An objective is a puzzle or task players solve. It’s the backbone of a game: ARC tracks each objective’s completion, the hints attached to it, and any device that proves it’s been solved. The Objectives tab is where you build that flow.
Open the Editor, choose your game, and go to the Objectives tab.
Create an objective
- On the Objectives tab, select Add Objective.
- Give it a clear name staff will recognize, like "Open the safe" or "Find the key."
- Set the details below that matter for this puzzle — its solution, what it unlocks, its icon, and its group.
- Add the hints staff can send if a team gets stuck.
Each objective can carry the following details.
| Field | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| Name | The label shown to staff on the control page. |
| Solution or Code | The answer or code for the puzzle — shown to staff, and optionally sendable to a display. |
| What does it unlock? | What solving this objective opens up, for tracking the puzzle flow. |
| What do players receive? | What the team walks away with, for staff reference. |
| Reference images | Pictures of the solved state, so staff can confirm a solve at a glance. |
| Notes | Private staff notes — reset instructions, escalation steps, tips. |
| Icon | A small icon so the objective is easy to spot in a list. |
| Group | The objective group this belongs to (see below). |
| Where do hints appear? | Which displays this objective’s hints go to. Leave it empty to use every display, or the group’s default. |
Objectives save as you edit them — there is no separate save step.
List and Flow
The Objectives tab has two views of the same objectives, chosen with the List and Flow tabs in its toolbar.
List is the working view: your objectives in order, grouped if you use groups, with drag-and-drop to reorder them or move one between groups. Each row carries small badges that tell you what still needs attention — No hints, No solution, Missing media, Setup incomplete, Camera, Automation.
Flow is a canvas where you draw which objectives unlock which. Drag an objective from the Available objectives rail on the left onto the canvas, then drag from the bottom of one card to the top of another to say “this one unlocks that one.” ARC refuses a link that would loop back on itself and tells you why. Right-click a card to remove it from the canvas or remove a link, and use Auto arrange to tidy the whole map into rows by dependency order. Clicking a card opens that objective.
The flow you draw here is what the control page uses to lock objectives whose prerequisites aren’t done yet — see Objective dependencies below.
Flow is optional
A room with a straightforward, linear puzzle order doesn’t need the Flow view at all. Reach for it when a room branches, or when you want staff warned before they complete something out of order.
Objective groups
An objective group is a named container for objectives within a game — a way to organize a long puzzle flow into sections. Groups give the control page tabs and a progress stepper, so staff running a multi-stage room can see which section the team is in.
Use groups to mirror the structure of your room: “Act 1,” “Act 2,” and “Finale,” or one group per physical area.
Saved hints
Each objective can carry saved hints — clues you write ahead of time so staff can send the right help with one tap. A hint can be any of these types:
| Hint type | What players get |
|---|---|
| Text | A line of text on the display. |
| Image | An image pushed to the display. |
| Video | A video clip. |
| Audio | An audio clip. |
| Text to Speech | Text read aloud by a synthesized voice. |
| Verbal | A script staff read aloud themselves, with a “Mark as sent” step on the control page. |
For each hint you set its name, type, content (or the media file from your game or shared library), and the display it targets.
Hints and the Hints settings tab work together
Hint limits, manual hints, and help requests are switched on for the whole game under Settings → Hints on this same page. Here on each objective you write the hints those settings govern.
Auto-complete from a device
You can link an objective to a device so it completes itself the instant the puzzle is solved in the room. With objective auto-complete, you point the objective at a device’s solved state — when the reed switch closes, the keypad reads the right code, or the relay reports “open,” ARC marks the objective complete on its own.
This keeps the control page in step with the room without a staff member watching for every solve.
Override and bypass
Two staff actions on the control page need setup here:
- Override — staff can manually complete an objective, or trigger a device action through it, with the override button. If you set an override device, staff can send that device’s command straight from the objective card.
- Allow bypass — when on, staff can mark an objective as skipped without solving it, to keep a stuck team moving. Turn this off for objectives that must be solved.
Bypass keeps a game moving
Allow bypass on puzzles where a team being truly stuck shouldn’t end the experience. Staff can skip the objective and carry on, and the bypass is logged in the timeline.
Staff notes and solution images
Two extras help staff help players:
- Staff notes — private notes only staff see, explaining how a puzzle works or how to reset it. They appear behind a “View notes” action on the control page.
- Solution images — images of the solved state, so staff can confirm a puzzle quickly or guide a team. Where allowed, staff can also send the solution text to a display.
Objective and hint settings
Settings that apply to every objective in the game live in one Objectives & hints drawer, opened from the Settings button in the Objectives toolbar. Use its Objectives and Hints tabs to switch sections. Changes save automatically.
Objectives tab
How objectives finish, and the guidance ARC gives staff while a game runs.
- Auto-end on complete — end the game automatically once every objective is done.
- Hold to complete — staff press and hold an objective for a moment to mark it complete, so a stray click can’t. On by default. (Restoring a completed objective always takes a hold, whatever this is set to.)
- Objective dependencies — how the control page treats an objective whose prerequisites aren’t finished. Warn lets staff complete it anyway with a caution; Block won’t let them until the earlier objectives are done. You draw the prerequisites in the Flow view.
- Assist — how much help ARC offers staff when a group looks stuck.
- Show pace to staff — show whether the team is ahead or behind. Pace needs 10 recorded games before it appears.
Hints tab
How hints reach players — sending, alert sounds, spoken delivery, and help requests.
Four collapsible sections: Hint behavior (limits, manual hints, the hint queue), Hint alerts (the sound that plays alongside a hint), Spoken hints (the synthesized voice), and Help requests (what staff and players experience when a team asks for help). See Game settings for what each one does.
Where to go next
- Game settings — what each setting in the Objectives & hints drawer does.
- Media — upload the images, audio, and video your hints point to.
- Devices — set up the device an objective auto-completes from.
- Cameras — link a camera to an objective for a one-tap view.
- Hints and objectives on the control page — how staff send these hints during a game.