James Smith is Senior Game Designer at Professor Puzzle, a UK-based company that specialises in puzzly games. He has written and designed a broad range of escape room games and mini murder mysteries, including the recent Taskmaster: The Escape Room game. In this interview, he talks about his design process, the game he is most proud of and his upcoming release, Jurassic Park: Escape from Isla Nublar.
(Meet Your Maker is an interview series featuring creators of puzzle and mystery games and experiences from across the globe. We aim to shine a spotlight on both established creators and those who are just setting out on their journey. Stay tuned for more interviews coming soon.)
Please can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is James Smith, and I’m a game designer based in Ashford, Surrey. My circumstances might be a little different in that I’m not self-employed or freelance; I’m employed full-time at Professor Puzzle. Most of my spare time is devoted to playing games, too. I have two cats called Godot and Nyx. I design escape room games to feed them and to fund my bad habits, like Magic: the Gathering.
What does your role at Professor Puzzle entail?
Day-to-day, my work varies quite a bit depending on the stage of development a project is at. For the games I work on, I write the story, design the gameplay, and create the individual puzzles. Early on, I work closely with the design team to discuss what components we can include, and which ideas we’ll need to drop.
I also coordinate and observe playtesting, making many changes based on consistent feedback. I then work with the design team to implement those changes. We use detailed checklists to make sure nothing is missed during the playtest process. I also review both early prototype samples and copies from the main factory run to check for any issues.
How did you first get into puzzle design?
I’m still not quite sure. I joined Professor Puzzle to design and advise on games more generally. The company had already started exploring escape room games at that point and was looking to develop more of them. I wanted to take the escape rooms in a different direction, so I started actively developing my own. I began with smaller travel games like Escape from the Museum and built some trust that I could make escape room games. From there, I worked my way up to larger titles.
Has your approach to designing games changed much over the years, or do you have a tried-and-true method that you stick to?
I’m sure there have been developments, but generally I approach each project by starting with a theme or mood and then thinking about the key elements it needs to include. From there, I build the puzzles.
With Curse of the Dark, for example, I knew I wanted it to be big, Gothic, and set in a castle. I wanted the player to feel like they were uncovering new mysteries as they explored, which is where the room tiles came in to give that sense of progression and discovery. Then I started adding in specific puzzle elements – things like big libraries, stained glass, and statues. There were also ideas like gargoyles in the courtyard and a second level to the castle, but those ideas ultimately hit the cutting room floor.
I don’t think that process has changed dramatically, even as I’ve worked more on licensed games. Now I’ll start by looking at the license and thinking about the tone the game needs to have. I do my research, identify the key elements, and then build the puzzles from there. I don’t come to a theme or a licensed IP with pre-made puzzles – the theme always comes first.
What are your favourite and least favourite puzzle types, and why?
I do particularly like puzzles with fun reveals. I’ve always enjoyed ones where players draw or write the answer through the action of solving the puzzle. Those also tend to translate well into tabletop games. I don’t know if I have a particular favourite type – most can work well if they’re used interestingly. I think that’s what I like about escape rooms: they’re more about figuring out what the puzzle is actually asking you to do. The ‘a-ha’ moment is the solution.
On the flip side, I’m less keen on puzzles where the player is told how to solve them, but the process of actually doing that is a long chore. Anything that’s a lot of maths, or an especially long cipher. If a puzzle essentially says, ‘here’s what you need to do – off you go’, but then takes a long time to carry out, it can start to feel like busywork. It depends, though!
You’ve worked on some impressive games at Professor Puzzle, including Curse of the Dark, Danger in the Deep and Taskmaster: The Escape Room. Which project are you most proud of and why?
I’m quite proud of all those for different reasons. I’m proud of Taskmaster because it was a great project to work on, and I feel we’ve made something that the fans will love.
I’m proud of Danger in the Deep because it was the first large game I worked on where I had creative control. It was about finding a format for escape rooms that I liked. Some of the escape room games I’d played back then had a lot of story to read, and I felt this broke the flow of the gameplay – they were very stop-start. I wanted something much closer to an actual escape room experience. Danger was about getting the core design of our escape rooms established, which we’ve iterated on ever since.
I think I’m proudest of Curse of the Dark. It was a much bigger project than Danger, but I don’t think it took that much longer to develop. Elliot Humphries is the graphic designer for both Danger and Curse, and he did an amazing job building the castle in 3D in Blender. That’s where we got the angles for the room tiles from. I think Curse is a more accomplished game because, after the foundation that Danger set, I had more time to really focus on the puzzles.
With Danger in the Deep, your first ‘big’ game, did you face any particular challenges during the development process?
One of the biggest challenges with Danger in the Deep was developing it during and between COVID lockdowns. There are definitely things I’d approach differently now with more experience. For example, we used photos of people from around the office for the pin-up board in the game, and because of the social-distancing restrictions, everyone had to be photographed individually.
The main technical challenge, though, was the UV torch. It was a new component for Professor Puzzle at the time, and it caused a lot of testing work across the company. I was keen for the torch batteries to be included. I think it’s a reasonable expectation that a boxed game should be ready to play straight away – players shouldn’t be stopped from starting a game night because nobody has AAA batteries! However, that decision did have knock-on effects. In the first production run, a metal safety ring was incorrectly included in the torch. It’s meant to secure the batteries, but it also makes them harder to replace! The production was later changed so that the batteries were packaged separately.
Danger is now discontinued, so any copies out there might develop battery issues over time. If anyone does have an original copy, please just remove the safety ring!
Curse of the Dark is a large, original game with unique gameplay mechanics and a gothic vibe – where did the idea for this come from?
I’ve always loved Gothic horror, and Curse was a bit of a dream project for me. I had a Word document with a list of locations I was considering exploring next, and right at the top was ‘Gothic castle’. I wanted a grand, atmospheric setting that could naturally support lots of puzzles, and castles are perfect for that – they’re full of secret rooms, hidden mechanisms, and dungeons. Very early on, I also knew I wanted a stained-glass window to act as a centrepiece in the game.
I kept the story fairly simple and drew inspiration from Gothic literature like Dracula, with a bit of The Picture of Dorian Gray in the mix as well. The game was going to end with a moral choice, and this would be connected to the stained-glass window.
As development started, I turned to some video games for tone and structure – particularly Castlevania and Resident Evil, which both capture the atmosphere and sense of exploration that I was aiming for. Betrayal at House on the Hill was also an influence through its own tile-based room system. From the start, I wanted the castle to physically expand as the game progressed, with players uncovering new rooms over time. The map tile system quickly became a core part of the design.
Do you handle any of the graphic design elements of the puzzle design?
I don’t handle the graphic design side. I’ll draw or make a simple functional version, and brief a graphic designer on the idea and how I want the puzzle to look. One of the most enjoyable parts of development for me is when a designer like Elliot takes that initial version and then adds their own flair and detail during the artwork stage. They’re the visual design experts, and there’s always a discussion about how to improve each puzzle. That’s why it’s such an exciting part in the process – it’s when the puzzles start being iterated upon and changing for the better.
More recently, you’ve worked on some big IP projects, such as Taskmaster and Jurassic Park. What differences are there in working on an original project vs IP?
When you’re adapting an existing IP into an escape room, you’re working with an established tone, audience, and set of expectations. You don’t have that with an original project. Different licence holders also have different rules about what can and can’t be included. I can’t go into specifics, but it’s interesting to work within those constraints. I enjoy restrictions in game design – they help focus the project and often lead to creative solutions.
One thing I’m always conscious of is making sure the game works for everyone, whether they’re fans of the IP or not. It’s easy to fall into the trap of creating something that relies on fan-level knowledge, but that’s not what an escape room should be. You can include nods and references for fans, but the core experience has to stand on its own. The usual escape room rule of ‘no outside knowledge required’ still applies. I playtested both Taskmaster and Jurassic Park with people who hadn’t watched them.
IP adaptations also raise an interesting question: who’s setting the puzzles? With Taskmaster, that’s straightforward – the Taskmaster sets tasks, so the puzzles are his tasks. It’s a natural fit. Jurassic Park is different. The excitement of the ‘escape’ fits well, but the dinosaurs aren’t exactly prowling around the park, setting puzzle challenges! You can overthink diegesis in puzzle games – we’re making puzzle games for fun! But it’s still worth considering. In Jurassic Park, I sometimes use the player character’s internal thought process to frame puzzles. For example, one puzzle comes from the character’s train of thought while hiding from a Velociraptor.
Taskmaster: The Escape Room has been a big hit. How did you land on the 3D house, and did this pose many challenges?
I wanted something with a central table presence, like Curse. At the start of development, I knew that most of the tasks took place at the Taskmaster house. When I looked at the house, it wasn’t really suited to a tile-based system like Curse. That game is about investigating and discovering new and unknown places, whereas the Taskmaster house is a small, familiar space. It’s got iconic rooms, covered in background detail and set design on every wall. It had to be a 3D house.
In terms of challenges, it’s a boring answer, but not really! The game’s graphic designer, Kelv, is a big Taskmaster fan. We decided to focus on the most recognisable rooms from the show, rather than making an exact model. He designed how the box would fit together to create the 3D house – I don’t think we ever changed it, or at least not much. He nailed it the first time. This was actually one of the smoother projects.
Do you prefer to work on larger, more complex games or the smaller ‘quick win’ projects?
Larger games, no question. I prefer to really immerse myself in a single project. When you have more time to develop something, you can add in more ideas and cut them down to the strongest ones. There’s more time to refine them properly and ultimately end up with a stronger result. It’s also really satisfying to look back at the start of a project when you’re finished a few months later and see how far everything has come.
Quick wins have their place as well – they’re good for recharging after an enormous project, and for trying out new ideas. They’re usually less stressful, too!
What are some of your favourite puzzle games/designers?
Perspectives, by Matthew Dunstan and Dave Neale, is a great game. It’s easy to learn and has a flexible player count that scales well. Each player gets dealt different information about a crime and must communicate with the others to solve it. It’s a simple idea, executed brilliantly.
The Exit series by Inka and Markus Brand is a high watermark for tabletop escape room design.
I backed Interstellar Adventures on Kickstarter after meeting Harriet Cody and Cole Jefferies at UK Games Expo 2025. That one I really enjoyed for its co-op-focused puzzles and activities.
On the video game side, I love Lucas Pope’s games. Return of the Obra Dinn is a must-play puzzle game. The entire game is one big puzzle: find out how each person on a ghost ship met their end, through still scenes and audio clues. Last year’s Blue Prince was excellent, too. It’s got some brilliant hidden puzzles as well as being a unique roguelike game. I also think it’s cool that the designer, Tonda Ros, channelled his ad revenue from his Magic: The Gathering website MythicSpoiler into developing that game. I use that site a lot and had no idea!
Lastly, what can you tease about the upcoming Jurassic Park escape room game?
It’s called Jurassic Park: Escape from Isla Nublar. The game is set concurrently with the events of the original film, with players taking on the role of a new employee arriving for their first day at the park just as everything starts to go wrong.
The game is divided into three boxed sections, each containing nine puzzles to solve. The full game takes around four hours, but each section can be played separately, making it easy to spread across multiple play sessions. One of the standout features is a 3D card T. rex model that players build throughout the game. The box is packed with other components, including an employee handbook, a map of Jurassic Park, puzzle cards, scene cards that depict your surroundings, and more.
I think the game plays best with two to four players, but it can also be enjoyed solo. Any puzzles that require writing on or folding components use separate, reprintable sheets, with spare copies included and downloadable replacements available online. That means the game can be fully reset and passed on once completed. There is some optional digital integration, like in Taskmaster: The Escape Room, but the entire game can be played offline if preferred.
Thank you!
A huge thank you to James, who is currently very busy working on multiple games, so I really appreciate his taking the time to share some insight into his role at Professor Puzzle. He’s worked on a wide range of exciting games and holds a job role that is really quite unique in the industry. I’m very excited for the release of Jurassic Park: Escape from Isla Nublar, which should launch later this year (RRP £25).
A couple of the games mentioned in this interview (Danger in the Deep and Curse of the Dark) are no longer in print, but can still be found online at some retailers. I suggest you grab a copy while you can, as they are both very good!
Find Professor Puzzle online
Discover more from The Escape Puzzler - Puzzle Game reviews + more!
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
