Expedition Epcot

During my time at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, we would have annual offsite team buildings that let us go out and just relax together once a year. During the 2019 team building, we were able to get the Brand Team into Disney using some of our contacts there. Instead of just a regular day at the park, however, I had an idea to create an "escape room" for the group to play.

As someone who was deeply drawn to game design since childhood, the game was ultimately a labor of love that I created on my own time using resources I had and some supplied purchased through Amazon. I had even purchased myself an Annual Pass to Disney so I could scout a few months ahead of time.

At the time, we had also been exploring AR as a way of enhancing marketing efforts. We had recently purchase the augmented reality platform by Zapworks, and I wanted to use this project to explore what could be done with the new technology. This also helped me create interactive props utilizing existing parts of Epcot as a feature of the Zapworks tool was the ability to use a target image to trigger a sequence.

The game was built around the story of a secret society that sent us out on an expedition to find the lost "Sapphire of Vacanza." It's last known whereabouts was, of course, at the location of Epcot after the last expedition in 1982 had mysteriously vanished.

The department was split into 4 teams with the goal to decipher clues that would would ultimately lead them to a locker number and a matching combination. To do this, each team was given a pack of props that I designed to be easy to carry around a theme park all day. These included:

Teaser Card

A card with QR code that would set up the story for the teams. This included voice work by me as the representative of the secret society coming from a 3D asset that was motion tracked to the card.

Set of "Clue Cassettes"

Each box contained the same set of cards with a different World Showcase location on the front and an AR-based QR code on the back. Teams would scan this QR with a custom Zapworks phone app and tap one button to get a visual clue and another to listen to audio of the previous 1982 expedition.

The audio scripts were written by me and performed by members of the team — our head copywriter, Joe Irwin, and social media manager, Kelly Bateman.

Map of Epcot

I had found online an original park map from the opening of Epcot in 1982 and printed 4 copies. To age the prop, I soaked and baked the maps in a solution of instant coffee and then hand-marked them with secret messages written in a cipher font I created.

Notebook

Purchased from Amazon and customized with stickers designed by the graphic designer on their team. This gave them a way to keep notes and carry around props safely.

Winner Props

Sapphire of Vacanza

Hero prop made from a papercraft design of a diamond and specialty paper.

Poster with Victory Message

Designed in Procreate, the poster contained a QR code with a message recorded and performed in secret by our account executive, Jordan Arribas, who was leaving weeks before the event to move on to new opportunities. The message featured my character and hers congratulating the winning team and allowed me to give her a sweet send-off.