Leaps by Bayer
Mobile Escape Game
TRANSPORT people into an underwater research lab with a team on a time-sensitive mission to rescue vital scientific samples that could change the world. Participants lab coat and all enter into a 40 ft shipping container fully themed with 3 rooms full of puzzles, triggering lights and buttons, taking them through a 15-minute action-packed experience to emphasize teamwork and inspire the next generation that they can achieve goals they set their minds to.
Breaking Through Impossible – The Escape Game
SXSW, TOA, Berlin, Leverkusen, MIT, NCSU, U of Illinois
Bayer, a leading multinational in pharmaceuticals and life sciences, tasked our team with designing an immersive, all-in-one experience housed within a customized 40-foot shipping container. Our project aimed to showcase Bayer's groundbreaking solutions through an engaging and interactive journey where "future scientists" had less than 20 minutes to save the world. By blending storytelling with adventure, we simplified complex topics such as medical cures, organ repair, and agricultural optimization.
The immersive multiplayer experience required meticulous creation of the physical space, props, online services, and interactive components. During execution, it brought to life a realistic underwater research lab, captivating 2,000+ visitors across several US and German cities from launch to teardown.
Role: Project Manager Company: IX Labs Client: Leaps By Bayer Time: 3 years (includes event operation) Team: PM, CD, TD, Software Engineers, Automation Engineer, UX/UI Designer, 3D Artist, Fabrication Shop, Theme Artist, Video Producer.
Interactive Immersive Experience
Participants interacted with a blend of tactile, digital, and technology-driven puzzles in an immersive physical space themed from floor to ceiling. Teams were guided and assisted by in-story automated videos and voice-overs, which added to the immersion and excitement. The mobile space included triggered lights, external underwater audio and video, along with physical automated doors and water sprays.
Content
Throughout the years this was made we made several updates to improve and build on the original experience. We created an entirely new version of the game that worked on the existing hardware. This allowed for participants to select from two different experiences and our client to run different versions based on the location. We also improved the experience by adding features including spatial audio, higher quality 3D digital artwork, updated game design of puzzles, increased integration of brand elements, and of course a water feature!
Operational Technology
Our team designed a monitoring system to help live operators guide participants through the experience using an interface to trigger canned hints and quick troubleshooting processes. This allowed for human help when needed to ensure all participants enjoyed the experience, which was the ultimate goal of the client.
Transportability
Pack it all up and bring it to the next location is the most unique feature of this project. All the technology and equipment could then be set up in less than a day, allowing it to reach participants worldwide. This unit went all across North America and even on a boat through the ocean to Europe and back. Features included an outdoor hanging LED screen that breaks down into flight cases and secures inside the unit. Not to mention the hydraulic Bison lifts on each corner of the container to streamline transport on a flatbed truck.
Ingo Klöckner, Equity Portfolio Manager at Leaps by Bayer:
“If you think about your standing in the shipping container and it doesn’t feel like you're in a shipping container, they really transformed the room into something different.”
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