Escape Liège

The context

The client, already active in the escape game industry, had decided to launch a new experience: an urban escape game through Liège, combining puzzles, local heritage, and tasting stops along the way. The whole thing ran on a paper roadbook found inside a can, with QR codes linking out to external web pages to validate each puzzle.

The problem

That paper format held the experience back in several ways: no automatic answer validation, an immersion-breaking jump to an external web page for every QR code, and a group dynamic where only one person actually followed the roadbook while everyone else just tagged along. There was also no way to see real-time progress, or to evolve the game without reprinting the materials.

The thinking

Rather than a simple digital version of the roadbook, this needed an app built for the field, for group play, and for multiple languages — with progress synced live across a team's phones, and an architecture flexible enough to support other scenarios beyond the Escape Beer down the line. With no mockups from the client, I also took on the full design of the app.

The solution

I designed, built, and deployed the app and its custom backend: real-time sync between teammates, automatic session recovery after a dropped connection or dead battery, automatic reservation imports, cultural content woven into the route, and an immersive messaging system voiced by Professor Pick Khôle. All available in 4 languages from launch.

The result

A far more immersive, collaborative experience with no more jumping between paper and browser, and a technical foundation ready for new scenarios. Since launch, over a hundred players have used it in real conditions, without a single technical incident.