Trapped in Immersion – Escaperoom

Trapped in Immersion – Designing an Escape Room to Explain Immersive Design

As part of a specialization in Immersive Design, my team and I were challenged to create an immersive experience that would help people understand what immersive design truly is—not just through explanation, but by experiencing it firsthand.

We designed Trapped in Immersion, a story-driven escape room located at the Media Park in Hilversum. Our target audience was future Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD) students considering the Immersive Design track. The goal was to give them a clear, interactive introduction to the core principles of immersive design by using its three essential pillars: Storytelling, Challenges, and Technology/Environment.

The puzzles throughout the experience were each thematically linked to one of these pillars, encouraging participants to engage directly with the concepts through gameplay. To enhance immersion, we based the story on the actual location—Hilversum’s Media Park—making the scenario feel more realistic and immediate. This grounded setting pulled visitors even deeper into the experience; they weren’t just playing a game—they were literally trapped in immersion.

The fictional narrative began with participants cast as students starting a media internship. Their first assignment? Assist with a live news broadcast. Each team member took on a role—camera operator, presenter, or sound technician—and together they had to run their first live show. But suddenly, things spiraled out of control.

A mysterious hacker interrupted the broadcast. Lights flickered, video feeds glitched, and the team had five minutes to find clues embedded in their surroundings—each related to one of the immersive design pillars. Then, in a surprising twist, the live show restarted exactly as before. This is when participants realized they were stuck in a time loop.

Their only contact with the outside world was a video call with the hacker, who occasionally dropped cryptic hints. Each group’s live broadcast was streamed to a screen outside the room and recorded, allowing participants to watch their own “show” afterwards.

My contributions to this project included:

• Writing the story and designing the gameplay elements
• Editing audio files and dialogue recordings
• Helping build the physical set and props

Trapped in Immersion was more than just a fun escape room—it was a hands-on introduction to immersive design that fully absorbed participants into its world. Quite literally, they were trapped in immersion.