Elysian Heights

Elysian Heights is the capstone production by the 2024 graduating cohort of the Texas Immersive Institute. In this hour-long experience, audience members explore the world of Elysian Heights, a speculative AI-ruled city. There are different sectors to explore, each with their own interactive puzzles: from projection-mapped rooms, microcontroller and sensor-based games, AR scavenger hunts, and more.

As audience members interact with the world and discover its secrets, they reshape the narrative outcome of the experience.

Elysian Heights opened to the public on April 11, 2024 at dadalabs in Austin. It ran for 13 consecutive sold-out shows. On June 14, Elysian Heights was announced as one of 79 projects longlisted for the 2024 Yugo BAFTA Student Awards, an international event celebrating outstanding work across animation, documentary, live action, games and immersive categories.

As UX Lead, I directed the overall audience experience and user flow of the production. I worked closely with the Fabrication and Development teams to scope out the user interactions within our cohort's budget, timeframe, and tech stack. I also assisted the Development team with the implementation of an interactive web-based drawing puzzle.

Through a futuristic retelling of The Wizard of Oz, Elysian Heights explores the concept of Partnerism, a socio-economic model that emphasizes collaboration and caregiving over raw quantitative metrics of productivity. Audience members play visitors to a futuristic city, hosted by the AI ruler O.S., and are introduced to Ella, a hacker who wants to release her friends from O.S.’s control. Each sector of the city is hosted by a different Wizard of Oz-inspired character: Maisey highlights environmental issues; Ironclad focuses on the workforce, and Leon for arts and culture. In each sector, players engage with multimedia immersive puzzles to uncover the truth about the strategies through which O.S. controls the city and how his progress-oriented vision blinds him to the needs of his citizens. Will the players accept O.S.'s vision or join Ella in rebelling against his model of prosperity?