History Main / DevelopersRoom

* ''VideoGame/{{Wandersong}}'' has one, though it isn't recognizable at first. At the beginning of the game, there is an area by the Bard's house that is occupied by a cat. The cat will tell you to come back later, "Once you've seen the end of the world". [[spoiler:When you return at the very end of the game, inputting a randomized password based on the symbols of the overseers will allow you to enter a room occupied by three people who worked on the game.]]

* ''VideoGame/zOMG'' has one of these, consisting of a tavern in the FirstTown.

* In ''[[VideoGame/Zork Beyond Zork]]'', you can travel to the dimension of the Implementors (development team) and have lunch with them.

* The granddaddy of all adventure games, ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'', features something like this. When you have solved all the puzzles, you are transported to a backstage area full of game props and snoozing dwarves, and have to make your way to the exit.

* In ''[[VideoGame/Zork Beyond Zork'', you can travel to the dimension of the Implementors (development team) and have lunch with them.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Antichamber}}'' has several, all of them hidden behind some of the game's most challenging puzzles.
* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', finishing the main story unlocks Intersite Town, an entire developers’ ''town'' with plenty to see, including a SoundTest, a “Rarity Showcase” that explains all of the game’s hidden items, a house where you can rewatch the credits, and a huge museum filled with tons of behind-the-scenes trivia. If you have a swimsuit, then you can also trigger a BeachEpisode while you’re here.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': The "best" ending, achieved by beating the game as soon as possible, is one of these, with enough developer-avatars to fill a dozen rooms.
** Ditto for the sequel, ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''.
** You can also access this in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' if you manage to prevail in the HopelessBossFight - as said boss has dramatically boosted stats compared to any other time you fight it, it's actually easier to beat it by the above method (which can involve fighting the final boss alone).
* During the credits of ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'', Tanner drives through Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the hometown of Reflections. This was originally meant to be a playable area, but got DummiedOut, although there is a mod for the PC version that allows access to it.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'': It's hidden in the Dwarves' castle. It was removed from the English-language SNES release (probably due to the maps being removed to make room for the expanded training room and because the secret [[JokeItem Porno Mag item]] would not get past Nintendo's strict censors at the time.), then restored in later versions and in the Namingway Edition hack of the US SNES version. Note that the characters found in the [[VideoGameRemake DS version]] are different, to reflect the development team for that version specifically.
** The location is also accessible in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears After Years]]'' as well, but the place is empty and there's a note on the door that says "Old Developer's Room, new location will be posted later". A later chapter changes the sign to read "Please do not look for us". The new location is on the moon, found by using a warp to go to "???" after a major story event and then using a secret passage.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' also had one for the 2015 Rising Event, which was the second anniversary of ''A Realm Reborn's'' launch. In the event, the Wandering Minstrel (who was an AuthorAvatar that has been in the game for a while) is investigating an issue that turns out to be LampshadeHanging on bots and debugs. After completing it, he brings you to the developer's room, which turns out to be filled with wacky [[AuthorAvatar AuthorAvatars]] for several of the developers. Interestingly, due to this game in the series being an MMORPG and events only being temporary, the Developer's Room was temporary as well, and it remains to be seen if we'll ever get to go there again.

* ''VideoGame/MachinaOfThePlanetTreePlanetRuler'': After beating the game, the player will be allowed to save, which loads into the sound test room. Talking to the AuthorAvatar several times reveals plans for an update to the game and a sequel.
* Every mainline ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has either a branch office where the player can meet the game's staff or a hotel room where you can talk to a designer who's on vacation. Going to this location after completing the Pokédex will get you a OneHundredPercentCompletion certificate from them. From ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' onwards, you're able to battle Shigeki Morimoto once a day, with Morimoto being a designer and programmer who has been involved in the series from the beginning. He's best known for personally designing [[SecretCharacter Mew]] and adding it to the game at the last minute, a move credited for making ''Pokémon'' a CashCowFranchise.
** This is also how you unlock the GB Sounds key item in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''.
** You can also battle another developer, Koji Nishino, in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 Black 2 and White 2]]''. His team includes a Snorlax, based on an in-joke concerning Nishino's tendency to eat moldy food from the company fridge.
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Sun and Moon]]'', winning against Morimoto the first time grants you an item that speeds up egg hatching. Showing him certain Pokémon that originated from the Virtual Console releases of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Red and Blue]]'' to him will have him reveal some tidbits about ''Red and Blue'''s development [[note]]specifically, Mankey, Tauros, Exeggutor, Diglett and Mew.[[/note]]. ''[[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon]]'' throws in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]]'' development facts and a set of Apricorn Balls if you show off creatures from the VC releases of those games, in addition to a double battle against Kazumasa Iwao (the game's director, who happens to have a unique character model).
* The ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series has the Insomniac Museum, which can be accessed in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (by getting all Skill Points and Weapon Mods, by using a hidden teleporter on Boldan between 3 AM and 4 AM [It's developed by ''Insomniac'' Games after all], or by jumping off the grind rail at a certain point, going over to the building containing the teleporter, finding a non-solid wall to go under the building and jumping through the floor), ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'' (by getting all 15 trophies or using a hidden teleporter on Kerwan between 3 AM and 4 AM again) and ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime A Crack in Time]]'' (by rescuing all Zoni, beating the game, and defeating BonusBoss [[spoiler:Lord Vorselon for the third time]]). As its name implies, it also doubles as a behind-the-scenes gallery of things scrapped during development of the games.
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2016'' also contains the Insomniac Museum, but it's different from the aforementioned three. Instead of containing things that didn't make it into the game, it just contains things from every game from the first through that game (although none of it can be taken, only looked at) and the movie scenes that appeared in the game, plus two of the Japanese commercials for ''Going Commando''.
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters'' and ''VideoGame/SecretAgentClank'' also have the High Impact Games treehouse, which also contains the gallery.
** ''Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA'' has a entire course set in Midway's offices.
* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'': Can only be accessed after completing all the characters' stories. You can re-battle bosses from other stories with the character you most recently cleared with, and there are some stronger versions of bosses to be fought there as well.
** The English patch for ''VideoGame/RomancingSaga3'' by Mana_Sword also added one into the game, accessible via an overelaborate sidequest bordering on UrbanLegendOfZelda in execution (kill a specific major boss with a specific party member present, kick him out of the party, listen to the song he sings afterwards, take the new item that has somehow appeared in your storage, go bug a random NPC until he takes it and tells you to go pray for a miracle, get another specific party member in your party, get to the end of a semi-obscure dungeon that now has a new option in the dialogue box that pops up at the end). It uses Shinon, a town normally inaccessible beyond the introductory cutscene as its base and unlike most other examples given here, it does give you several pieces of GameBreaker equipment, including a powered-up form of a weapon that's only normally usable in battle temporarily, a powerful spear that's normally only gotten as a [[RandomlyDrops random drop from a powerful boss]] and a stupidly powerful piece of armor that normally comes pre-equipped on a certain character, can't be removed once equipped (not that you'd want to) and you only normally get vastly inferior fake versions of it during normal gameplay.
** Another SNES fan translation that followed the ''Romancing Saga 3'' example is ''CyberKnight''.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' had one... well, two, both more specific to the artists than the devs in general. The original was in City Of Villains, in the highest level zone, with a "No Players Allowed" sign in front. This place got trashed, and the new Developer's Room was in one of the newer City Of Heroes zones. It wasn't closed off as such, just pretty well-hidden. The first lasted for some time before a player found it, and the second was discovered in days (or maybe hours) after the zone was introduced.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl 2'' was ''going'' to have one of these as the Secret of the Rainbow Worlds, but they ended up not doing it since they couldn't come up with enough gags for it.

* Even early works with no [=NPCs=] to speak of, such as [[Creator/AdventureInternational Scott Adams]]'s ''Adventureland'', include rooms like "I'm in the memory RAM of an IBM PC. I took a wrong turn!"
* In one of the ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' games, the people in the Disco are named after the devs.
** In ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry3PassionatePattiInPursuitOfThePulsatingPectorals'', the player can find developers Al Lowe and Ken Williams in several places: When first approaching the two at a club, the player can say a short phrase to the two, after which Al and Ken discuss the idea of putting themselves in the game and having Larry say something to them, only to conclude that [[LampshadeHanging it's way too implausible]] and teleport away.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has one as a random encounter on the world map.
** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' has an area called the Bethesda Ruins, which actually is an upscale suburb (Bethesda, Maryland) in the Washington, DC metro area. And yes, that's where Bethesda Softworks was founded in real life (they since relocated north to Rockville, Maryland, which although is also in the DC area, is completely absent from the game).
*** The designers prided themselves on how geographically accurate the map of DC is. After all, they do live there.
** If you hold shift while clicking on the credits option on the main menu, both ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' and ''Fallout 2'' will instead show you a series of quotes and messages from the developers and playtesters.
** The [[GameMod Fallout 2 Restoration Mod]] features a special encounter on the world map that can only be seen after beating the game, featuring everyone who worked on the mod as ''Franchise/StarWars'' characters.
* In ''Vampyr'', the gods of the world that the player meets in Heaven after dying are the programmers of the game. They judge the player based on his actions, and presumably allow him to be reincarnated. It's also possible to fight them, but they're bloody tough. Killing one particular eunuch jester in Heaven gains the player a whole load of experience points and the favour of the gods.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' had a developer's room in the remake of ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'', in place of the exit to the first level. The room was full of discarded snack boxes and had a giant mural of the game's staff on the far wall.
* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' includes a room in the first level which is filled with giant-headed versions of all the Croteam developers.
* In ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'', also by Croteam, there's a secret area that can be accessed from the first lobby by [[spoiler:walking through a non-solid wall]], which contains robots like the one you're playing as, except they have monitor heads with the developer faces on them.
* Not an actual room that can be explored, but in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' checking a sign in Fourside reveals the message "Planning Meeting for ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother 3}} Earthbound 2]]''."
** ''Mother 3'' itself has what is more of a Developer's Hotel Room. This can't be explored either, but you can listen to the dialogue of the people inside.
* The first ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Dark Forces]]'' game features a hidden room in the fourth level. It's unusual as a trope example because you explicitly need a code to get there (the one that toggles height check, so you can fall any distance without dying and climb any cliff just by bumping into it). You get to shoot an ewok.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', a minor sidequest in Neotokio unlocks the Quintet offices.
* After the credits roll in ''Mission: Impossible'' for the N64, the character is returned to the embassy level from the beginning of the game, except this time, the party goers are replaced by the game's developers.
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic 6, 7'' and ''8'' each featured a dungeon called NWC full of civilians with the names of Creator/NewWorldComputing (the games' developer) employees. ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic 6'' even has Jon Van Caneghem (CEO of NWC) and Trip Hawkins (CEO of 3DO, who owned NWC at the time) represented as hostile goblins that attacked your party.
* In ''VideoGame/{{FreeSpace}} 2'', a cheat code will cause a pirate ship to warp in (that's right, a pirate ship. In a space combat game) with the developers' faces on the pirates.
** And it is the single toughest ship in the game, with ''ten billion'' hitpoints... several orders of magnitude more than a Sathanas juggernaut!
* ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege II'' has a secret dungeon that has high level groundhogs and copies of your party members that you must defeat in order to reach the developers room.
* ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'' has a secret area which developers are in, and needs to be rescued. One of them will grant you game's secret armor after you destroy all the bugs (as in, game bugs).
* ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' finishes on one of these. After defeating Dr Tongue, you go to a bonus level, "The Monsters Among Us," set in the Creator/LucasArts office and featuring {{Author Avatar}}s.
* The granddaddy of all adventure games, ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'', features something like this. When you have solved all the puzzles, you are transported to a backstage area full of game props and snoozing dwarves, and have to make your way to the exit.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' has two: One hidden room where you get a radio message from the developers, and one where a TV plays a short ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody with the characters voiced by the developers.
** The second game had [[InMemoriam a memorial for a developer who died during production]].
* In ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'', [[spoiler:when you get to the snowed-over UNATCO base]], if you flush the toilet in [[spoiler:Manderley's office]], then you'll access a secret dance party, complete with floating data cubes containing quotes from the development of the game and characters from all over the game saying odd things. Make sure you save your game before you enter, though! [[DeadEndRoom The only way out of the dance party is to reload your last save]].
** This was also a ShoutOut to the original game where [[spoiler: fiddling with the flag in Manderley's office]] early on in the game unlocked a special dance party ending cutscene.
* In ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife'', if you donate enough coins to a well, you will be taken to the "developer's grove".
* Creator/AmbrosiaSoftware rents office space in ''VideoGame/HarryTheHandsomeExecutive'''s setting, [=ScumCo=] Tower. The staff is out when you visit, but they each left you a memo.
* Freeware game ''VideoGame/StandstillGirl'' has one in the form of Alice's Backyard. You can unlock it with a password; it gives some details about the [[TrueEnding True Ending]] and about the game development.
* In episode 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Biomenace}}'', there's one level that seems to be nothing but a long chamber with a villain-gloat cutscene in the middle. But some tricky jumping can reveal a special key and land the player at a secret door (helpfully labelled "Secret Door") containing three developers, one of whom complains to another about leaving the door key where the hero could get it. The room has some handy powerups and various (unusable) items from other Apogee games. If you shoot the developers, one pulls out a rapid-fire version of the game's strongest player weapon and proceeds to mow you down unless you get out quick.
* In ''VideoGame/BeyondZork'', you can travel to the dimension of the Implementors (development team) and have lunch with them.
** In a variant, the earlier Infocom game ''VideoGame/{{Enchanter}}'' allowed you to summon the Implementors.

* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIVThePerilsOfRosella.'' If you go to a certain room (in certain versions of the game) and enter the text command "Beam Me", you end up in a starship in orbit, staffed by sprite versions of the people at Creator/{{Sierra}} who made the game.
* ''VideoGame/LEGOIsland 2: The Brickster's Revenge'' (for the PC) had a room hidden in the cave on the side of a mountain that, with the proper typed code and 100% game completion, contained LEGO avatars of a good deal of the design and production team for the game.
* Completing ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'' nets you this as well as Battle Data, a sort of bonus achievements set. The devs try and kill you for some reason or another. You'll also find ''VisualNovel/ToHeart'' and ''Videogame/ComicParty'' references.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova'' includes a star system hidden in the middle of dead space after completing a major story-line, which holds ships designed to be avatars of dev team members who are also found randomly in the game.
* Microsoft Excel of all programs had one: the surprisingly creepy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwg9eLHZZRo Hall of Tortured Souls]] in Excel 95.
* The PC version of ''VideoGame/ChipsChallenge'' contains a secret level called "Thanks to..." in which the developers' names are spelled in the tiles, and a "hint" block thanks the testing team.

* ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' has ''three'' developer rooms, one for each of the game's three developers. You need a [[GuideDangIt special ROM combination]] to be able to listen to them.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' has a few which cross over with DebugRoom. In particular is the [=ToddTest=] cell, which contains [=NPCs=] with such dignified names as Todd's Super Tester Guy and Pretty Kitty. The area contains one of nearly every type of item in the game.
* Shoot a broken wall after beating the last boss in ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' and you'll find a room with gigantic pics of the developers. Activate them for extra fun, then drop down a hole to find a relaxing Tank surrounded by [[FanDisservice rotting cyborg hotties.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}: Battle Out Of Hell'' has a secret level featuring portraits of the developers scattered around a castle, and the goal is to collect all their souls and leave. This level is only accessible by beating ''Battle Out Of Hell'' on Trauma difficulty, which in itself is only accessible by collecting at least 9 out of the 10 possible Black Tarot cards and beating the game on Nightmare difficulty.
* ''ZOMG'' has one of these, consisting of a tavern in the FirstTown.
* ''VideoGame/EternalDaughter'' has one. You can't actually enter the room; your character can only sit quietly in the secret passage on one side, watching the game's two developers as one works on the code and the other works on graphics of the main character herself.
--> ''"Hey, I just got a great idea for ''Eternal Daughter 2''..."''\\
''"...shut up, shut up, shut up!"''
* The old 1980s text game ''Transylvania'' had a hidden chamber full of the company's mascot penguins wearing sunglasses who would deliver an advertisement for one of the company's other games. The PC then wakes up outside the room again, feeling disoriented.
* Logic gate-programming game ''VideoGame/RobotOdyssey: Escape from Robotropolis'' had one that was fairly easy to access that gave you a suitcase and a keyhole that didn't do anything.
** [[spoiler:The Java fan remake, ''Droidquest'', used this room as part of the method for accessing the secret sixth level of puzzles.]]

* The final level in ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom II]]'' contains a hidden room with Creator/JohnRomero's head in it. (In fact, the Romero head is the actual final boss - the big demon you shoot at is just a wall texture.)
* ''VideoGame/ChexQuest'' has a secret dimly-lit room with photos of the development team on all the walls.
* Each of the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' games has a "developer's terminal" hidden in its final stage.
* ''VideoGame/HaloReach''[='s=] ninth level has the "Tribute Room", which contains various Creator/{{Bungie}}- and ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''-related easter eggs, including seven ''Marathon''-style terminals thanking parts of the fan community. Interestingly, the room is actually revealed in a cutscene to be Dr. Halsey's lab; the aforementioned terminals are even written from her perspective.
* ''[[VideoGame/DukeNukem Duke Nukem 3D]]'' has a developer's level, inaccessible in normal gameplay that contains the developers as dead astronaut wall textures. They can also be seen with Duke in the ending of the third episode.
* Even ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'' uses this trope: there is a secret room in the default map (gm_construct) that can be accessed via noclip and contains a "thank you" message from the mapper.
* Related: The Chris Houlihan room in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', which can only be reached if the game fails to load an area. Chris Houlihan was actually the winner of a Nintendo Power contest which meant his name would appear in a game. Apparently, this was how the developers decided to do it (the room exists in other regional versions of the game, but Chris Houlihan's name is only in the American version).
* ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'' had one after beating the entire game in the apartment next door of the protagonist's room.
* ''Mercenary: The Second City'' had a series of triangular doors in different locations in the game. These doors would normally require a triangular key but this did not appear in the game, and the manual stated "only the author has it". There was, in fact, an easter egg which would allow these doors to be opened, giving access to a developer's room: a massive hall with the endpoint of every triangle door in the game (allowing you to teleport quickly around the game, and to escape from prisons that would normally have no exit) and a bar of gold that could be sold for enough money to buy anything in the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Vette}}'' has the island suburb of Alameda, which is where Spectrum Holobyte was headquartered.
* ''VideoGame/{{Misao}}'' has one that can be accessed by entering a special code after reaching the "Truth" ending. This allows the player to see some prototype artwork and learn details about the characters [[AllThereInTheManual only revealed inside]].
* The ''Videogame/NeverwinterNights'' GameMod ''Videogame/JulyAnarchy: Prologue'' is meant to be played with a precreated character included in the game files. Trying to play the mod without playing as him sticks the player in a cross-shaped room whose floor, walls, and ceiling are covered in lava like a cheap symbolic Hell. The room is occupied by special [=NPCs=] representing characters that were deleted from the current version of the mod, with a description explaining their in-development history and why they don't appear in the mod.

* The VGA remake of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryI'' turns Baron von Spielberg's throne room into this at the end of the game, with members of the dev team making cameos amongst the normal characters.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', there is a hidden room in Let's Pretend that contains cut-outs of the development team's faces, as well as a secret weapon that is otherwise unobtainable: [[InfinityPlusOneSword the Loud Locust.]]
* ''VideoGame/GoatSimulator'' features a house that turns out to be the workplace of Coffee Stain Studios, the game's creators, depicted as being hard at work on a ''VideoGame/FlappyBird'' ripoff.
* ''VideoGame/ElseHeartBreak'' has at least three.
* The [=PS1=] version of ''VideoGame/XenaWarriorPrincess'' has a developer's room in the underground maze level, right before the Minotaur boss battle. While turning left leads to the Minotaur, turning right leads to a dead end with a single burning torch, and if you walk towards the dead end, you'll find out that you can walk right through the wall, into the developer's office.

* ''{{VideoGame/Undertale}}'' has a dev room behind a locked door that can only be opened by [[spoiler:avoiding all the Special Thanks in the True Ending credits. Inside, it is revealed that the Annoying Dog programmed the entire game by barking into a computer with speech-to-text software]].
* ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'': One of the endings in the HD Remake leads to the player discovering a museum full of trivia about the development of the game.
* ''VideoGame/TitanQuest'' features one such room per expansion pack. Each requires the player to find a hidden key to unlock the door to it, and within are enemies named after the developers, as well as a chest filled with exclusive, EasterEgg [[LethalJokeItem Lethal Joke Equipment]].
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has the Shrine of Believers, which contains tablets with messages from each of the Kickstarter backers, [[spoiler: and is accessed by using the Dream Nail on the tall moth statue in the CaveBehindTheFalls in the Spirits' Glade]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'': In Chapter 6, there exists a hidden developer room that can be accessed by [[spoiler: going in the opening above Granny, and then completing the room through the use of advanced techniques that are taught later in the game.]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Barony}}'': [[spoiler:The Hall of Trials]] has a gate at the far end that the player cannot open. Through an elaborate series of secrets found around the level, you can open the gates and get into the Master's Wing, where chests contain every item and spell in the game. A lever here will conjure a random monster to fight.

* The PS1 version of ''VideoGame/XenaWarriorPrincess'' has a developer's room in the underground maze level, right before the Minotaur boss battle. While turning left leads to the Minotaur, turning right leads to a dead end with a single burning torch, and if you walk towards the dead end, you'll find out that you can walk right through the wall, into the developer's office.

* In ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'', [[spoiler:when you get to the snowed-over UNATCO base]], if you flush the toilet in [[spoiler:Manderley's office]], then you'll access a secret dance party, complete with floating data cubes containing quotes from the development of the game and characters from all over the game saying odd things. Make sure you save your game before you enter, though! The only way out of the dance party is to reload your last save.

* ''{{VideoGame/Barony}}'': [[spoilers: The Hall of Trials]] has a gate at the far end that the player cannot open. Through an elaborate series of secrets found around the level, you can open the gates and get into the Master's Wing, where chests contain every item and spell in the game. A lever here will conjure a random monster to fight.

** This was also a ShoutOut to the original game where [[spoiler: fiddling with the flag in Manderly's office]] early on in the game unlocked a special dance party ending cutsecene

* The [[GameMod ROM hack]] ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario World]] 2+3: The Essence Star'' has one in the final level where, during the PopQuiz, if you give the wrong answer to the final question, you will see a scene where the author has to deal with people demanding him to pay for the use of their graphics.

* Each of the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' games had a "developer's terminal" hidden in its final stage.
* ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' had a developer's room with ''Marathon''-style terminals. It was used in a cutscene as [[HotScientist Dr. Halsey's]] lab; the terminals are even written from her perspective.

* The old 1980's text game ''Transylvania'' had a hidden chamber full of the company's mascot penguins wearing sunglasses who would deliver an advertisement for one of the company's other games. The PC then wakes up outside the room again, feeling disoriented.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has the Shrine of Believers, which contains tablets with messages from each of the Kickstarter backers, [[spoiler: and is accessed by using the Dream Nail on the tall moth statue in the CaveBehindTheFalls in the Spirit's Glade]].

* Every mainline ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has either branch office where the player can meet the game's staff or a hotel room where you can talk to a designer who's on vacation. Going to this location after completing the Pokédex will get you a certificate from them. From ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' onwards, you're able to battle Shigeki Morimoto once a day; Morimoto being a designer and programmer who has been involved in the series from the beginning, being best known for personally designing [[SecretCharacter Mew]] and adding it to the game at the last minute.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has one in every mainline game in the series, being a branch office where the player can meet the game's staff or a hotel room where you can talk to a designer who's on vacation. Going to this location after completing the Pokédex will get you a certificate from them.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had the Celadon Mansion, which broke the fourth wall splendidly in a lot of places, including where the player character refuses to play with a computer in case he might "[[IronicEcho bug up the game]]".
** This is also how you unlock the GB Sounds key item in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' begins the trend of letting you battle one of them. This and all future games have you at least able to fight Shigeki Morimoto, a game designer and programmer who has been involved in Pokémon since ''Red and Green'' (he also personally designed [[SecretCharacter Mew]] and added it to the game at the last minute). In ''Black and White'', his team has the highest level Pokémon for an NPC (except Cynthia) in the entire game, though it's much weaker than most of the other post-game bosses due to being composed of significantly weaker species (the three elemental monkeys, Zebstrika, Liepard and Swoobat).
** You can also battle another developer, Koji Nishino, in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''. His team consists of Pokémon with high hit points, like Alomomola and Snorlax. The latter comes from an in-joke based on Nishino tendency to eat moldy food from the company fridge.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' has Game Freak's Office in Heahea City. It also grants the player a once-a-day repeatable battle against Shigeki Morimoto once again, only this time his team is far more powerful (consisting of the 3 original Eeveelutions, Machamp, Dragonite and Kangaskhan). Winning against him the first time grants you an item that speeds up egg hatching. Show him certain Pokémon that originated from the Virtual Console ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' games to him and he'll reveal some tidbits about ''Red and Blue'''s development [[note]]specifically, Mankey, Tauros, Exeggutor, Diglett and Mew.[[/note]]. Another developer remarks that they [[AscendedFan grew up with the series]] and are thrilled to be working on it.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'': Game Freak still has their office in Heahea City, but in addition to battling Morimoto once again, you also face off against Kazumasa Iwao (''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'''s director, who happens to have a unique game model) in a double battle. You can still show off a Pokémon from ''Red and Blue'' to get development facts about that game, but they'll also give you a set of Apricorn Balls if you show them a Pokémon that originated from the Virtual Console ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''. They'll also reveal some trivia on that game's development, including a reference to Creator/SatoruIwata (who stepped in when they were having trouble with programming the game).

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had the Celadon Mansion, which broke the fourth wall splendidly in a lot of places, including where the player character refuses to play with a computer in case he might "[[IronicEcho bug up the game]]". Every subsequent game in the series has a hotel or a branch office where the player can meet the game's staff. Doing so after having completed the Pokédex will get you a certificate from them.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' lets you battle one of them: Shigeki Morimoto, a game designer and programmer who has been involved in Pokémon since ''Red and Green'' (he also personally designed [[SecretCharacter Mew]] and added it to the game at the last minute). His team has the highest level Pokémon for an NPC (except Cynthia) in the entire game, though it's much weaker than most of the other post-game bosses due to being composed of significantly weaker species (The three elemental monkeys, Zebstrika, Liepard and Swoobat).
** You can also battle another developer, Koji Nishino, in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''. His team consists of Pokémon with high hit points, like Alomomola and Snorlax, who was apparently inspired by a story about Nishino eating moldy food from the company fridge.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' has Game Freak's Office in Heahea City. It also grants the player a once-a-day repeatable battle against Shigeki Morimoto once again, only this time his team is far more powerful (Consisting of the 3 original Eeveelutions, Machamp, Dragonite and Kangaskhan). Winning against him the first time grants you an item that speeds up egg hatching. Shigeki remarks that he "forgot to save", but that's okay because he'll "win anyway". Show him certain Pokémon that originated from the Virtual Console ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' games to him and he'll reveal some tidbits about ''Red and Blue'''s development [[note]]specifically, Mankey, Tauros, Exeggutor, Diglett and Mew.[[/note]]. Another developer remarks that they grew up with the series and are thrilled to be working on it, understandable given Sun and Moon were released on its 20th anniversary.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'': Game Freak still has their office in Heahea City. but in addition to battling Morimoto once again, you also face off against Kazumasa Iwao (''Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'''s director, who happens to have a unique game model) in a double battle. You can show off a Pokémon from ''Red and Blue'' to get development facts about that game, but they'll also give you a set of Apricorn Balls if you show them a Pokémon that originated from the Virtual Console ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''. They'll also reveal some trivia on that game's development, including a reference to Creator/SatoruIwata (who stepped in when they were having trouble with programming the game).

The Developer's Room is an area filled with {{Author Avatar}}s and in-jokes. It has no bearing on the story, it's just an EasterEgg -- but that doesn't make it any less [[RuleOfFun fun]]. Unlike a DebugRoom, which almost always requires a code (sometimes a built-in one, sometimes not), a Developer's Room can often be reached on a normal playthrough.

** The [[GameMod Fallout 2 Restoration Mod]] features a special encounter on the world map that can only be seen after beating the game, featuring everyone who worked on the mod as StarWars characters.

* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'': Can only be accessed after completing all the characters' stories. You can re-battle bosses from other stories with the character you most recently cleared with, and there are some stronger versions of bosses to be fought there as well.
** The English patch for ''VideoGame/RomancingSaga3'' by Mana_Sword also added one into the game, accessible via an overelaborate sidequest bordering on UrbanLegendOfZelda in execution (kill a specific major boss with a specific party member present, kick him out of the party, listen to the song he sings afterwards, take the new item that has somehow appeared in your storage, go bug a random NPC until he takes it and tells you to go pray for a miracle, get another specific party member in your party, get to the end of a semi-obscure dungeon that now has a new option in the dialogue box that pops up at the end). It uses Shinon, a town normally inaccessible beyond the introductory cutscene as its base and unlike most other examples given here, it does give you several pieces of GameBreaker equipment, including a powered-up form of a weapon that's only normally usable in battle temporarily, a powerful spear that's normally only gotten as a [[RandomlyDrops random drop from a powerful boss]] and a stupidly powerful piece of armor that normally comes pre-equipped on a certain character, can't be removed once equipped (not that you'd want to) and you only normally get vastly inferior fake versions of it during normal gameplay.
** Another SNES fan translation that followed the ''Romancing Saga 3'' example is ''CyberKnight''.
* The original ''[[VideoGame/StarOcean1 Star Ocean]]'' on SNES also has one, which is accessible by using the otherwise useless Oracle skill after beating the game: strangely enough, doing so is also the only way to leave the final dungeon and visit the BonusDungeon located elsewhere, which doesn't become accessible until you beat the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}: Dark Legacy'' had a secret stage taking place in the offices of [[Creator/MidwayGames Midway]], and had a lot of in-jokes although the developers themselves never appeared (although a few of their faces did).

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has one... well, two, both more specific to the artists than the devs in general. The original was in City Of Villains, in the highest level zone, with a "No Players Allowed" sign in front. Recently this place got trashed (it's still there, just in ruins), and the new Developer's Room is in one of the newer City Of Heroes zones. It's not closed off as such, just pretty well-hidden. The first lasted for some time before a player found it, and the second was discovered in days (or maybe hours) after the zone was introduced.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' lets you battle one of them: Shigeki Morimoto, a game designer and programmer who has been involved in Pokémon since ''Red and Green'' (he also personally designed [[SecretCharacter Mew]] and added it to the game at the last minute). His team has the highest level Pokémon for an NPC (except Cynthia) in the entire game, though it's much weaker than most of the other post-game bosses due to being composed of significantly weaker species. ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' also allows you to battle him once more, only this time his team is far more powerful (Consisting of the 3 original Eeveelutions, Machamp, Dragonite and Kangaskhan). Show him certain Pokémon that originated from the Virtual Console ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' games to him and he'll reveal some tidbits about ''Red and Blue'''s development [[note]]specifically, Mankey, Tauros, Exeggutor, Diglett and Mew.[[/note]]
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' grants the player a once-a-day repeatable battle against Shigeki Morimoto once again, which grants you an item that speeds up egg hatching after your first win. Shigeki remarks that he "forgot to save", but that's okay because he'll "win anyway". Another developer remarks that they grew up with the series and are thrilled to be working on it, understandable given Sun and Moon were released on its 20th anniversary.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'': Game Freak still has their office here but in addition to development of ''Red and Blue'', they'll also give you a set of Apricorn Balls if you show them a Pokémon that originated from ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''. They'll also reveal some trivia on that game's development, including a reference to Creator/SatoruIwata (who stepped in when they were having trouble with programming the game).

* One of the endings in ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' leads to the player discovering a museum full of trivia about the development of the game.