Project Timeline
Jan 2024 - Current
Team
Chromacorp Team
Lead by Justin Andarza
Project Type
Live Action Game
In-person Experience
Role Play Game
Arcade Stations
My Contribution
Physical Computing
Interaction Design
Human Machine Interaction
Scenic Fabrication
Photography
Tools
ESP32 Microcontroller
Python
Arduino IDE
Unity C#
Electronic Engineering
Awards
A whole new era of
live action games
"Welcome to ChromaCorp, the global leader in the color industry, where employees must balance productivity and subversion, while uncovering the dark truth behind the company’s control over the world’s colors."
From Scratch
To Now
In the Game…
Players are hired at a seemingly dream role at ChromaCorp, but they soon discover that the colors are questionably harvested…
Players are expected to go about their
mundane desk work—extracting color using their station in order to meet their daily quotas.
After a turning point, players are tasked to sneak away from their cubicles, and work together in order to subvert the company.
Avoiding getting caught by the every watchful eye of ChromaCorp…..
How We Got There
Concept
Dragon’s Lairs (1983)
Bendy and the Ink Machine (2017)
Cuphead (2017)
Many games before ChromaCorp explore beloved western art styles from Dragon’s Lair’s use of classic Disney-like animation, to more modern examples such as Cuphead and Bendy and the Ink Machine using 1920’s-30’s rubber hose style animation these games have been loved by players for their art styles and the nostalgia that accompanies them.
Vaguing referencing style across decades
Visual Nostalgia
+
&
Familiar
Generic
Odd
Cold
Overall
Environment
Visual Inspirations
ChromaCorp not only creates this message through 2D work of the in-game assets itself, but invites the players to step into the world first hand, without the need of a headset, and physically interact with the physical world.
There have been notable art IRL installations that have played with this concept of user fantasy-fufillment, from artist installations such as Meow Wolf’s “Black and White 1920’s Cartoon Room,” to the more recent Airbnb experiential marketing activation, “Step into X-Men ’97,” comic book mansion —but none of these are a fully playable game.
Airbnb experiential marketing activation“Step into X-Men ’97”
Meow Wolf’s “Black and White 1920’s Cartoon Room”
Our Approach
From the beginning
Joining the Project
Midway
Brainstorming & Rapid Prototyping
Iterative Station
Redesign
Submission Deadline Constraints
Entered after initial field research was completed.
Have to handle previous uncompiled data
Required to brainstorm and build new ideas.
Collect insights from large-scale player tests to fix usability issue.
Address recurring issues with stations.
Sometimes necessary to discard and completely rebuild stations.
Faced challenge of IndieCade award submission deadlines.
Had to significantly reduce game duration to 30% of original.
No product is tailored for everyone
Always expect issues onsite
Actively communicate is the key
Quality > Quantity
What i realized
Give proper and clear game tutorials
Signifier should be clear for Co-op game play
Meeting scheduling when everyone is busy
Technical issue happens frequently
Sensor failure and fragile parts
Product design jobs often fell on us
Needs of improvement on the stations through iterations
Challenges
CUrrent
Probelms
The paper mockups are easy to break and does not have the same immersiveness than other props
The stations are not modular, when installing for game shows, not easy to attach and detach
Light, sound and mechanical responses in different stations are inconsistent
What I Did
Discussed with fabrication team and iterated through 5+ versions of interactive station.
Rewired the stations to modular 12 split gauge wire, now can easily break apart, also plug and play
Rewrite all codes of micro-controllers and realigned the unity response C# script with Uduino.
User Experience Goal
Allow players to understand all mechanics of each interactive component with short and concise tutorials
Allow player to receive immediate feedback from station once input interaction
Align signifiers with the Unity side of the game.
Create assets that allow player to feel immersed in game
Also give player enough situational awareness with end game goal.
Installation highlights
Prop Making
Next Step
