Mega-game. The very name of the genre suggests the epic. Leaving the confined dimensions and controlled lighting of a soundstage, a theatre, or an escape room, immersion in the magic circle of the game world is an ever-larger challenge for designers to fulfill audience expectations for immersive experiences. Aquanesia (2018) is a location-based game and performance set 100 years in the future in which players test their skills at different watershed-based activities to decipher a set of clues, which will help them unlock the mystery of how and why people are losing their memories of the past century. The goal of Aquanesia is to create a fun-filled adventure that gets people outside to play and connect with their city and local watershed on bicycle or on foot. During the process of solving the game, they become familiar with specific aspects of the local
environment as well as general principles about a watershed and clean water. The intended result of the game is that players are encouraged to become ever-better stewards of their watershed. Written by the game’s mechanics and scenic designer, Kimberly Long Loken, this post-mortem will examine the interplay of
narrative, game mechanics, visual design and fabrication, production management and environmental science in the development of Aquanesia.
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