THE ESTABLISHMENT

PROBLEM: Create an alternate reality game for the University of Washington Bothell that is focused on the intersections of climate change with forms of oppression including race, gender, class, ability, immigration.
SOLUTION: Scavenger hunt style alternate reality game assisted by iPad application
MY ROLE: Unity & iOS Development team
TIMELINE: APRIL - JUNE 2018


 

DEVELOPMENT

This app was designed by small team that I was a part of and became a main asset to our game/performance. With Unity and Vuforia, we designed an application that tracked certain points on the posters and displayed 3D models once tracked. As the app progressed, we added more features and scripts that kept track of revenue/cost, displayed information about the location and prompted users to decided whether or not to build these energy sources. I worked mainly on setting up the 3D models to work within Vuforia/AR and also deploy the application to our iOS devices using XCode.

 

The task for this class project was to create an Alternate Reality Game that was centered on the social justice topic of climate change and focused on the intersections of climate change with forms of oppression including race, gender, class, ability, immigration. The class was split up into three factions: The Establishment, The Anti-Establishment, and The Outsiders. Each faction had to come up with their own story and then create and design a performance that would be engaging for the players.

Our faction, The Establishment, created a storyline where we would act as the big energy corporation of the world that is looking to hire surveyors that would assist in scouting possible energy locations. We recruited players to play our game by setting up a media campaign that included company branding, social media, posters, and a website.

For the final game/performance, we set up several posters or "locations" around campus that possessed different energy sources and pros/cons and designed a scavenger hunt style alternate reality game. In a span of a few weeks, a couple group members and I also designed a Unity app where a player could hold up their device camera to a poster and it would pop up a 3D model of the energy source, provide information about the location and prompt them to build or not build on that location.