duration time is between 1h and 2h maximum
to keep active and motivated learners.
Once the game time has been defined, it will be
necessary to adjust the difficulty and the linearity of
the game so that learners are able to finish the SEG
in the expected time. Making the game too hard and
non linear will lead to the failure of the majority of
the learners; conversely, creating a game too easy and
too linear will lead to success of almost all learners
long before the expected time. The difficulty of the
parameterization is to find the right dosage between
these two parameters. Here are some precisions to
better calibrate a SEG:
As for the number of levels, at least one is needed.
Note that associating the validation of a level with the
discovery of new elements (clues, rooms, other ob-
jects) generates a non negligible gain of interest of the
players. It is therefore advisable to put several clues
according to the overall playing time.
Then, if the riddles are varied, this will play on
the flow state (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) (Chen, 2007)
of the learner. Indeed, a too difficult riddle at the be-
ginning of the game can discourage the learners. A
simple idea is to organize the riddles by increasing
difficulty. Other alternatives are possible, for exam-
ple: alternate a simple riddle with a more complex
one to give a bit of respite to learners between two
complex riddles. In addition, this will lead to an in-
crease in motivation since they will solve the simple
riddles faster, which will encourage them to face a
more complex riddle.
Regarding the number of clues and their access fa-
cility: the more clues, the more it is possible to divide
the problems and have combinations of clues. It there-
fore increase the probability that students will try false
leads. And the more hidden are the clues, the longer
the search time. If the clues are too well hidden, they
may not be found, so it is advisable to carefully hide
the clues. For example: important clues can be hid-
den in a simple cache, however, optional clues can be
better hidden.
It is also important to focus on the number of mul-
tiple clues (used several times in the game): it is use-
ful to specify before the start of the session whether
this type of clues is present within the game or not,
this will influence the difficulty of the game. In their
absence, used clues can be put aside, which reduces
the possibilities and simplifies the use of clues.
Next, the guidance of the teacher allows each
group to progress at roughly equivalent speeds. This
can generate frustration if learners block on a riddle.
For example, since the pedagogical interest of the ex-
cavation is low, if they take too much time to find a
hidden clue, it is advisable to help the learners in order
not to slow down their advancement. It is therefore
unnecessary for a group of players to lose too much
time searching for clues. Secondly, a riddle posing a
problem for a group of students will require the help
of the supervisor for its resolution. Ideally, the teacher
should be able to bring each group to the end, or close
to the end of the game within the time allotted.
Another important aspect of this model is to im-
plement a way for students to position themselves in
the advancement of the activity. It is optional but al-
lows better time management by learners and gives
them a motivation to know that they are approaching
the end of the game.
In regards to the distribution of the clues paired
with the link between clues and riddles, this link is
a concrete explanation of the fact that a clue belongs
to a riddle. These two aspects play on the linearity
and the difficulty of the game. If the link between
the clues and the riddles is too strong and the clues
are directly usable, this makes the game too linear
and breaks the multiplayer aspect, which may induce
the boredom of some learners. On the contrary, if
there are too many clues and many riddles in parallel,
the game will be very difficult and will require many
thinking and pooling by the team. This will make the
game much more time consuming. It is important to
find a good gauge between the clues and the riddles to
make the game challenging and not to let the players
get lost, nor guiding them through a simple path.
Then, it is important to create enough content to
occupy all participants at the same time throughout
the game time. This will force the team to divide the
tasks and prevent one student from leading andrend-
ing passive the others.
Finally, the game should be achievable within a
limited time in the perspective where the participants
are all harnessed to a different task. In practice, this is
never the case, it is necessary to leave a margin for the
excavation, the pooling of the clues, the collaboration
and the common reflection on the riddles.
All these parameters are important for the design
phase of a SEG according to SEGAM.
6 BACKGROUND
For immersion in the game, it is advisable to pay par-
ticular attention to the background (that is to say the
context, the universe of the game). There must be
a red wire so that the learners can create links be-
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