Disney may have gone too big, too quickly, but they’re right to spot a potential convergence between video games and the real world. Rumoured plans for multiple Starcruisers around the world were also cancelled, making you wonder if the entire venture was yet another “low interest rate phenomenon” where tech and creative companies splashed cheap cash on long-shot bets. The Starcruiser’s creative and technical achievements haven’t transcended its financial challenges, however. Disney’s designers are more than aware of the parallels, with a GDC talk by creative director Sara Thacher and narrative design lead Anisha Deshmane referencing not only RPGs and non-player characters (NPCs), but also massively multiplayer online games (MMOs).
Everyone pursues their own missions simultaneously, so the Starcruiser has to shuffle people between group events to avoid bottlenecks, like automated matchmaking in multiplayer games. With 100 cabins, the Starcruiser isn’t a solo experience. Kathryn Yu, co-founder of the Immersive Experience Institute, told me, “There are other experiences that have components of the but I’m not aware of anything else that has the whole package,” citing its professional actors, ship-wide narrative, and stunt-laden finale. Actors are aware of your status, too: “Lt Croy” would greet me by name and tell me to keep up the good work, which was deeply impressive and very unnerving. Your choices and interactions contribute to each character’s trust and familiarity in you, determining your individual path through the story.
Missions include searching for contraband in the ship’s cargo bay by scanning codes, breaking Chewbacca out of the brig by hacking a terminal, and even manning the ship’s weapons against a First Order fleet. Like in an RPG, you can choose who to help by fulfilling their missions, with plenty of opportunities for you to betray and double-cross them. Throughout the voyage, you receive a constant stream of messages in your Datapad from characters like the First Order’s Lt Croy and the smuggler Raithe Kole. Inside the Starcruiser at Disney World, in Orlando.
0 kommentar(er)
