OddThinking

I don’t normally use this blog to review theatre, cinema and events that I attend. I decided to break this rule, because the geeky factor of last night’s arty event (or perhaps the arty factor of last night’s geeky event) may appeal to my readers.

Wayfarer is presented as “truly hybrid event, where live and mediated performance, urban choreography, ubiquitous computing, gameplay and site specificity come together in a volatile mix.” I had no idea what that meant, and decided to maintain the mystery; I went with an open mind.

The event was held in the Carriageworks – an old railway repair shop that has been boldly converted by the local government into a performance and rehearsal space for physical theatre.

The audience was small and seated four or five to a table. There were four tables, each corresponding to a colour. One of the tables was out of action on the night. Each table had (almost enough) headphones and lapel microphones for each audience player, and a large LCD screen.

Before the performance, each table were introduced to their avatars, who were decked out in team colours and wearing elaborate harnesses including headphones, wrist straps, carabiners and a large perspex box on their chests, containing a small computer which included a web camera, wifi and bluetooth.

Our avatar, Kate, was a petite, young physical theatre performer, full of enthusiasm and spunk. She tested our audio connections, and explained the display.

The LCD screen was divided into sections. The left section contained a feed of up to four video feeds from the chest-mounted cameras of the avatars. The right hand side showed a map of the floor-plan of the current level (of which there were three.)

The maps showed the approximate location of a couple of dozen “triggers” as red stars. Whenever Kate swiped her wristed-mounted RFID tag against a new trigger, we would us to gain a point and be given an new instruction. (She couldn’t see the instruction, and had to rely on us to relay it.)

The map also highlighted the location of several security cameras on the level. The bottom left corner of the screen showed video feeds rotating through the available security cameras. The bottom right corner showed about 24 pips, representing our score as we covered the triggers.

A count-down clock showed the current time available.

At the top, still photos of the performers were displayed, and Kate warned us to keep an eye on that. If a face was replaced with a skull, that person was a killer, and would try to grab the tail strap hanging invitingly from the back of her pants and thus steal all of our points.

So, ultimately, the game was a LAN party, except the characters directed by voice commands, the level was modelled on the corridors and offices of a converted factory and, well, the character was a real human.

While were all goggling, trying to take in all this information, the game was officially started, the clock started counting down from 45 minutes and Kate asked over the headset for instructions.

The Experience

The posed a number of different challenges at the same time, throwing us in the deep-end.

Team Dynamic

This game could have been equally well played with one person behind the controls rather than five, as we had. Having five people meant, on top of the challenge of playing were all the normal challenges of making group decisions, working out who was “holding the conch” (Did you like my reference, Sherrill?) and giving contradicting instructions. I didn’t know all of the players on the team very well, so we didn’t even have many external clues about who to turn to.

The lag on the video and audio was very large, and there were times I felt I was on an international conference call, with the corresponding frustration.

New Map

If you have ever played a LAN game with me, you will know how much I hate unfamiliar maps. The game degenerates into stumbling around in the wilderness, wondering where my base is, and how I get back into the action.

This was a common experience, as we wondered where our player was in the building, and looked at each other questioningly as others gave instructions that, according to our understanding, would send her into a brick wall.

This became particularly evident at the end, when we were trying to bring our player home. I was ordering her to come downstairs to the foyer while other people were telling her to go upstairs. I was unaware that the only official exit was a flying fox on the third level which dropped down near to where we were sitting in the foyer – a bit of theatrical flourish to complete the session.

Granularity of Instruction

Following the hints of Kate in the initial tutorial, we started with instructions like “Walk foward”, “Look left”, “Turn around slowly, so we can see around you.” Slowly we realised the rules did not insist that we make all the decisions, and instructions became more elaborate. We could use her understanding of the space. “Find the stairs and go up to the next level.” “We want you to be in the North corridor, but be careful because Blue is the killer.”

Similarly, from my gaming experience, I expect combat to be a largely formal affair; when challenged, both avatar trying to grab the tail of the other in an open area and with strict rules about what is legal. Instead it was pretty much anything goes. It was Kate’s idea to simply hide under the desk and not come out when challenged, making it impossible for the killer to reach her tail. (She explained later that the previous day she had been pinned down on the floor by the killer, and simply refused to stand up, protecting her tail.)

New Interface

Understanding the display was tricky in places.

The security camera feeds were completely ignored by us; we couldn’t see much on them, and couldn’t recognise how they corresponded the the actual corridors.

There were some bluetooth-sensing phones around the floor. When they detected the nearby presence of our avator, they would flash on the screen. This caused some confusion for audience members that thought it tracked showed the exact location of the player rather than showing the position of a nearby static beacon.

There was a circle on the screen, which I largely ignored, thinking it just indicated the clock counting down. There were suggested later than it might have been a direction indicator, which would have been useful!

Overall, however, I was very impressed with the quality of the software and the graphic design – especially for a system with a very limited deployment.

Wifi Connectivity

Our team had frequently problems with the wifi connectivity. Video (and slightly less often) audio feeds dropped out, leaving us in the dark about what was happening. Other teams didn’t seem to suffer this problem. Unfortunately, it was often during exciting parts of the game (such as mid-combat and while co-operating with other avatars). When the feed came back, it was often because Kate had moved out of the blackspot, leaving us stuck trying to work out where she was.

Triggers

Each trigger had a corresponding instruction. Some were simple: “run to the next trigger”. Some were difficult “follow another player for one minute” (when no players were anywhere near us).

One was to make a phone call, and we joked about who she should call (“George Bush!”), until we realised she was serious and wanted us to provide a real phone number to call.

Some were fun. Kates re-enactment of the Psycho shower scene on demand was excellent. Her improvised scene of a meeting between the Prime Minister of Australia and the President of the USA was both hilarious and rather disturbing – I half-expected her to throw in a punchline of “The Aristocrats!”

Scoring System

The game wasn’t about winning or losing. (Okay, some of you have already worked out we didn’t win!)

The scoring system wasn’t at all clear. You know me, by now, I want to know the system to see how to “game” it – i.e. cheat within the rules.

You get points for swiping triggers, and you get points for getting back early, but how many points do you get for carrying out the tasks?

I had assumed that Kate had a button she pressed when she carried out one of the tasks, but that would open it to abuse (The avatar can’t see the instructions, so we could just relay “the instruction is to touch your nose quickly” and get easy compliance points.) While there was someone wandering around keeping an eye on things to help out if anything went wrong, I couldn’t see enough referees to have them adding up the points.

In hindsight, based on the speed at which the scores were tallied, it was as simple as triggers swiped plus minutes left on the clock. No points for complying with the instructions that appeared when the triggers were swiped. We scored 38, and the winners scored 41.

So, with this experience, our first instruction should have been “Run to the top level and get onto the fire fox to exit the level.” We probably would have scored 43 points, and won, although it would be a very boring game. Alternatively, we should have run from trigger to trigger and ignored the instructions.

Business Case

Will this game take off and be a huge success? With tens of thousands of dollars of equipment per team, hundreds of development hours and at least 6 cast and crew for a total of about (14 audience members × $15 =) $210 revenue for the night, I think this is only going to be available with generous arts grants.

Summary

1. A lot of fun and very challenging.
2. The performers are what made it successful.
3. There were far less technical problems than should be expected on a project of this size, but they still interfered with the immersion experience.
4. The game rules need tweaking – especially if they want repeat business.
5. I am glad I had the opportunity to try it, but I doubt this is the real future of gaming.