Concept: Wizard's Tower

User Experience

You are walking through the castle, when you start to hear some strange incantations and music in the distance. A few seconds later, you hear a thunderous explosion, followed by lots of giggling. Now curious, you walk towards the sounds, and when you turn the corner, you find that you are in a wizard’s lab! There are shelves full of strange bottles and tubes, wardrobes full of magical items, alchemy tables, and manner of strange things. There are some bottles full of brightly colored liquids of all kinds, some bubbling, while other bottles have objects in them, such as toads, cotton candy, marbles, etc. In the center of the room is a large, ornate box. It is decorated as if it were part of a traveling show, and its stacked on top of a series of shipping crates. It must have just arrived. As you make your way to the center of the room, you see a closet full of wizard robes and hats. You decide to put one on before walking the rest of the way to the box.

As you go to look inside, you hear a tiny voice from behind you. You turn around and you see a mouse hole. Out of it comes a small mouse dressed in wizard robes. He tells you, “Hi! I’m Kip, Pip’s cousin! I’m a wizard and I’m trying to make a potion to create a dream pillow, to guarantee everyone who uses it sweet dreams! I can’t do it alone though. Will you help me?”

Intrigued, you say, “Of course!” Kip replies, “Oh, thank you! Let’s get started. First you’ll have to identify yourself. Are you a knight or a princess? If you are a knight, place your hand on the blue sword. If you are a princess, place your hands on the pink tiara.” You (being a girl), answer princess, and touch the lighted tiara next to the box. Kip responds, “Excellent. Lovely to meet you princess!

“The best way to conjure up a sweet dream is to combine Love, Happiness, Hope, Dreams. Around my tower, there are different objects that you can use to capture these feelings. I’ll light up each one I need you to go to…” Kip says. And with that, Kip, runs back into his mouse hole. You turn around and see the wardrobe light up behind you, and you run on over.

Reaching the wardrobe, you see Kip crawl out of another mouse hole on a shelf. He tells you that the largest vial here, shaped like a heart, represents love. Kip tells you to place your hands on it, and think of someone you love. Doing this, the bottle starts to glow and pulse, like heat beat. The heart beat sound fills the room. It fills up, and Kip lets you know that you have added love to the spell, and to follow him as he runs to another part of the room.

You follow him to another station, and repeat the process, adding Happiness, Hope, or Dreams. At each station, you add another element to the mix, and as you do this, the sound from that object adds its own sound component to the musical mix of the room. Once this is done, you are then asked to visit the last part of the room, featuring a giant mirror. Kip asks you to look into it, and think of one final wish you want to add to it, for your self. As you do this, before your eyes you see your image in the mirror start to grow and glow!

“That’s it!” exclaims Kip. “All the elements of the spell have been added. Meet me back at the magic box, and I’ll try to summon your pillow.” You race back to the magic box.

Kip reappears out of his magic hole by the box. The lights dim, the music rises, and Kip begins to cast the spell. The music reaches a climax, and Poof! In a puff of smoke, a pillow appears in the box! Kip cheers, and thanks you for your help making the pillow. He tells you to take it, and to have sweet dreams.

Location Treatment

The location is themed like a wizard’s lab, and all of the props are completely movable and removable from the space. There is a stack of boxes in the middle of the space. The inside of the box is a small stage that performs with light and music. The interior of the box, and stack of crates it rests upon, houses the pillow delivery system, and a dark box to perform a Pepper’s Ghost illusion.

Around the room are furniture items and decorations with different objects that light up. These objects are themed to be relevant to the area of the room they are in (bottle, book, etc). They are filled with water and metallic-colored confetti. Each object, when touched, triggers an on-screen animation of Kip, and the appropriate sound played in the room. All of the touchable objects and the magic box are connected to a centralized computer that also plays the music. Each location also contains a screen in which to display Kip running in and out of his mouse holes around the exhibit.

Game Design

In this multi-sensory experience, the player will be guided through three activities, of a possible 5. The player must go through each of the three activities to receive the pillow. The activities are randomly chosen to create a replay value between families. In each activity, the player will be asked to make a wish about love, happiness, hope, dreams, and themselves – all ingredients to make a pillow of good dreams. In addition to the themes of each activity, they are also designed to evoke strong sensory emotions through touch, sound, and vision. The entire experience should take about 2-3 minutes.

For example purposes, the following descriptions place the 5 touchable objects as bottles, but they can be made into other things, and located around the room further

Part One: Love
Around the cauldron are five pillars with five bottles on it. The first is bottle lights up and glows pink. You see small shiny hearts flying around inside the bottle. This (and all the other bottles) look similar to a snow globe. Pip comes out of his mouse hole and tells you, “The first thing that is in any magical pillow is love. Put your hands on this bottle, close your eyes, and silently make a wish for someone you love. The player closes their eyes, touches the bottle. The bottle feels fuzzy and soft, and music full of love starts to play. It’s a rich violin that slowly and melodically plays. They also hear drums that sound like a heartbeat. When the music starts, and the player has made their wish, they’ll see that there is pink water spewing in the cauldron in the shape of a heart. A few seconds later, the bottle stops glowing and feels cool to the touch, and the second bottle lights up.

Part Two: Happiness
The second bottle is happiness. This bottle glows green and sparkles swirls around inside. The green symbolizes peace, calmness, and comfort. For happiness, Kip tells you, “Good dreams are full of happiness. Put your hands on the bottle, and make a wish about something that makes you happy.” When you place your hands on the bottle, the bottle feels a little bumpy. Then it starts to shake a little, and the tickling sensation makes you laugh. A flute plays cheerful and fast-paced music in the background. Simultaneously in the cauldron, the liquid starts to bubble furiously, and is now green. A few seconds later, the bottle stops moving and glowing, and the third bottle lights up.

Part Three: Dreams
This third bottle is dreams. The bottle glows a dark blue, and silvery streamers blow inside the bottle. The blue is symbolic of the night time, and the silver of the moonlight. Kip lets you know, “This bottle is all about dreams. Put your hands on the bottle, close your eyes, and think about a dream you’d love to have.” A xylophone plays a slow lullaby in the background, and you hear the tinkling of wind chimes. The cauldron is now calm, and it sounds a bit like ocean waves. There liquid in the cauldron swirls in different patterns in tune with the music. The bottle feels smooth and slowly spins in a circular motion.

Part Four: Hope
The forth bottle is hope. This bottle lights up in yellow, because it is like sunlight, and symbolizes warmth and energy. Kip says, “Hope is one of the most important ingredients to good dreams. Make a wish about something you hope will happen in the future.” You place your hands on the bottle, and the bottle feels warm. As you start to make your wish, you notice that the bottle feels like it’s starting to get bigger. Kip tells you, “Wow! Great job! Your pillow has a lot of hope!” The guitar music in the background goes from slow to fast, and makes you feel very excited. The caldron has a fountain inside that seems to be getting higher and more intense as the bottle gets bigger.

Part Five: You!
The last bottle is about the player. This bottle shines purple, a gender neutral color that is a mix of pink and blue. Purple also symbolizes creativity, imagination, and magic, and surveys found almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors.* When the last bottle starts to glow, Kip tells the player, “This last wish is all about you. Silently make a wish about whatever you want!” You place your hands on the bottle, and it feels squishy, a little like play-doh. The fountain leaps and jumps in different patterns in tune with the joyful and light-hearted piano music.

Why Music

“Quoted in a 2001 article in USA Today, Suzanne Hasner, chairwoman of the music therapy department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, says even those with dementia or head injuries retain musical ability.

The article reported results of an experiment in which researchers from the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pa., tracked 111 cancer patients who played drums for 30 minutes a day. They found strengthened immune systems and increased levels of cancer-fighting cells in many of the patients.

"Deep in our long-term memory is this rehearsed music,” Hasner says. “It is processed in the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala. Here’s where you remember the music played at your wedding, the music of your first love, that first dance. Such things can still be remembered even in people with progressive diseases. It can be a window, a way to reach them…"

The American Music Therapy Organization claims music therapy may allow for "emotional intimacy with families and caregivers, relaxation for the entire family, and meaningful time spent together in a positive, creative way".”

[Paragraph copied from: How Does Music Impact Our Emotions, Site: http://www.chordpiano.com/articles-chord-piano/music-emotions-4.htm]

Sources:
*Color Meanings
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-mean