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This page is created as a resource to answer that age old question: "How do you get into the industry" or "I want to be a puzzle designer, where should I get started?".

 

There are many different traditional, and less traditional routes to becoming a 'puzzle designer', and even more debates raging as to what exactly is a puzzle designer and who gets to call themselves one (spoiler alert, if you design puzzles, even if it's on the back of a napkin and never show anyone then ta-da, you are a puzzle designer!)

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Please feel free to use and share these resources!

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So, you want to make puzzles?

'Puzzle Design'  Jobs
& How to Get Them

When someone says they are a 'puzzle designer', they might just be talking about one of the following 'traditional' roles. Of course, they might not be - but if you're just starting out in your career and wondering where to specialise, the following distinctions might be useful!

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Escape Room Designer

Escape Room Designers​ are people involved in the creation of physical, in-person escape rooms. This is everything from the physical construction of an escape room, to designing the player gameplay flow - how and when will they discover clues, or writing the narrative of a room or programming the technical props.

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Many people get into escape room design by starting work at an escape room (typically as a GM), or by opening up their own escape rooms. However, it's also possible to move into escape room design from another industry, or to begin your career by working with an escape room supplier.

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Useful Degrees: Set Design, Stage Design, Theatre Design, Game Design, Interactive Entertainment.

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Average Salary: $50,000 - $100,000 *

* based on a sample size of ~12 designers in the UK, USA and Canada.
Disagree with this figure? Please let me know!

Video Game Designer

A popular route, and perhaps the one with the clearest 'career path' is to go into video game design. Due to the seniority of the industry, video game design has been around as a viable career path since at least the 1980s - long before I was even born!

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Game designers who specialise in puzzle games typically fall into the categories of: Level Designer, Content Designer, or Narrative Designer. Aspiring game designers may also wish to consider which medium they'd like to create in, be it virtual reality, mixed reality, point-and-click, first person. Which engine a game is built in also plays a part, such as Unity, or Unreal Engine.

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A common route into video game design is to begin with an internship, or begin in QA. However, many game studios specialise in puzzle games, and as such puzzle designers are in high demand.

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Useful Degrees: Game Design, Video Game Programming, Computer Science, Computer Animation, Interactive Entertainment.

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Average Salary: Variable! Check out this spreadsheet.

Tabletop Game Designer

Tabletop, or board game design, is another industry which has been around for donkey's years. In fact, probably since around 2,400 BC. But it wasn't until fairly recently that puzzle board games, or even "escape room board games" (think Unlock! and Exit: The Game) became as popular as they are.

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Few board game publishers employ full time designers. A more traditional route is to create your own games then pitch them to publishers, similar to the book publishing industry. That's not to say it never happens, but tabletop design is a competitive industry, so it's a good idea to brush up on your portfolio!

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Useful Degrees: Game Design, Game Development, Graphic Design, Computer Science, Business.

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Average Salary: $42,000-$113,000 (Source: My Kind of Meeple / Glassdoor)

Creating a Portfolio

For some organisations, a portfolio will count for more than past experience. Especially if you're applying to a newer niche, like escape room design (remember, escape rooms have only been around since about 2007!)

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A portfolio is used to:

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  • Show that you understand the process of puzzle or game design

  • Showcase your skills

    • in a team, solo, or leadership environment

    • in a particular tool, medium, or programming language

  • Show what makes you unique and what value you'll bring to that company

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What to put in your portfolio, and why:​

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  • Easy Navigation

    • Make sure the person reading your portfolio can find what they're looking for!

  • At least 1 well documented project in which you played a significant role. This could be commercial, or personal!

    • Talk about the game design process:

      • What tools did you use?

      • What challenges did you face?

      • What decisions did you make?

      • How did this fit the brief?

    • Include marketing materials

      • ​Videos, Screenshots

      • How many copies has the game sold?

      • What nice things have people said about it?

  • At least 1 link, a demo, or a downloadable puzzle or game

    • Don't tell, show! So you've made a puzzle, or a game? Show it off.

  • Your CV

    • Even if it's not strictly relevant, every good portfolio should include a CV (or resume, for my readers across the pond)! In this day and age, your LinkedIn profile could double as this, but it's handy to have a downloadable one too.​

  • Most Importantly: Contact Information!​​

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As a final note:

Make sure whatever you include in your portfolio you have permission to use.

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There's nothing worse than having your hands tied by an NDA, believe me, some of my favourite ever (and biggest name) projects I can't talk about because I don't have permission to. 

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If you don't have permission to use a specific project, what you can do instead is use what you learned on that project to apply to a personal project. That way, you still get to showcase the same skills, but don't land in any hot water.

This is a paragraph. Use this area to add any information you want to share with users. Just click "Edit Text" or double click here to change the text and make it your own. You can also adjust the paragraph's font, size and color so it fits your website’s theme.
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This is a great place to tell users a story about your website and let them know more about what you offer. You may want to share information about your company's background, your team, or the services you provide. Be sure to keep the tone and voice consistent throughout the site so users become familiar with your brand.

This is a paragraph. Use this area to add any information you want to share with users. Just click "Edit Text" or double click here to change the text and make it your own. You can also adjust the paragraph's font, size and color so it fits your website’s theme.
​
This is a great place to tell users a story about your website and let them know more about what you offer. You may want to share information about your company's background, your team, or the services you provide. Be sure to keep the tone and voice consistent throughout the site so users become familiar with your brand.

Cogito, ergo sum

Or in English: I think, therefore I am.

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Whilst all of the above 'traditional career routes' are fantastic things to aim for (especially if you're looking for a permanent, full time position somewhere), the real 'best way' to become a puzzle designer is quite simple:

Just design puzzles! 

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I'm a big believer that you don't need a fancy degree, accolades, or even a job title to call yourself a puzzle designer. There are no requirements you have to go through, or boxes you have to tick before you can call yourself one, you can get started right now. Yep, seriously. Right this second.

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Puzzle Design Tools

Every project starts somewhere! Use these tools to get started...

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Ideas

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Codes & Ciphers

  • dCode

    • dCode.fr is a collection of over 800 tools to help solve games, riddles, ciphers, mathematics, puzzles, and so on. It's probably my most used website on the whole internet.​

  • Rubber Band Code

    • Does what it says on the tin

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Logic Puzzle Makers & Solvers

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Word Puzzles

  • Nutrimatic

    • ​Matches patterns against a dictionary of words and phrases mined from Wikipedia.

  • Rebus Generator

    • Generate any rebus puzzle​

  • Jumble Finder

    • Find jumbled words in strings of text.​ Great for writing (and solving) cryptic crosswords and ARGs.

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Cool things that don't really fit into my other headings

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Master Lists of Puzzles & Tools

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Puzzle Design Communities and Events​

It's dangerous to go alone! Here, join these...

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Platforms to Design Digital Puzzle Games

So, you've got your tools, and you've joined the communities. Now what?

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  • Telescape

    • Originally created as a tool for ​escape rooms to digitise their physical spaces, Telescape is now used by puzzle designers from all fields, including in universities. No coding knowledge is required.

  • Flowlab.io

    • A game studio in your browser, Flowlab is an easy to learn visual logic builder that doesn't require programming.​

  • Unity Tutorials

    • Getting started learning something like Unity is actually a lot easier than it sounds. They have a fantastic library of tutorials here.​

  • Game Maker Studio Tutorials

    • As above, but if you want something slightly more user friendly than Unity, try Game Maker Studio.​

  • Escape Simulator Workshop

  • Game Builder Garage on Nintendo Switch

    • Game Builder Garage is another game which allows you to create your own games within it, including extensive tutorials on puzzle games.​

  • Minecraft

    • Yeah, I'm really putting Minecraft on this list. It's free to use and some of my absolute favourite puzzle games ever have been built with it. It's an amazing tool, with an amazing community.​

  • VRChat

    • So I'm a big fan of VRChat, and I've used this tutorial to create plenty of puzzle games and escape rooms over the years. If you want to try something in VR, I highly recommend it.​

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Joining a Game Jam

Once you've got the hang of this whole 'puzzle design' thing, it's time to put your skills to the test. Game Jams bring people from different backgrounds together to build games from scratch. The best part? They're great fun and invaluable networking.

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Puzzle Specific

  • Escape Jam LA

    • I don't know if this one is still active but I wanted to include it as an example of how to do an escape room game jam right!​

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How to get Funding for your Puzzle Game

Maybe you have a finished game, or maybe it's just an idea? Here's some ways you can secure funding for your project.

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This is a paragraph. Use this area to add any information you want to share with users. Just click "Edit Text" or double click here to change the text and make it your own. You can also adjust the paragraph's font, size and color so it fits your website’s theme.
​
This is a great place to tell users a story about your website and let them know more about what you offer. You may want to share information about your company's background, your team, or the services you provide. Be sure to keep the tone and voice consistent throughout the site so users become familiar with your brand.

This is a paragraph. Use this area to add any information you want to share with users. Just click "Edit Text" or double click here to change the text and make it your own. You can also adjust the paragraph's font, size and color so it fits your website’s theme.
​
This is a great place to tell users a story about your website and let them know more about what you offer. You may want to share information about your company's background, your team, or the services you provide. Be sure to keep the tone and voice consistent throughout the site so users become familiar with your brand.

Further Reading

Here's what the experts think...

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That's all for now!
 

There's one thing left to do, and that's go out there and make good puzzles.

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I love supporting other designers (in fact, check out my recommendations here), so if you want to reach out and talk puzzle design, get a second pair of eyes on a puzzle or portfolio, or even get the low down on places that might be hiring, please feel free to reach out on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or direct to email:

mairinolan (a) gmail.com

© 2024 Mairi Nolan

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