We are locally owned and operated in Victoria, BC. Our creative team is comprised of our owner and his partner and they're always working to create our next experience at Horror Escape. We don't see the sense in being around unless we are always growing, evolving and pushing ourselves. We offer a new experience about once a year to ensure we are on top of our game, all puns intended!
The planning and development of each room takes 3-10 months depending on the scope of the project. We start by creating a narrative, followed by the puzzles and then work on drafts of how we can rebuild the current set to become a fully new theme and layout.
After we have the storyline and puzzles worked out, we begin the branding and imagery for our website. Photoshop is our best friend for this stretch of the development.
Sometimes we have to scrap some pretty great ideas due to various reasons. A theme can be really unique and thrilling, but puzzles don't logically fit into that storyline and we have to start over. The Doll Master went through that process a few times until finally we knew we had the technology available to do what we needed to achieve.
If you're a fan of Horror Escape, you will know that every experience we have had, offered a fully immersive and unique soundtrack to match. The finishing touches, such as the soundtrack and lighting really pull the room together.
Once the puzzles and storyline are created, we pre-build all the props so that when it's time to install, we are as prepared as possible. We can only shut the old set down for 4 or 5 days so we cram some heavy work days in for our team, 14-18 hours per days to be exact! (Nothing a few large coffees can't help with though!)
Days 1 & 2 we remove all old set pieces and demolish any walls or areas we are not going to reimagine for the new room. Day 3 & 4 are construction, building any new areas, installing the props, decor and painting. For the 5th and final day we install the new lighting, test the soundtrack and clean, clean, clean.
To ensure everything flows and our staff is prepared to launch the new set, we do test runs with family and friends. This helps us iron out any kinks we may have overlooked or didn't expect and get an idea of how long each portion takes our guests to complete.
Having the final product come to life is very rewarding and well worth the energy we put into creating our rooms. We are looking forward to many more thrilling and unique experiences in the coming years and are currently developing our most exciting room yet!
