Come and try to escape, and help me while doing so!

* Free to play (for now). Asks for an email address, completely optional.

* Fully remote; BYO video conf (works over Zoom, Skype, Teams, Google Meet - anything that enables screenshare + audio)

* Team size can be between 1 and 12

* You'll need to understand code, maybe write some code, hack a bit (needs a real computer, not a tablet or a phone)

* Currently, every game will be the same. In future I can build custom games, parameterised games, pick'n'mix.

Basic premise: for dev teams, coding together is something that is actually enjoyable. Get some satisfaction and build some team cameraderie without, y'know, meetings and JIRA and, well, clients/customers. Especially with covid-imposed remoteness, I see dev teams needing a bit of levity, a bit of (cringe) team building - I wanted to try a way that's not online drinking or a straight-up quiz.

Each player will be asked for a player name, then the team is dropped together into the escape room. Swarm over the puzzles, pair up or spread out (up to you) - puzzle/code/hack your way out together, then reflect on the fun you had on the way. Heavily influenced by Advent of Code, Project Euler.

I would like to charge for this eventually. The main challenges as I see it are content and game dynamics. I would like to learn from the first few teams that play. Getting the puzzle difficulty right, making hints available to the players at the right times, finding out how different teams handle and react to the UX. That kind of thing.

I look forward to hearing people's initial reactions, ideas and feedback.

Jump into an example puzzle with one click here:

https://www.dev-esc.com/link_puzzle/promo/

I'd love to know how people react to this.