VR Immersive Theatre
Q. What is this?
An experience combining elements of improv, role playing (DnD), gaming characteristics and theatre all set within an immersive space.
Intro:
I love story, improv and VR experiences! Last weekend, my friend Andy Fidel and I were invited by Jason Moore, director and head of the Metamovie troop to participate in their flagship play Alien Rescue. As you might have guessed from the title, the experience centers on a mission to retract an alien from an unknown location all the while encountering some pretty precarious situations. I was thrilled to attend this experience because instead of going in solo which is typical of most immersive theatre experiences, I was able to play as one half of a heroic duo. Andy is known for her ‘joie de vivre’ so it was a fun to partner with her.
Q. What was it like to play Alien Rescue?
FUN! And here’s why. Great characters, evocative music and special fx, super sweet onboarding and offboarding process, in-real life improvisation opportunities with experienced actors and best of all… you already know the outcome… you’re going to be a HERO!
Q. What was the Onboarding process like?
Two days before the actual experience, Jason and I spent time ensuring that my computer system was set up to accommodate Alien Rescue. Once logged into NeosVR, Jason demo’d the basic navigation system. He even brought me on a short world-hop and helped me to explore the NeosVR ecosystem! Having someone to help guide you especially as the platform is not that easy for a beginner to use is extremely valuable and much appreciated. From the get-go, Jason and his crew made me feel special! Bravo! That’s what you want to do so that your guests feel supported and free to engage when they actually start the main experience.
Q. Why NeosVR?
While Neos is not classified as ‘mainstream’, it has some features that truly make this engine perfect for Alien Rescue however there is one cavaet: At first glance, the UI is difficult to wrap your head around, but if you could approach it from a developer POV everything makes sense. What’s cool about NeosVR is the ability to actually see and share menus inside the program making it easy to see and understand what a person is doing as opposed to say… VRChat where you are pretty much left to your own devices. NeosVR, with its robust engine, gorgeous graphics and smooth interactions was a natural choice for something as technically demanding as Alien Rescue.
After figuring out my technical problems and getting both NeosVR and the sound to work, we chose our avatars, packed our guns and away we went!
Q. How did meta movie incorporate you into the story?
Andy and I were asked various questions that enabled the acting crew to get to know us better and to insert us into the broader narrative.
We were asked:
1)Who were we? How did we know each other?
2) What our home planet was called?
3)Why did we wear masks? It was fairly basic but really got the ball rolling.
Should you decide to experience Alien Rescue by yourself, I suggest that you take the time to imagine a story concept that is fun and unexpected. Our story without knowing MetaMovie’s narrative was coincidentally, very much aligned. And YES! we wrote something silly and unique that really was enjoyable and added to the hilarity of the experience.
Q What impressed you about your experience?
I certainly don’t want to spoil your own personal experience should you decide to do it so here are some brief thoughts…
1. Sound, Story and Agency
The sound system and the choice of music were perfect. Nothing reinforces emotion and provides emotional cues as music and sound FX. What gets embedded in our subconscious is the part that feeds and triggers our ‘animal brains’. In this regard, Alien Rescue played like a cross between First Person Shooter with Role Playing sensibilities all connected and triggered by switches in the storyline. What was really neat was the knowledge that while you KNEW that you were a part of the broader storyline, you still were given enormous agency to change the outcome of the story just by the choices that you made.
That ability to affect the narrative branches stayed in the back of my mind like a packsack ready to be opened and yet, I was drawn in by the non-stop narrative that the crew enacted. In essence, you were part writer, part actor and definitely a game show contestant all rolled into a ‘hero’ suit of your choice. Speaking of writing, while the story moved from beat to beat as locations changed, there were ample moments to linger or even return to sets if needed. Why would one do that? To find ‘hidden’ items of course!
2. It’s you and the BOTS! (Integration between players and audience)
You get to be the hero (if you choose when you sign up) but you will also find yourself interacting on the same team with little tiny bots representing off-line audience participants. Supporting actors were able to connect to the players and watch the gameplay via twitch stream. They could also affect what happens in the scene by what they wrote in the twitch feed making this a very nice method of combining in-world acting with audience participation. Although the bots could not be heard within the story environment, they were able to change up colors to denote nuances in their observations.
3. The Quality of the Acting
The acting was superb and deserving of the biggest kudos. Without experienced storytellers with backgrounds in improvisation, drama and comedy, it’s unlikely that the storyline with its many narrative branches could ‘breathe’ the way it did. Huge props to Nicole Rigo, Marinda Botha, Craig Woodward and Kenneth Rogeau as well as the development and camera crew (Hi Carlos) who made this happen. The ability to emote and improv at the drop of a hat are hard skills to come by and it was evident that the team possessed a special chemistry that worked its magic throughout the entire one hour experience.
4. Would I have added anything more to the experience?
Absolutely! But in so much as it was fun to write this blog, I will have to keep that conversation a secret 🙂
Q. What was the Off-boarding process like?
At the end of the play, we all ended up in a celebration platform where we got to share our experiences with each other. All the questions about the storyline or the roles were answered and woot! We were also given trophies for recognition and achievement!
Surprisingly, Jason also followed this up with a detailed synopsis describing our story and experience with many links that we could share with the world. I was even surprised that we could see our ‘replay’ through twitch! The actors all RT’d Andy and I in social media and then Jason once again provided us with additional URL’s and material that we could share with family and friends … potential ‘heros’. Their treatment really felt like a big warm HUG and we felt welcomed to return again to ‘re-do’ Alien Rescue. There is no measure of success quite like happy customers.
Summary
MetaMovie’s Alien Rescue is a really fun immersive experience featuring some of the top talents in the business. It’s no wonder that they were recipients of so many impressive XR Immersive awards. It took months for me to finally reserve my spot, but without Andy Fidel’s partnership, I doubt that I would have had such a good time. So I’m ending with a hot tip: find yourself a really good co-partner or team (it will make all the difference), make that reservation and GO FOR IT! Thank you Jason Moore for such a great time! For the MetaMovie crew, this is just the tip of the ‘iceberg’.
Q. Where can we get tickets?