Escape Room

Catalog description

How do we design for immersive, cooperative, and playful experiences? Students in this course will look at immersive and experiential design through the lens of one type of experience: the Escape Room. We will explore different experiences, narrative structures, group dynamics, and game mechanics. Over 14 weeks students will explore how to design immersive and participatory experiences through cooperation, play, and problem solving. Though weekly assignments and exercises students will use a variety of methods to design cooperative narratives and experiences. We will explore Zoom as a tool for collaboration and performance. We will also explore other web based protocols to encourage other forms of digital and physical interaction. During the last few weeks of the semester students will collaborate to design, build, and operate an escape room experience. This class will run remotely with the expectation of synchronous meetings over Zoom. If possible, there may be some potential offerings for optional in person activities. Prerequisites: Physical Computing and Introduction to Computational Media.