We wanted Control Rod Crisis! to be an immersive experience for the users, and we did so by sending them into the world of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident. In today's world, accidents involving anything nuclear get wire-to-wire coverage. In the case of Fukushima, no one died--there was minimal damage--and yet the world had a drastic response. We are trying to emulate that sentiment within Control Rod Crisis! The combination of flashing lights and control panels with the voice over a loud speaker is meant to get users to feel the urgency of a real nuclear crisis.
We used our scale model to capture our final vision as accurately as possible. As you can see, the crane is taller than any of the figures in the room, which is an important feature. We do not want users attempting to reach in and touch/mobe the control rods themselves because in a real nuclear crisis the rods would be radioactive and extremely dangerous. Also, giving them access to manipulate the control rods with their hands would make the game much less interesting.
Another important aspect of our roomsetup is the general layout. Initially we wanted to put the crane cube in the direct center of the room to really seal its significance. However, for the sake of wire control and overall room balance we decided to put the crane room along one of the room walls, with three clear sides exposed. This gives users the ability to move around the three sides and get different perspectives on the rod, and it also allows for the three different control surfaces (x, y, and z directions) to be a little more isolated--which adds challenge to the gameplay.
