COMING SOON: DARKFIELD’s ARCADE

You don’t have to dig hard to find us expressing our move for the work of DARKFIELD, who have mastered the art of creating intense immersive experiences through spectacular surround sound.

Their latest work, ARCADE, is going even further down the immersive rabbit hole by offering up a branching narrative:

Each at their own individual arcade machine, players will guide their avatar through a world ravaged by endless war: you can choose a side, win or lose the war, search for a peaceful route, or join a cult promising a better version of reality. Players will address deep, existential questions about free will and consciousness, as they navigate a world where some will win and others will lose. No two journeys through the experience will be the same.

All done in the dark, as every good DARKFIELD experience is.

We checked in with Glen Neath and David Rosenberg, Co-Artistic Directors

of DARKFIELD about the latest show from the NoPro favorites which runs 12–24 March in Nottingham and 27 March — 7 April in Gloucester.

Keep up with DARKFIELD on Instagram & Facebook.

This is No Proscenium’s COMING SOON, a look at ongoing immersive experiences & events. To learn more about how your event could be considered for the feature check out How To Get Covered By NoPro.

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Glen Neath and David Rosenberg: ARCADE is an interactive branch narrative experience, using nostalgic 8-bit aesthetic of 1980’s video games, 360 degree binaural sound and sensory effects to immerse players in multiple worlds, inviting them to choose their own path.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

GN & DR: Our previous show, EULOGY, included some interactive elements that augmented the audio and made the audience feel as if they had some minor agency in the content of the show. We were keen to build on this and explore the idea that each audience member might follow a ‘real’ different path through the story rather than merely a perceived one. Our effects are generally universal and affect the container, and so the whole audience at the same time. With our new show we have created cabinets, one for each audience member, and this has allowed us to target effects to each audience member individually.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

GN & DR: We hope that everyone enjoys the experience of making decisions in the show that are then acted out in real time by the audience member’s avatar. We want the audience to get excited by an awareness of the wider ‘world’ that they are moving through, knowing that had they made different choices their story would have turned out very differently. We’re excited by the conversations that might come out of this.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

When genuine choices are offered to players it doesn’t take long before the exponential growth of possible story lines becomes overwhelming. If this wasn’t complicated enough, each possible storyline has to last exactly the same amount of time as Arcade is a communal experience for multiple players in total darkness. It was a worry we wouldn’t be able to find a way to make the show work technically so it’s a bit unexpected that it does. There was always going to be a small period of time between the audience making their decision and the avatar acting on it and so I guess there was a concern the show might not feel responsive enough, but we’ve been surprised at how smooth these interactions are. The way the audience read the story is different too, in that there is a feeling when doing it that the twists and turns are on them, there is a definite taking on of responsibility by the audience, which is exciting.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

GN & DR: We’ve been interested in, and reading about free will and consciousness as part of our research. We expect players of Arcade to do the same. Take a moment to imagine your world as if from the perspective of an avatar — convinced all their decisions are their own. We wanted to explore the relationship a player has with their avatar; considering how sentient the avatar might become, and how aware they might be of the player ‘guiding’ them. We also suggest our prospective audience play 1980’s text based adventure games with limited commands: “get lamp…walk north…dig hole”. It is surprising how compelling these games can be.

Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.

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