“Shoot for the Stars” — An Escape Room Experience for Blind

Client Partner: Helen Keller Services, New York

Role: UX Researcher and Designer · Accessibility Designer 

Timeline: 8 Weeks

Format: Physical + Multisensory Interactive Game

Project Summary

Shoot for the Stars is a fully accessible escape room designed specifically for blind and low-vision teens. Developed in collaboration with Helen Keller Services, New York, this project reimagines spatial, sensory, and collaborative gameplay through the lens of accessibility-first design.

Rather than adapting a sighted game to fit blind players, we built from the ground up, ensuring every interaction could be independently navigated using audio, tactile cues, and sonic orientation — no visuals required.

Key Outcome: A three-puzzle, narrative-driven escape room experience tested with real users and developed using multisensory UX principles. This was one of the first escape room prototypes tailored for blind teens at Helen Keller Services.

Project Challenge

The Gap We Saw:

Escape rooms are immersive by nature — but visually immersive. Most rely on sight, text, screens, or graphic clues. Accessibility, when considered, is often retrofit, superficial, or overly simplified.

Our goal was to challenge that.

How might we design an escape room that’s equally complex, narrative-rich, and challenging — without requiring sight?

PROBLEM STATEMENT : Blind/low-vision players need a way to problem solve and collaborate during an escape room activity because similar games are too simple to foster complexity and rarely use haptic/sonic feedback, which hinders both the accessibility and satisfaction of live/collaborative gameplay.

📚 Research Approach

We designed a multi-method research strategy to ground our design in lived experience and empirical accessibility principles.

🎯 Research Goals

• Understand how blind/low-vision players experience existing games.

• Identify barriers in traditional escape rooms (both physical and cognitive).

• Define what complexity, fun, and autonomy look like in an accessible experience.

• Prioritize user agency, not passive assistance.

1. 📖 Literature Review

Our academic research, including papers from the ACM Digital Library and Springer, revealed core design principles:

• Use sensory substitution: sonification (sound) and haptification (touch).

• Avoid oversimplification; challenge promotes dignity.

• Use feedback loops (vibration, audio, spatial sound) to build agency.

2. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Community Ethnography

Through Reddit (r/Blind, r/DisabledGamers), TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, we gathered user stories from blind gamers who shared:

• Games are rarely designed with us in mind.

• Audio cues must be precise and replayable.

• Facilitator-led games feel infantilizing; we want independence.

3. 🆚 Competitive Audit

We reviewed 4 “accessible” escape rooms and gaming initiatives.

PlatformGapAbleGamersPhysical disability-focused; no blind-specific game design.Unity Escape RoomsVerbal guidance only; lacks immersive sonic feedback.DisabilityDaysSimplified “adaptive” rooms reliant on facilitators.MissionEscapeGames NYCAccessibility tied to building compliance, not UX.

🧠 Design Principles

From our synthesis, we created a design framework:

Build Sensory Independence

• Tactile clues should guide, not require sighted translation.

Prioritize Sonic Immersion

• Use spatial audio to convey movement, urgency, and location.

Collaborative, Not Isolated

• Ensure puzzles require group logic, not solo problem-solving.

Design for Autonomy, Not Pity

• Enable full participation without assuming constant support.

🛠 Design Execution: The Escape Room Journey

Narrative Context

Players are crew members on a failing spaceship under pirate attack. The only chance of survival: solve three puzzles to access a hidden escape pod.

Each puzzle builds critical thinking, collaboration, and sensory engagement.

Puzzle 1: Distress Signal (Morse Code Decoder)

Goal: Decode a hidden word like “SAFE” using tactile morse patterns and audio cues.

Interaction Design:

• Raised bumps and dashes using stacked post-its and embossed markers.

• Paired with verbal cues: “Letter B. Dash, dot, dot, dot.

• Large replay button for audio.

Accessibility Consideration:

• Designed for players unfamiliar with braille — relies on feel, not formal literacy.

🎙️ Puzzle 2: Audio Log Access Code

Goal: Identify a 4-digit code hidden in emergency voice logs.

Interaction Design:

• Static-laced audio simulating damaged ship logs.

• Story clues like “Day 4… reactor level dropped to 8…”

• Input via voice or physical keypad.

Accessibility Consideration:

• All instructions provided in audio, with replay-on-demand.

🧲 Puzzle 3: Magnetic Maze Locker

Goal: Use a magnet wand to guide a key through a hidden maze.

Interaction Design:

• Transparent casing (for testing); users feel the magnetic pull.

• Audio prompts guide navigation: “Wall ahead. Turn left.”

Accessibility Consideration:

• Designed to build spatial reasoning through haptics.

🧪 Usability Testing @ Helen Keller Services

We conducted 3 rounds of usability testing, including users with:

• Total blindness

• Low vision

• Cane navigation

Method:

• Think-aloud protocols

• Observation of physical interaction

• Pre/post task interviews

“It felt like a real challenge, not something adapted. I didn’t feel like I was being handheld.” — Test participant

Key Findings:

• Success: Players adapted to tactile cues quickly.

• Pain Point: Needed clearer tactile distinction → we moved to 3D printed materials.

• Insight: Users preferred puzzles that built tension and required memory.

🧰 Accessibility Toolkit Used

🎧 Audio Narration: All content, instructions, and logs in voice

🧼 Tactile Design : Braille + embossed symbols + magnetic paths

🧿 No Visual Dependency : Entire experience playable without sight

🧏 Voice Command + Keyboard Nav : Multiple input options for inclusivity

💬 Vibration-based Group Sync : Simulated via wristband taps (next step: haptic band)

🕶 Optional Meta Ray-Bans : Delivered audio prompts but limited reliability in tests

🔄 Iterations & Refinements

Replaced full alphabet with numbers — Simplified spatial mapping

Moved from post-its to 3D raised dots — Increased tactile accuracy

Added story-driven soundscape — Boosted immersion and urgency

Created 2 puzzle difficulty levels — Tailored to novice vs. experienced players

🌱 Outcomes & Next Steps

📍 Outcomes

• Fully playable 3-stage prototype escape room.

• Research-led, multisensory experience tailored for Helen Keller Services students.

• Presented to educators, testers, and inclusive design researchers for feedback.

🔮 Next Steps

• 3D print final board and puzzle pieces.

• Conduct longitudinal testing with blind youth in NYC.

• Develop app-based version using voice control and spatial audio navigation.

• Integrate real haptic feedback devices for group transitions.

🧠 What I Learned

This was one of the most transformative UX project I’ve ever led. It challenged everything I knew about interaction design, and taught me:

✅ Accessibility isn’t a checklist — it’s a design lens. ✅ Constraints drive creativity. ✅ The best games aren’t inclusive by default — they’re inclusive by design.

As a designer, I now specialize in designing with the senses — sound-first, touch-first, and always with user dignity and autonomy at the core.