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As always, in a Library, be kind. Thank you!
-The Immersive Archivists.
A.K.A. the Vengeful Librarians
Table of Contents
Games and interaction design 6
Immersive-Adjacent TV & Films 10
Immersive-Inspired and -Adjacent Video Games 11
Planning Your Escape by Laura Hall (while this book is “about” escape rooms, the first half gives an excellent overview of immersive entertainment in human history)
Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds and The Art of Immersive Storytelling: Strategies from the Gaming World by Margaret Kerrison
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull
Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Hamlet on the Holodeck - Janet H. Murray https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/hamlet-holodeck
The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker
Abraham Burickson & Ayden LeRoux, Odyssey Works: Transformative Experiences for an Audience of One
Abraham Burickson, Experience Design: A Manifesto
Some great online resources:
Mikhael Tara Garver, Senses to Bring the Fourth Wall Down
https://howlround.com/immersive-theater
Immersology by Haley Cooper (blog, frequently updated)
Patterns of Transformation: Designing Sex, Death, and Survival in the 21st Century v 1.0 by Ida C. Benedetto
http://patternsoftransformation.com
Magic Circles and Alibis for Interaction
https://thinkingaboutmuseums.com/2018/03/12/playing-with-the-past-part-two-magic-circles-and-interaction-alibis/
Playing with Magic: Interactive Worlds and Walt Disney Imagineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX0Dw-RL_EU
Immersive Design Summit YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/immersivedesignsummit
Immersive World on PBS (USA public television)
https://www.pbs.org/show/immersive-world/
The No Proscenium glossary
https://noproscenium.com/the-no-proscenium-glossary-for-audiences-c1597d510268
What is “Immersive”? And Why Does the Way We Use the Term Matter?
https://noproscenium.com/what-is-immersive-and-why-does-the-way-we-use-the-term-matter-afb670f0c9df
Evocative, Enacted, Embedded & Emergent: Narrative Architectures for Immersive Storytelling
The Second-Order Problem: A Participant-Centered Approach to Immersive Design
https://noproscenium.com/the-second-order-problem-a-participant-centered-approach-to-immersive-design-a45f696611b7
The Experience Design of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser — Immersive and Interactive, Personalized and Communal
https://kathrynyu.medium.com/the-experience-design-of-star-wars-galactic-starcruiser-immersive-and-interactive-personalized-d8b2ad8a1f03
“For theatre related writings: Machon, Alston, and White are the ones that come up most frequently in discussions from what I have seen.
Many of these are more on the academic/theoretical side, so anything more like a textbook is best to read like a graduate student: the intro chapter, the conclusion chapter, and the first and last paragraphs of each chapter in between, taking lots of notes. Then dig into specific chapters if you wish (don’t read the whole book word for word).”
— Kathryn Yu, No Proscenium
Josephine Machon, Immersive Theatres: Intimacy and Immediacy in Contemporary Performance
Gareth White, Audience Participation in Theatre: Aesthetics of the Invitation
Adam Alston, Beyond Immersive Theatre
Abraham Burickson & Ayden LeRoux, Odyssey Works: Transformative Experiences for an Audience of One
Jason Warren, Creating Worlds: How to Make Immersive Theatre (Making Theatre) — more practical of a guide compared to others
Affective Performance and Cognitive Science: Body, Brain and Being (Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues) (multiple authors) (edited)
Jeff Wirth, Interactive Acting: Acting, Improvisation, and Interacting for Audience Participatory Theatre (may be hard to find, look for used copies)
Punchdrunk specific books:
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone
Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World by Srdja Popovic
Playable Theatre: Game Design for Immersive Performance - Celia Pearce, Northeastern University
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq9aGS9p_hg
Playable Theatre Symposium 2025
https://www.indiecade.com/playabletheatre/
Playable Theatre Symposium 2024
https://www.indiecade.com/playable-theatre-symposium-2024/
Playable Theatre Symposium 2022
https://www.indiecade.com/playable-theatre-symposium-2022/
Playable Theatre Symposium 2021
https://www.indiecade.com/playabletheatre-2021/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR2MY_dst9A&list=PL75r5D2HEb4D9Qd2GmdqgYF9AKBn376vf
Tamara by John Krizanc - a Sleep No More before there was a Sleep No More
https://houseofanansi.com/products/tamara
See also: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/HE46NDeAZJQiKyL9/?mibextid=K35XfP
TEMPEST as performed by the cast of The Under Presents by Tender Claws
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15oI7Py4ELjAG2ZKH8KMgX8BLijgTEunz/view
Sean Stewart’s script for Roundabout
https://www.amazon.com/Roundabout-interactive-comedy-Sean-Stewart-ebook/dp/B08F4JJ7MW
Pseudonym Productions’ Twine script:
https://twitter.com/rickybrigante/status/1336738189546020864?s=21
Lauren Ludwig on Non-Linear Storytelling
Standard Patterns in Choice Based Games
https://heterogenoustasks.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/standard-patterns-in-choice-based-games/
Taxonomy of Narrative Choices
http://vagrantcursor.wordpress.com/2019/05/01/taxonomy-of-narrative-choices
Screenwriting for VR
https://www.uncsa.edu/news/20170307-virtual-reality-screenwriting.aspx
https://vrscout.com/news/vr-scriptwriting-beginners-guide-writing-unframed/
MetaMovie script format
https://twitter.com/jasonmo_/status/1336674640375275520?s=21
From Curtis Hickman of THE VOID VR:
To begin to learn magic theory start with:
"Magic in Theory: An Introduction to the Theoretical and Psychological Elements of Conjuring" – Peter Lamont and Richard Wiseman
Then move to:
"Designing Miracles" by Darwin Ortiz
You will need to read them several times... and take notes. :)
Curtis has also written his own VR book, see below.
=======
Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers– by Henning Nelms
(Being tricked makes you mad. Being part of an illusion makes you delighted. A trick + CONTEXT = illusion.)
AMAZE: The Art of Creating Magical Experiences – Mariano Tomatis, Ferdinando Buscema
Don Carson’s Blog on Theme Park & Virtual World Design
http://themedenvironments.blogspot.com
Theme Park Design by Steve Alcorn
The Themed Space edited by Scott A. Lukas
The Immersive Worlds Handbook: Designing Theme Parks and Consumer Spaces
Disneyland Inside Story by Randy Bright
The Theming of America, American Dreams, Media Fantasies, and Themed Environments by Mark Gottdiener
The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and Games H. Gilmore
Walt Disney Imagineering by The Imagineers
The Imagineering Workout by The Imagineers
Designing Disney by John Hench
Dream It! Do It! by Marty Sklar
One Little Spark by Marty Sklar
It’s Kind of a Cute Story by Rolly Crump
Theme Park Design & The Art of Themed Entertainment (back in stock!)
The Imagineering Story and Behind the Attraction on Disney+
“7 Principles for Creating Immersive Worlds” https://medium.com/@erica.mccay/7-principles-for-creating-immersive-worlds-6c2e88ab900a
Situational Game Design by Brian Upton
Game Design Workshop 4th Edition: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games by Tracy Fullerton
The Well-Played Game, Bernie De Koven
Morgan Kaufmann, Pervasive Games: Theory and Design
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell
Jeff Watson, Reality Ends Here: https://remotedevice.net/docs/Watson_Dissertation_2012.pdf
Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design by Flint Dille & John Zuur Platten,
Lone Eagle Publishing Co. 2007.
Dave Szulborski, This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming
Alternate Reality Games: Gamification for Performance, Charles Palmer, Andy Petroski
Katherine Isbister, How Games Move Us: Emotion by Design (Playful Thinking)
Designing Games by Tynan Sylvester
The Gamer's Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design by Celia Hodent
Games: Agency as Art by C. Thi Nguyen
Brett’s Escape Room Design Links (thatguywiththepuzzles.com)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lwSTxIews8azOqzHEy0vyoSrX7orx55pRImXWuBVkjU/edit
Planning Your Escape by Laura Hall (see above, under General)
Frequently Argued Questions about Escape Rooms
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d8NQhT1XEffpLYkcvhyEgF8bpsMEWEEgERtEd6_ea7g/edit?usp=sharing
CTIN464 is a course at USC on escape room design, here’s a past syllabus and reading list:
http://www.ctin464.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CTIN-464-Escape-Rooms-syllabus-updated.pdf
http://www.ctin464.com/?page_id=43
Reality Escape Convention Youtube playlists:
https://www.youtube.com/@roomescapeartist/playlists
Hyper-Reality: the Art of Designing Impossible Experiences by Curtis Hickman
The VR Book: Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality by Jason Jerald
3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice (2nd Edition) by LaViola Jr., Ernst Kruijff, McMahan, Bowman, Poupyrev
Larp Design: Creating Role-play Experiences is a 2019 book about larp design. It was edited by Johanna Koljonen, Jaakko Stenros, Anne Serup Grove, Aina D. Skjønsfjell and Elin Nilsen. Two physical copies are available in the public library system of every Knutepunkt host-country.
https://nordiclarp.org/wiki/Larp_Design:_Creating_Role-play_Experiences
Robert Pratten , Getting Started with Transmedia Storytelling: A Practical Guide for Beginners (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015)
Andrea Phillips, A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012)
Benjamin W.L. Derhy Kurtz and Mélanie Bourdaa (Eds.) Rise of the Transtexts: Challenges and Opportunities (New York: Routledge, 2016)
Mark J. P. Wolf, Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation (New York: Routledge, 2012).
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Ship of Theseus by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Dark Factory by Kathe Koja
Cain’s Jawbone by Edward Powys Mathers
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Caravel by Stephanie Garber
Legendary by Stephanie Garber (Caravel series, #2)
Finale by Stephanie Garber (Caravel series, #3)
Don’t Read This! The Private Diary of Piper Pastore from the House of Eternal Return
Griffin and Sabine trilogy by Nick Bantock
Dream Park by Larry Niven & Steve Barnes
Here in Avalon by Tara Isabella Burton
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (7 ½ Deaths if you're in the USA) by Stuart Turton
Westworld (seasons 1-2)
The Game
Amelie
Dispatches From Elsewhere
Exit Through the Gift Shop
F is for Fake
BioShock
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (the music from this game actually ended up in The Burnt City)
What Remains of Edith Finch
Dear Esther
Gone Home
Firewatch
Tacoma
(see also: https://www.tumblr.com/classicgoldbug/85123828608/interview-with-the-dust-wizard)
The Invisible Hours (VR)
Sexy Brutale
Elsinore
The Under Presents (VR)
IMMORTALITY (note content warnings!)
Inscryption
Alan Wake 2
Neurocracy
Walkabout Mini Golf: Meow Wolf DLC (VR)
Device Six
Lorelei & the Laser Eyes
Her Story
The Return of the Obra Dinn
The Roottrees are Dead
Metal Gear Solid V
Eternal Darkness
Subtext (an ARG for one person)
Pathologic/Pathologic 2 (Pathologic 2 moreso I think)
Blue Prince
Kentucky Route Zero
(Note: The Under Presents, Tacoma, and Alan Wake 2 were directly inspired by Sleep No More. Alan Wake 2 is especially interesting because the creator was inspired by SNM but has never actually attended the show.)