Today, we’re chatting with Bartololomeo or Bart in short, a beloved Escape Simulator room builder from Poland, known for his playful humor, cat-themed comedy rooms, and increasingly ambitious creations. What started as a Christmas self-gift in 2021 quickly turned into a creative journey filled with hand-drawn puzzles, silly ideas, and a lot of learning along the way. From his first rough map to the massive, new room "What The Fox", Bart shares how he designs rooms, what he learned the hard way, and why cats keep sneaking into his escape rooms!🐱
Hi! I’m Bart! I’m from Poland. And no… I’m not a cat. Or maybe I am? Who knows… Ok, where should I start?
It was 2021 before Christmas. I wanted to buy myself a present, so I was looking for a perfect game and then… I found this Masterpiece: Escape Simulator.
I love escape rooms, so I was extremely excited when I found out I could make my own room. I had no idea though how the editor worked, but somehow I figured it out.
After a few weeks I created my first map:’ Find a Remote’. Please don’t play it. It’s very bad! ;) However people started leaving positive reviews, so I decided to make even more escape room maps!
It almost always starts with a theme. I need to decide what I’m making a map about. About cats, or maybe something else… Maybe a horror one?
After that it’s time to make some puzzles! I’m a bit of a traditionalist and like to design all my puzzles on paper. I don’t use a computer for it. It’s easier for me that way.
It’s important that the puzzles I design are connected to the theme of the room. For example, if I’m making a cat room the puzzles must be connected with cats. (e.g. lasers, yarn balls, pawprints, scratch marks etc.) Personally, I just follow a simple recipe to make the puzzles fit the theme.
Let’s say we have a jigsaw. If we want a room about pirates, we can add a picture of a treasure chest to it. But if we want a room about dogs we need to only change the picture to a cute doggo. And if we have a spy room - an image of diamond.
Additionally, I categorize puzzles into two main groups:
puzzles where you know what to do, but you don’t know how to do it (e.g. jigsaws, mazes, sudoku)
puzzles where you have to figure out what to do, but after that there's no longer a puzzle (e.g. hidden numbers in paintings)
I like to have a wide variety of puzzles in my maps, so I try to mix the two types equally, otherwise the room can feel a bit flat. How do you come up with the themes and puzzles for your rooms? Do you have any favourite themes or types of puzzles?
What can I say? I love comedy! The sillier the idea, the better the room! And my brain has a lot of silly ideas! But honestly I like to try weird, new things that no one has done yet. When I was starting to make maps in Escape Simulator there weren’t a lot of rooms about cats in the workshop. So I created one and people loved it!
And my favourite type of puzzle? Thinking about it, yes, I have one, and I used it in almost all my maps. It’s placing items into slots based on written clues about their positions. It’s simple, but pretty fun.
Before I answer this question I need to tell you something. I have a dark secret.
[spoiler] I DO NOT HAVE A CAT!
[/spoiler][/p]
Yeah, that’s true. But wait, that's not the end!
[spoiler]I HAVE A DOGGO! [/spoiler]
So why make escape rooms about cats? It’s simple – cats are cute, goofy and funny, which makes them perfect for comedy maps!
Yes, ‘What The Fox’ is my biggest project so far for sure. Almost all assets were made by myself. 134 custom models, tons of 2d art, about ten minutes of voice acting, and plenty of LUA scripts (especially in The Grand Finale). It took me over 9 months (with some breaks) to finish!
However that project couldn't exist without the help of great people I met at Pine discord server. Special thanks to Elkondo, Rhea West and GG3L! 👏
It was my second map: “It’s only a Game” (my worst map btw). People didn’t like it. The main reason was that the puzzles were too hard and boring. They weren’t satisfying for players to solve. I received a lot of negative comments and I was a bit devastated. But thanks to that experience I started making better puzzles, so looking back, I’m glad it happened.
There are a lot of funny stories when you're making comedy maps! Often when I test my rooms I can’t stop laughing! And if I can make myself laugh, I hope it will work for others too!
I especially love watching streamers playing my maps on Twitch and seeing their reactions. For me, that’s one of the best parts of being a builder. One time I was watching a steamer play one of my maps, “Pet The Cat”, and it was really funny to see him shout obscenities at the cat while he was chasing it around!
Creating “What The Fox”!
When I started making rooms I had no idea about programming and didn't even know what Blender was. Now, after a few years, when I look at my new map I’m really proud of how much I learned throughout this journey, and how much Escape Simulator and its community helped me grow!
There are so many great creators! It’s an extremely hard task to list them all, so here are 3 of my favourite rooms.
“The Devilish Diorama” by Zesty Mordant
“Karakuri Castle” by Namo_crub
“Quantum Quest, Inc” by Wollo
I’m planning something special for the future. It’s a secret, but I’ll tell you anyway ;)
I’m hoping to make my own game! I’m a total beginner, but hey…A few years ago I didn’t know what Blender was, so I won't give up this time either! ------- We're incredibly grateful to Bart for taking the time to share his insights with us. While we wait for his next fantastic creations, be sure to check out his existing masterpieces here or directly in-game. If you wish to chat with Bart or other amazing community room builders, make sure to join our Discord.
We hope you enjoyed this recurring series and we look forward to diving deeper into the creation process of many other room builders. Stay tuned!
-Pine team