[BPM] Designing a Cozy Escape Room: the Memoirscape Project at WPI

After a successful run of their Fall 2023 escape room Home for the Holidays, Interactive Media and Game Development graduate students at WPI decided to completely revise their escape room into a cozier interactive experience, giving players timed-entry tickets but unlimited time once inside, three rooms, several actors written as NPCs, and five potential endings. On this panel, five core members of the design team will discuss the process of designing and redesigning the physical interactive experience that became Memoirscape.

About the Panelists

Katheen Morrissey (Ph.D. candidate/Writer/Artist): Kathleen's research is driven by a vision of fostering a humane future inspired by solarpunk philosophy. Her work utilizes interactive media as a way to facilitate introspection.

Hannah Belan (MFA candidate/ Artist): Hannah's passion lies in exploring the intersections of fashion, animation, and internet subcultures, weaving together elements of design to create experiences which center cozy aesthetics.

Katherine Crighton is a writer, instructor, and researcher whose academic (and often hobbyist) interests lie in theories of fiction and audience, experimental archaeology, and laterally-approached creative work; for more information about this and other projects, visit katherinecrighton.com.

Shubham Sharma (MS candidate/Game Designer): Shubham’s perspective is informed by his background in mechanical engineering, which shapes his understanding of cinematic production and game design.

Dr. Melissa Kagen (Assistant Teaching Professor/Writer): Melissa researches, teaches, and writes about interactive media, escape room design, death mechanics, cozy plant games, self-help games, and digital environments. Her first book (Wandering Games, 2022) is available open access from MIT Press.

Wednesday May 29th, 7 - 9 pm
Boston Post Mortem Discord