Before you start
What playing a quest is like. A player finds your quest on the map and walks to its start. Clue cards appear on their phone as the story unfolds: some when they arrive at a spot, some after they solve a puzzle. They read signs, plaques, and statues to find answers, tap Hint when they're stuck, collect items in their pack, and reach an ending. Everything you build in the editor decides what appears, and when.
What you need. A place you can visit, a story idea, and your phone for testing on site. Building a short quest takes an evening; walking it to test takes about as long as playing it.
Think ahead. Before you open the editor, decide on:
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The story in a sentence: a mystery, a treasure hunt, a tour with a twist.
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4 to 6 stops, in the order players walk them.
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One puzzle per stop, each answered by something at that spot.
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An ending: a reveal, a twist, or a choice.
Follow along with an example. Throughout this guide we'll build a short library mystery, a simpler version of The Case of the Cane from our demo video. A detective needs your help finding a missing cane:
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Start: players arrive at the library. The detective explains the case.
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The plaque: a clue sends them to a plaque by the old time capsule.
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The locked box: a padlock opens with the year on that plaque. Inside is a key.
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The pillars: the key unlocks a final clue among the marble pillars, and the case is solved.
What makes a great quest
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One puzzle at a time. Reveal the next stop when the last is solved, so it reads as a story, not a checklist.
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Answers on site. The best clues come from the place itself: a plaque, a statue, a count of windows.
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Start easy. One or two simple puzzles teach the controls, then ramp up and mix puzzle types.
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Hints that build. Several per puzzle, so players feel they solved it themselves.
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A payoff. End with a twist, a reveal, or a choice. More endings make replays worth it.
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A good length. 20 to 45 minutes and under a mile of walking suits most players.
Build it in the editor
Every part of the editor, step by step, building the library example as we go.
A tour of the editor
Open the
quest editor in your browser or the DigiScape app, and sign in. Each quest has five tabs:
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Info: the quest's name, description, location, category, icon, lock code, and the switch to publish it.
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Scenes: the parts of your story. Most quests need only one scene. Inside a scene are its steps (your cards), shown three ways: a list, an outline of how steps connect, and a map of where they happen.
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World: your places, characters, and items, shared by every scene.
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Stats: how many people tried and finished your quest, and what they said.
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Preview: play your quest yourself, as a player would.
A step is anything that happens in your quest. Most steps are cards the player reads or a puzzle they solve. Some are invisible effects, like revealing the next pin on the map.
Set up your quest's info
On the Info tab:
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Quest name: short and intriguing. It's the first thing players see on the map.
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Description: 2 to 4 sentences that make someone want to go. Say where it starts, about how long it takes, and anything to bring.
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Location name: where it's played, like "DeKalb Public Library" or "Fabyan Park".
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Coordinates: where your quest's pin goes on the map. Choose it on the map, or use your current location.
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Category and icon: how your quest shows up in lists and on the map. Kids/Family, Mystery, Treasure Hunt, and others help the right players find it.
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Lock code: optional. Players must enter it before starting. Use it for a private event, a class, or while you're still testing with friends.
The Publish quest switch is here too. Leave it off until you've tested.
Draw your play area
Each scene has a play boundary, an outline around where that part of the quest happens. Set it on the Scenes tab with Edit boundary.
If a player walks outside it, the quest pauses with "Out of Bounds!" until they come back, so it keeps them near your stops and away from places like a busy road. It applies only to quests that use location.
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Keep every stop well inside. GPS can be off by 5 to 15 meters, so leave room at the edges, and more indoors.
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Use a simple outward shape with at least three points. A shape that bends inward gets redrawn.
In the example: a generous outline around the library and its front walk.
Add your places, characters, and items
On the World tab, add what your story needs before you write the cards that use them.
Places
A place is a spot on the map: a stop, a landmark, a building.
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Name, icon, and text: shown on its pin and when a player taps it.
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Location: set its GPS point on the map.
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Hit radius: the circle around the point that counts as "there". When a player walks into it, any card waiting for that place opens. Outdoors, 15 to 30 meters works well: GPS on phones is often off by 5 to 15 meters. Indoors GPS is unreliable, so use one big circle around the whole building and don't rely on GPS inside.
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Visible: whether the pin shows on the map from the start. Most quests show only the start pin, then reveal each next stop as the last one is solved.
In the example: one place, the library, with a circle big enough to cover the building.
Characters
A character is a person (or creature) in your story with a pin of their own: a detective, a ghost, a talking statue.
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Name, icon, and text: as for places.
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Location: a GPS point, a place, another character, or following the player as they walk.
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Hit radius and visible: as for places.
Characters also give your story a voice: write Dialog cards as one of them speaking.
Items
An item is something the player collects in their pack: a key, a map, a code word.
In the example: one item, a brass key.
Artifacts are items that belong to your account rather than one quest. Make one once, like a signature badge, and add it to any of your quests (up to 20).
Write your first cards
Open your scene on the Scenes tab. Every step you add is one card, puzzle, or effect.
Your first step is what players see when they start the quest. Use Add first step, choose a type, and write it. In the example it's the detective introducing the case.
Add the next steps with
Add next step on the step before. You'll choose how it connects (more in
the next section) and what type it is:
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Text: a clue or story card. Most cards are this.
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Dialog: a card written as a character speaking.
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Video: a card that plays a YouTube video.
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Puzzles: Padlock, Word, Button state, Button sequence, and Timer. See
Puzzle types.
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Effects: Item, Show, Hide, and Move. These change the world instead of showing a card.
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Plot: Choice, Death, and Door. Branches, dead ends, and endings.
Writing a good card:
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Title: a few words. It's how players find the card again in their Log.
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Text: 2 to 4 sentences. Players read it standing up, outside, on a phone, so every word should earn its place. A character's voice beats narration.
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Icon: a picture that fits the moment. On a puzzle, a solved icon can swap in once it's solved, like a padlock that opens.
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No spoilers: a card should never give away the answer to the puzzle it leads to.
Decide when each card appears
Every card waits for something. You set this in the step's Step flow, and the outline view shows the result.
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When the scene begins: a step that doesn't wait on any other appears the moment the player starts. That's your opening card. Most quests have just one.
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After discovery: appears once another step has appeared. In the example, the plaque clue appears right after the detective's introduction.
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After puzzle win: appears only once a puzzle is solved. In the example, the brass key appears only after the padlock opens. This is how you make players earn the next part.
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After puzzle fail: appears when a player gets a puzzle wrong, or a timer runs out. Use it for a "try again" card, a consequence, or a dead end.
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Blocked by discovery: disappears for good once another step appears. Use it for "too late" moments: once the alarm card appears, the quiet way in is gone.
When you use Add next step, the same choices show as After discovery, After solve, After fail, and When chosen (for a choice's options).
A step can wait on several others. By default it waits for all of them. Turn on Allow any one discovery connection to open it as soon as any one appears, for example when two different clues can both lead to the finale.
Keep it to one puzzle at a time. Open a single puzzle, and reveal the next one when it's solved. Several puzzles opening at once reads like a checklist, not a story.
Tie cards to the real world
Discovery conditions are extra requirements a step must meet on top of its step flow. Add them with Add discovery condition.
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Geo lock: the card opens when the player walks into the circle around a place, a character, or a GPS point. This is how a clue waits until the player actually gets to the plaque. The circle is the place's hit radius, or one you set on the lock (10 meters if you don't).
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Time lock: the card opens only in a time window, counted from midnight, from the start of the quest, or from when another step appeared. Use it for a clue that only shows at night, or a "five minutes later, the phone rings" moment.
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Item lock: the player must use an item from their pack on the card before this one. In the example, they use the brass key on the locked-door card to open the final clue. You choose whether using it takes the item away, and whether other items also work.
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Visibility lock: the card opens while a place or character is showing on the map, or while it's hidden.
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Unsolved until: keeps a card marked Current until another step appears, so players know to come back to it, for example a card they'll need to use an item on later.
Most conditions other than item locks can be flipped with Inverse: "not at this place", "not in this window", "not visible". For example, a ghost's card that only appears when the player is not near the lantern.
Write hints that help
Hints are how players get unstuck without giving up. Each hint belongs to one card.
How players see them. A card with hints shows a Hint button with how many are left. Each tap reveals the next hint, in the order you put them. If a player gets a puzzle wrong twice, the button pulses; on the third wrong try, the hints open on their own. The results screen at the end shows how many hints they used.
Write a ladder, not a giveaway. Give every puzzle 2 to 4 hints, each a little more specific than the last, so the final nudge sparks the answer and players feel they solved it themselves:
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Point them where to look: "The detective said the box opens the same year as something nearby."
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Narrow it down: "Look for a plaque near the time capsule."
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Nearly there: "The year the capsule was sealed is on the plaque's bottom line."
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Last resort, the answer itself, so nobody is stuck for good.
Hint types:
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Text: a written hint, like the ones above.
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Hot-cold: a signal that gets warmer as the player gets closer to a place, character, or point. Great for "find the spot" puzzles where the hard part is where to stand.
Puzzle types
For each: what the player sees, what you fill in, and what to watch for.
Padlock
A combination lock with wheels the player spins.
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Code: the combination, one wheel per character, like 1958 or a word.
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Wheel symbols: A to Z unless you set your own, like 0123456789 for numbers.
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Good for numbers and dates found on site, like the year on a plaque.
Word
Blanks the player types the answer into.
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Answer: the sentence players see, with the words they must type in [square brackets]. For example, "The bell rings at [NOON]" shows "The bell rings at" and four empty boxes. Several bracketed words make several blanks.
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Keyboard: QWERTY, numbers, or your own set of keys. A custom keyboard must include every letter of the answer.
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Capital letters don't matter when checking answers.
A grid of buttons the player turns on and off until the pattern is right, in any order.
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Set the rows, columns, and shape (circle, square, rectangle, or triangle), and up to two characters on each button.
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Answer: which buttons should end up on.
The same buttons, pressed in the right order. Buttons can be a grid or arrows.
Timer
A countdown: the player must reach a chosen step before time runs out.
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Time: how long they have.
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Target steps: reaching any one of them in time solves it.
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Running out counts as a fail, so give it an After puzzle fail card for what happens next.
Story moments: reveals, items, choices, and endings
Reveal the next stop
Use a Show step to put a place or character's pin on the map, and Hide to take it away. The usual pattern: when a puzzle is solved, a Show step reveals the next stop's pin, so players always know where to go next and never see the whole route at once.
Give items
An Item step puts an item in the player's pack. Any card can also give a gift item the moment it appears. On a puzzle that's when the puzzle card shows up, before it's solved, which suits a tool the puzzle needs. To reward the solve, give the item from a step that comes After puzzle win, like the brass key in the example.
Move characters
A Move step sends a character to a place, another character, or a point, or makes them follow the player. A ghost that trails you around the park is a Move step set to follow.
Choices
A Choice step asks the player to pick, like "open the red door" or "open the blue door". Each option works like a step of its own: add the next card of that branch on it with Add next step, choosing When chosen. Only the branch the player picks opens. Different endings make players want to play again.
Dead ends
A Death step is a dead end: the player chose badly, or failed something final. Its button sends them back to an earlier step to try again, or ends the quest as a loss. Send them to a step before the puzzle, not the puzzle itself, or the wrong answer counts again and sends them straight back.
Endings and more scenes
A Door step ends the current scene. Point it at the next scene to continue, or at the end to finish the quest. Every quest needs at least one door that ends it, or players can never finish.
Most quests need just one scene. Add more on the
Scenes tab when the story moves somewhere new and you want a clean slate, like a new level. Each scene has its own
play area, so a new scene can move the quest to a new spot. Anything a later scene needs must be an item, since cards stay in their own scene.
Test and publish
Walk it on site, fix what trips you up, and put it on the map.
Test it on site
Preview plays your quest exactly as a player would, using your real location. That means location cards only open where they're set, so walk the quest on site with your phone.
Check as you go:
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Every pin is where it should be, and its circle is big enough to trigger.
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Walking the whole route never puts you out of bounds.
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Every answer can be found on site, and is spelled the way you typed it.
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Every hint helps, and the last one gives the answer.
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Every item a later card needs is given somewhere first.
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You can reach an ending.
If a card never shows up, check its step flow (is it waiting on a step that never appears?) and its conditions (is the circle too small, the time window wrong, the item never given?). The outline view shows what each step waits on.
Publish it, and keep it fresh
When it works on site, turn on Publish quest on the Info tab. Your quest appears on the map for everyone nearby. Turn it off to take it down again; a lock code keeps it to the people you share the code with.
After it's live:
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Stats: see attempts, completions, likes, and reports, and read what players wrote.
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Fix what players hit: a report or a comment usually points at a puzzle that's too hard or a pin that's off.
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Edit carefully once people are playing: players part-way through continue on the updated quest, so add and adjust steps rather than deleting ones they might be on.
Quick reference
Every setting in one place, for when you're building.
Scenes
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Title: for you, in the editor.
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Play boundary: the play area. Outside it, a location quest switches to the map with "Out of Bounds!".
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Steps: each scene's own cards; a step can only wait on steps in its scene.
Step types
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Explore: Text (a clue or story card), Dialog (spoken by a character), Video (plays a YouTube video).
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Puzzle: Padlock (combination wheels), Word (fill in the blanks), Button state (the right pattern), Button sequence (the right order), Timer (reach a step in time).
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Effect: Item (into the pack), Show and Hide (a pin on the map), Move (a character).
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Plot: Choice (branch the story), Death (rewind, or lose), Door (next scene, or the end).
Step settings
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Title, text, icon, and solved icon: what the card shows.
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Hints: text or hot-cold, revealed one at a time.
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Gift item: given when the step appears.
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Step group: files the step under a place or character in the editor, in its color.
Step flow
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When the scene begins: waits on nothing.
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After discovery, After puzzle win, After puzzle fail: waits on another step.
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Blocked by discovery: gone once another step appears.
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Allow any one discovery connection: any one instead of all.
Discovery conditions
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Geo lock: at a place, character, or point (10 meters by default).
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Time lock: in a window after midnight, the quest start, or a step (60 minutes by default).
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Item lock: using an item from the pack.
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Visibility lock: while a place or character is showing or hidden.
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Unsolved until: keeps a card Current until a step appears.
What players see
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Clues: the cards still in play.
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Current and Solved: a card is Current while something still waits on it, like an unsolved puzzle; Solved after.
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Log: every card of the scene so far.
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Pack: the items they're carrying.