In this project called „Der Stillstand der vier Tageszeiten“ (the standstill of the four daytimes) I developed an analog game or rather quest which is played in the real world but takes place in a fictional one.
On the planet Feoni inhabited by Evoani four regions appeard. In each region one part of the day is trapped and time stands still. The four regions are the „Morgenwald“ (morning forest), „Mittagswüste“ (noon desert), „Abendmoor“ (evening swamp) and „Nachtsee“ (night lake). Every region has a key place that holds the secret of why the time stopped. Liro, an Evoani, started exploring them but got hurt during the last investigations. Now the player must help Liro. To do that the player gets one tool per region and a pen and piece of paper to activate the key places, reveal the last missing pieces of information and write down the hints. When every hint is collected, the player can figure out the ending of the story.
I tried to bring typical symbols from games to the real world like the red exclamation mark, a hidden treasure box and loading sign. When the player finished the quest they also got a little reward and the same reward was given to them if they got me the coins from the treasure box. During the project I played the role of Liro and became a game character. For that I created a costume and crafted a little hawker’s tray through which I also sold my comic Lowering. To introduce the player to the story and regions I crafted a booklet which I put in the envelope that says „Sprich mich an, um die Quest zu starten.“ next to the one with the comic inside. When people wanted to play the quest I took out the booklet and when people wanted to read or buy the comic I „activated“ the other envelope. It was very interesting to see how people walked through the quest and interacted with the project overall.
The whole project took place at the HfK’s Hochschultage 2023 in Bremen.