Making Games in Aspiring Places
New York City draws the creative class into it because it inspires. For those with a passion for fashion, architecture, or graphic design, the sources of inspiration are immediate and obvious. But ask a game designer where they draw their inspiration from -- especially a video game designer -- and they'll likely respond with a vague but honest "everything".
I've recently been planning what you might call an augmented reality game installation. It's part game, part puzzle, set in a single location, within a short span of time. Imagine a room full of newspaper clippings, monitors, a computer, etc. A narrative unfolds as the participant explores the room: the newspapers are all about the activities a VIP, the monitors display CCTV feeds of various locations, today's date is circled on a calendar with a time noted, a drawer is locked, there's a flashing light on the answering machine, the computer is password locked but has a reminder question -- could the answer to it be somewhere in the room? You get the idea. That was just an example of the kind of stuff that was bouncing around my head this summer. And then Eric Clough came out of nowhere and blew us all away. Is 24 years old too old to still be having role models? Because I want to be him when I grow up. Scratch that -- I don't have time to grow up, need to start now.
I don't have a giant architecture firm at my disposal, but starting October 1st I will have an incredible apartment with hardwood floors, fireplace, and french doors that occupies the top two floors of a "limestone" (basically a brownstone without the outdoor stairs). Coinciding with my Clough fanaticism, I can't imagine a more inspiring space to call home. What this apartment did was allow my thoughts to move beyond the single room "game installation" format into something that more closely resembles a participatory mystery dinner theatre. The small rooms I've previously lived in never let my imagination conceive of anything on a wider local scale. What I mean is, the city/country/world-wide scale of ARGs was always achievable for me, possible through gratuitous exploitation of the web and social networks, but turning an entire home into a game as Clough did was beyond my capabilities.
The first augmented reality game I plan to create for this apartment is set during a dinner party. When the previous tenants departed unexpectedly, a lot of their stuff was left behind. The most visible item is an old wine bottle stuck in an odd puzzle contraption that the current residents use as a conversation piece. One of the game participants frees the bottle, and the discovery of a note contained within it launches a scavenger hunt throughout the apartment, interspersed with puzzles and revelations about the mysterious tenants who used to live there.
I have no idea if or when I'll be able to find an audience receptive to this sort of game, but as soon as I hammer out the details, I'll post a full "walkthrough" with photos. Meanwhile, the search continues for old monitors that I can use as part of my CCTV set-up...
I've recently been planning what you might call an augmented reality game installation. It's part game, part puzzle, set in a single location, within a short span of time. Imagine a room full of newspaper clippings, monitors, a computer, etc. A narrative unfolds as the participant explores the room: the newspapers are all about the activities a VIP, the monitors display CCTV feeds of various locations, today's date is circled on a calendar with a time noted, a drawer is locked, there's a flashing light on the answering machine, the computer is password locked but has a reminder question -- could the answer to it be somewhere in the room? You get the idea. That was just an example of the kind of stuff that was bouncing around my head this summer. And then Eric Clough came out of nowhere and blew us all away. Is 24 years old too old to still be having role models? Because I want to be him when I grow up. Scratch that -- I don't have time to grow up, need to start now.
I don't have a giant architecture firm at my disposal, but starting October 1st I will have an incredible apartment with hardwood floors, fireplace, and french doors that occupies the top two floors of a "limestone" (basically a brownstone without the outdoor stairs). Coinciding with my Clough fanaticism, I can't imagine a more inspiring space to call home. What this apartment did was allow my thoughts to move beyond the single room "game installation" format into something that more closely resembles a participatory mystery dinner theatre. The small rooms I've previously lived in never let my imagination conceive of anything on a wider local scale. What I mean is, the city/country/world-wide scale of ARGs was always achievable for me, possible through gratuitous exploitation of the web and social networks, but turning an entire home into a game as Clough did was beyond my capabilities.
The first augmented reality game I plan to create for this apartment is set during a dinner party. When the previous tenants departed unexpectedly, a lot of their stuff was left behind. The most visible item is an old wine bottle stuck in an odd puzzle contraption that the current residents use as a conversation piece. One of the game participants frees the bottle, and the discovery of a note contained within it launches a scavenger hunt throughout the apartment, interspersed with puzzles and revelations about the mysterious tenants who used to live there.
I have no idea if or when I'll be able to find an audience receptive to this sort of game, but as soon as I hammer out the details, I'll post a full "walkthrough" with photos. Meanwhile, the search continues for old monitors that I can use as part of my CCTV set-up...
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