Help

The path through the builderFive steps, listed under “Your path” – each with a dot that turns green.

1. Basics and appearance. Who it’s for, title, first door, number of doors, time zone, how the doors open (one per day, one after another, or all at once) – and the calendar’s language (German, French, Italian or English). Then design, colour, character, and what can be seen before the start.
2. Story. Either with the story assistant: you enter the key facts and a few in-jokes, it writes a prompt for an AI of your choice, you paste in the answer and the builder turns it into doors. Or you start from scratch and fill every door yourself.
3. Doors. Each one consists of a clue, a lock and a reward – see below.
4. Collections and tools. Optional. Things that are gathered across several doors, and things you get to hold in your hand.
5. Wrap up. Only you can add, address, export, print.

The preview shows you your calendar at any time in a phone frame, with all doors open – on a computer next to the form, on a phone below it.

You can switch the builder’s language at the very top, with the language symbol. The calendar’s own language is chosen separately, under “Basics → Calendar language”.

DoorsClue, lock, reward – and, if you want more, several stages.

The clue is what you see when the door opens: text in the character’s speech bubbles, a photo, an audio recording, an encrypted text, something hidden under red film, mirror writing, an anagram.

The lock is how it opens: type in an answer, combination lock, multiple choice, several fields, sliding puzzle, memory game, put things in order, scan a hidden QR code, find an object with the camera – or no lock at all, which makes it a greeting.

The reward is what you get: text, a photo, a piece for the collection book, confetti or snow, or a reveal – lines that appear one after another, for the grand finale.

Answers: upper/lower case, accents and umlauts (é = e, ä = ae), spaces and punctuation don’t matter. Write every sensible variant on its own line – “comb” and “zip” and “zipper”, if they’re all correct.

Stages: a door can have up to three stages: first one puzzle, then the next, each with its own clue, lock and reward. Great for the finale. In a free calendar, only the last door may have a second stage.

Hints: for the pixel picture, hints come via a button, after wrong answers, or day by day. The other locks have no built-in hints – a good clue text is the best hint there. The character comments on wrong answers with its own lines.

All puzzle types, each with an example to try: Puzzles and tools.

Collections and toolsWhat comes together across several doors – and what you print.

Collections live in the collection book at the bottom of the calendar page: the words of a sentence, the letters of a solution word, or notes. You hand out the pieces in the doors as the reward “Collectible”. The builder shows you which pieces haven’t been placed anywhere yet.

Tools are real objects: the red film (it makes red noise see-through), the cipher wheel (for turning), the stencil (a mask with holes laid over a text), a mirror, a key. You create them, print the wheel, stencil and key via “Print” and hide them – a clue can show which tool is needed. The red film isn’t printed but bought (coloured film from a craft shop, a red clear plastic sleeve, or at a pinch a red sweet wrapper); under “Print” there’s a film test so you can check that the shade really makes the noise disappear.

Order for printing: publish first – then print. The QR codes contain your calendar’s address; if it’s wrong, the printed codes lead nowhere.

Only you can fill inEverything that neither the AI nor a template can know.

Wherever the calendar says “TODO” – a name, an in-joke, a hiding place, a missing photo – the builder lists it under “Only you can add”: texts first, then photos, then hiding places. One click takes you to the spot; an item disappears as soon as it’s done. As long as there are errors or empty doors, the calendar can’t be exported. Leftover “TODO”s are only a warning – it could be exported, but the person receiving it would read the TODO.

In the templates, exactly these spots are prepared: the story is written, you fill in about ten gaps. For now the templates are only available in German.

ExportingOne file, all solutions encrypted.

The preview is the calendar with all doors open – for testing on your own phone. Never give it away.

The calendar is the real file “index.html”: every door is encrypted and only decrypted on the right day. Changing the clock on the phone doesn’t help, because the date comes from the server the file is on. Anyone looking inside the file finds no solutions.

Disguise: if you choose the disguise under “Before the start”, everyone sees only an error page before the first day – you too. The publish dialog shows your secret link (with #a=…); with it you see the countdown instead of the disguise. The link is also on the solution sheet.

Solution sheet: for printing, just for you: all solutions, hiding places, QR codes to cut out and the list of preparations.

Going onlineWith one click: publish.

1. In the builder, tap Publish at the top. The builder checks the calendar and encrypts everything.
2. Choose Publish on escalender.ch. The first time, you sign in – without a password: you get a code by email.
3. Your calendar gets its own address, e.g. escalender.ch/k/7f3kq2. That link (or its QR code) is what you give away.
4. Then print the QR codes and the solution sheet – only now do the QR codes know the address.

Changing it: under My calendars, tap “Edit”, make your changes in the builder and publish again. The link and QR codes stay the same, and the progress of the person receiving it is kept. This also works from another device.

During the test phase, only invited people can sign in, and publishing is free.

Photos, camera, ARWhat happens to pictures and when the camera works.

Photos are automatically scaled down when uploaded (longest side 1600 pixels) so the calendar doesn’t get too big. Under “Media” you see the total size; from about 15 MB the builder warns you. For the sliding puzzle, you crop the photo to a square in the builder.

QR codes are scanned with the phone’s normal camera. Each code contains the calendar’s address plus a secret key for the door. If a code is found too early, the character says so – and remembers the find for the right day.

AR (augmented reality, the lock “Camera on a picture (AR)”) needs a target image: in the builder, choose “Create from photo” – a photo of the object, with as much contrast as possible, well lit, taken from the front. The builder calculates the target from it (this takes a while; progress is shown). Alternatively, you can upload a ready-made .mind file.

The camera only opens via a secure address (https, as with published calendars) – not when the file is opened directly on the phone. So to test QR and AR, publish the calendar or use the preview in the builder on a computer.

SavingIn the browser, in “My calendars” – and as a file.

The builder keeps saving your draft in the browser, on this device.

Published calendars are also kept in My calendars. From there you open them on any device with “Edit” – no file needed.

Not published yet? Then the draft only exists in this browser. “Save” downloads a .json file: it’s your backup, and it’s how you take the draft to another device (“Open a saved project”). This file contains all the solutions – don’t give it to anyone and never upload it anywhere public.

When something doesn’t workThe most common stumbling blocks.