Sasu's Mystical Quest
High Performance Gaming Area

For the world's largest cruise line company "Royal Caribbean International" a one-of-a-kind underwater adventure gaming room with custom-designed controllers and a themed interior onboard one of their newest and most innovative cruise ships, "Spectrum of the Seas", was created. As the little shaman Sasu, players are able to explore the depths of the ocean and unravel its secrets with the help of mystical friendly animals.

IDEA

The objective of the game is to help Sasu, the main character, navigate through four underwater worlds. Guests can control Sasu via a custom-built LED balance board or, in case of people with disabilities, by using an external usb-connected device. Users are able to control the character by shifting their weight left and right, or by jumping - with an objective of collecting as many gems as possible to earn the highest score. Every now and then, some magical creatures will appear to help Sasu throughout the adventure!

REALIZATION

The creation of the character went through a journey of its own, complete with many iterations of various drawing, sketches, and ideas in the search of the perfect elements. While creating the different levels, our intention was to have an environment that bordered on surreal - something that felt native and familiar, yet inciting wonder and enchantment. The custom world was grounded with realistic environmental elements to allow the sers quick understanding of how the world works, and then brought in fantastical colours and enhancements that brought the game to life. The world was created in Unity from pre-built landscape sections, randomly placed in each level in order to create an infinite variety of obstacles and point placement for every scenery. The game creates a rich environment by using specific peripheral elements such as fish swarms, ancillary plants and animals, bringing the whole world to life.

RESULT

The final result turned out to be a gender-neutral shape character, with a distinctive wetsuit and four different colour variations to connect each character to a specific gaming board. We took time to craft a side story, give a name to the game hero, and include a narrative path linking together different elements in the game and setting a base for an emotional connection within the character. And the success rate is impressive: An average of 19,000 games are played per month - and this since May. That is around 160 games per station per day. All in all that was up to 133,000 games played until December 2019.