• Immersive and interactive walkthrough attraction

• Semester-long location-based entertainment project

• Features RFID-based interactives, puzzle solving, and large-scale puppetry

• Team of five graduate students, called Little Big Engineers

• Served 171 guests at the 2022 ETC Fall Festival

I was solely responsible for all narrative design. This included pitches, treatments, and scripting.

The final deliverable included a pre-show video script, a script for four live actors and a puppeteer, and a worldbuilding bible to assist our actors in improvising.

Narrative elements of puzzle design, including a themed poem, were my responsibility. I playtested our puzzle with over 70 people to refine it.

I organized external actors and directed rehearsals, and even stepped into one role myself.

Skills:

• Software: Final Draft, spreadsheets, Google Suite, Slack, Zoom, MS Office

• Other skills: narrative design, scriptwriting, playtesting, roleplay, editing, tabletop game design, character writing, teamwork, improvisational acting, written and verbal communication

I was an assistant set designer on this project, primarily focusing on scenic painting and rapid fabrication.

I painted the dragon puppet, puzzle wheel, and various small set design elements. I gained experience with scumbling, dry brushing, stippling, and texturing with a variety of paints and other media, and created faux stone and faux dragon skin surfaces.

I also fabricated props (dragon eggs, dragon scales, and pedestals) and puppet parts (eyes, eye sockets, teeth, nostrils, crown) according to designs from our team’s artist and set designer. I used materials including foam, Liquid Latex, cardboard, wood, and fabric.

Finally, I designed and made all costumes for our actors.

Skills:

• Scenic painting, faux stone, dry brushing, stippling, scumbling, texturing, Monster Mud, foam sculpting, patterning, sewing, costume design

I wrote the entire Development Blog, and all other content on our website. This includes 18,000 words of content about the entire design and production process of our attraction. Read the blog here!

I also wrote several presentations our team did as a showcase of our work to the CMU ETC community.

Skills:

• Software: Wordpress, Google Suite, Slack, Monday, MS Office

• Other skills: copywriting, editing, proofreading, written and verbal communication

Return of the Dragon was an immersive and interactive walkthrough attraction for the ETC Fall Festival on December 9, 2022. It included RFID-based interactives with Phidget RFID antennas, a tactile puzzle using reed switches and solenoids, a DMX lighting and sound system, and a large, 4 foot long dragon puppet with a variety of physical and digital puppeteering features. It also included a queue line with immersive theater elements, and three post-show interactive stations. We saw 171 guests on the night of Festival, and our feedback was that our experience was a showstopping, immersive, and fun highlight of the festival.