A Most Puzzling Interview with... Stephen Lockyer
By Brent Price (and interviewing Stephen Lockyer)
Stephen is one half of Escapages, and 100% of Enigmailed. He is obsessed with portmanteaus (like Enigmailed and Escapages) and finds them an easy way for someone to understand what you are going on about!
Please note: We conducted this interview through Facebook Messenger in late 2021 over the course of several weeks and this has been cleaned up for clarity and consistency and approved by Stephen.
Brent: Welcome, and thanks for agreeing to this interview! Through this process we want to get to know you a little better, learn about your games, your influences, lessons learned, and maybe some hints of some future projects! So, with that, why don’t you first tell us a little about yourself and what got you interested in creating games in the first place?
Stephen: My name is Stephen, and I am a UK based puzzle maker and designer. I started making games around three years ago, as a way of directing my various interests and imaginations. I've always played games, and have a very active imagination. I have four children, and have passed on my love of puzzles and word play with them - we regularly and subconsciously use spoonerisms and portmanteau phrasing for things. I love the variety of games which have come out this past year or so, and have a growing back catalogue of games to play myself! (I review tabletop puzzles at https://igot99puzzles.com)
Brent: It is great to see your love of these games passing down to the next generation at an early age! What were the earliest mystery puzzle games you played that you fell in love with?
Stephen: There was a book I was given with puzzles in when I was about seven or eight. I remember it being Christmas, and the puzzles being a combination of maps and ciphers - I'm fairly sure there was an Aztec theme to them, and you had to write in the book. I remember this distinctly as I had a lozenge eraser that Christmas too (look them up, they are the best type or rubber). I was already a bibliophile then, and with puzzles TOO‽ I loved that book. No idea what it was called, and I can't find it now, sadly.
[Editor's note: together we tracked it down and the game was Agent Arthur’s Jungle Journey by Martin Oliver]
Brent: What modern mystery puzzle games did you play before you got the idea to start creating your own?
Stephen: "Journal 29" was my gateway into the fact that people liked the puzzles and ciphers I had been tinkering with for years.
Brent: After learning about that type of modern game and being inspired, walk me through your first game idea you wanted to make, regardless of if you actually made it.
Stephen: It was for an escape room. An interrogation suite. One of the team is cuffed in the interview room, the rest of the team behind a one way mirror. Both need to escape within one hour. (Note to self - I need to make this!!!)
Brent: I love outside the box ideas like that! What is the game that had the most outside the box surprises for you? (No spoilers). And did it inspire any ideas in your games? Stephen: I think the one that most took me on a journey in that sense was "BoxOne". I’ve talked before elsewhere on my own podcast about that experience, where I was excited for the hype, disappointed when it arrived; started playing it out of some frustrated obligation–then BOOM! It was like the shape of a bathtub - high, low, high. The most clever thing about Box One I think is the Itch - you are itching to tell people about it, but you can’t say WHY it is so good. Honestly, speaking to others about it feels kinda cathartic.
Brent: When you first decided to become a creator and actually try to sell a game, what gave you the confidence and what research did you do as you approached that project?
Stephen: I have published books before and written for years, so I felt I had the confidence and skills to have a printed puzzle book. My ambition each time for each project has grown. Walt Disney called it imagineering - imagining something fantastic, then engineering it into existence. I love that!
Brent: What were the biggest early mistakes you made or unexpected challenges you had and how did you overcome them in future projects?
Stephen: Play-testing! I needed to play test far, far more than I did! I’ve got it streamlined now!
Brent: On the other side, what do you feel is your greatest puzzle achievement (spoiler free)?
Stephen: Flatpak is the most beautiful, I think. Full Deck has a crazy level of depth that I think only a few have got near (but was emotionally exhausting to write). I’m most proud of either Undeliverable - especially the map card, or Pouroboros, where each puzzle has largely been designed around its answer (hard to explain, but easy to understand once played).
Brent: If you could go back and change anything about one of your projects, what would you change?
Stephen: BIG QUESTION! More time on Flatpak. I love it, but it was created with a much leaner timeline than was comfortable.
Brent: That has to be one of the greatest looking puzzle books! Any plans on a sequel either direct or thematically?
Stephen: Matt and I have talked about a future book which is [Redacted]…
Brent: That sounds amazing! What does your playtesting process look like? Do you playtest each puzzle with people, or wait for a larger experience? Does it vary?
Stephen: I have a brilliant group of play-testers and then my silver bullet. First I give the puzzles to the play-testers without hints and record where they ask for nudges and look at the mistakes they make. The final test, the silver bullet, is my Mum! She doesn’t hold back!
Brent: Gotta love mom’s! What is the one game you played where you wish you had come up with a key puzzle in it? And what about it (spoiler free) made you fall in love with it?
Stephen: I'm a total sucker for handheld magical Aha moments where you solve a puzzle, whose answer is an instruction to do x to y. You carry out the instruction and something unexpected occurs. The best commercial example of this which I still think about is a part of SOUP, where you [spoiler-redacted] and [spoiler-redacted] appears. It’s just a JOY!
Brent: Thank you for joining us with this interview! Do you have any upcoming or current projects you are raving to tell everyone about we could mention here? Stephen: I’ll leave with some hidden code words as a puzzle: what connects these: ANATOMAP, NOTABLE REMAINS, (BOUND), MANIFEST
Brent: Thanks for that mysterious wrap-up! We look forward to your next projects!
To check out his company "Enigmailed" and/ or "Escapages", click on the link(s) below!
#BrentPrice #ThePuzzlemakerChronicles #AnInterview #Enigmailed #Escapages #articles #perspectives #UnitedKingdom #EscapeRooms
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