I went to an Immersive GameBox, which can best be described as a real-life version of the Adventures in Odyssey Room of Consequence. A video is coming out soon, but I got to take a high-tech look behind the scenes at the technology.
Essentially, the “box” is an empty room with four projectors. According to my game host, the projectors are Canon laser projectors hooked up to mini Windows 10/11 PCs that run the games. During the games, you interact with them through movement or touch. What I found interesting is that the walls themselves aren’t normal touchscreens—they function more like an external attachment that makes a MacBook touchscreen. However, this system uses four Lidar scanners, one for each wall, that detect your input and send a signal back. The pentagon-shaped sensors sit a few inches above each projected display. My game, The Floor Is Lava (based on the Netflix series), wasn’t super touch-heavy, but touch was still needed to access the game’s settings.
There are also specialized cameras in the room that track your hat, which looks kind of like a miniature cellphone tower. These cameras allow you to control your avatar and serve as the motion controls—think Wii, but with a full range of motion. The games themselves are controlled by the GameBox’s iPads. They access a site called egbvenue.co with a location-specific link (I was at the Woodlands location). This site manages the game settings and controls, though it may only be accessible via their LAN and not the open internet. The tablet also has a demo mode, showing the cameras tracking the dots on your head. According to their documentation, the system runs on something called VenueOS, while the games themselves run on Windows 10/11 PCs.
Hopefully you enjoyed this sneak peek—the first in our Tech Behind series. Video and photos coming soon! God bless and Tech Talk To You Later!!!
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