MYSTIC PATH

In Fall 2016, I had the opportunity to work with a team to develop a game for the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. With the demographic and layout of PAC, it seemed optimal and the most engaging to create a location based alternate reality game that would inspire patrons to explore the museum.

There were endless different proposals and ideas of how to implement the game. In the end, a mobile website, seemed the most accessible and versatile. In the this mobile application, users would read a narrative that would prompt the player to search the museum for clues to answer trivia and advance through the story.

To maintain an element of mystery and different possible endings, we proceeded with a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' structure, where the player could decide to be good and noble, mischievous and possibly evil, or purely indifferent. This, of course, made for a more difficult storyline and narrative.

Below is our initial structure, layout for gameplay/flow and a narrative outline. 

After building a solid narrative, we used Weebly.com to implement our storyline and images taken at PAC. Below is an image of the mobile view and web view.

The PAC event was the most informative part of this experience, as it was the first time we got feedback from players. To explore and experience the game, click the link below. The experience is better on mobile and better still if you are physically at the Pacific Science Center.

(answer key below)

Working to make a game is a daunting task. I had knowledge of the games I had played, but lacked basic game design skills. I enjoyed writing, but had not delved into writing for games or children before. If I chose to revisit this project, I would educate myself on the basic principles of game design and more specifically AR design. I would also spend more time on improving the narrative to be more engaging and unexpected.