Summary
This week our team moved from broad brainstorming into sharper decisions, with several meetings shaping both our narrative and design.
On Monday, Moe and Eliana met with Charles to discuss the logo and half sheet design. This helped us refine how we want to visually represent our project, adding 70’s elements such as graffiti that tie the visual style more directly to the story we’re telling.
By Wednesday, Moe and Benjamin brainstormed three possible story ideas. The first was time-travel based, where Sunset and Jive’s crime lab is sent into the future while they remain in the 1970s, and kids must figure out what happened and help return it. The second was an arcade adventure, where Sunset and Jive uncover clues hidden inside digital arcade games and eventually realize the challenge is a test created by their caretaker. The third idea drew from Black culture and history, with kids solving cases inspired by cultural contributions, turning detective game into a fun and engaging way to learn about history.
Later that day, we met with our client, Marianne, and shared these concepts. She responded with great enthusiasm for the third idea, noting how well it connected to art, music, and cultural history, and confirming that she will attend the Festival to see our work in person.
In the instructor meeting with John and Tom, reviewed Quarters feedback and client meeting updates. They think the term “escape room” helps ground the concept as a collaborative puzzle game with exploration elements. We also tried to refine our transformational goals into primary, secondary, and tertiary priorities, and were encouraged to begin mapping the core loop of the game: what players discover, how they uncover it, and how those discoveries translate into agency and engagement. They encouraged us to balance fun with historical depth, to rank our story ideas to help set priorities, and to be careful about how we use cultural references, especially in the third direction of the proposed narratives. We also discussed our identity package, about how to strengthen the half sheet design, logo readability, and common motifs that can tie all of our branding together.
Outside of meetings, our tech exploration continued. We drafted a list of electronics we need purchase to build the interaction and went thrifting at Goodwill, picking up props like a flashlight, radio, phone, and Polaroid camera. These will help us test the immersive, tactile side of the detective experience. Josh has been working on testing both projection mapping and tilt5 to find the best platform for our project.
