Скачать или смотреть The Timekeeper's Return: a story-based immersive treasure hunt in Canterbury

A one-day narrative-based immersive treasure hunt for all ages, in which players scanned QR code stickers to discover stories about locations in Canterbury’s Cathedral Quarter. I was commissioned by Canterbury Cathedral Quarter, an association of local businesses in an historic area of Canterbury city centre, to design, write and direct this mixed-reality game over a period of 4 months. The event was a great success, with over 200 participants taking part and several winning prizes provided by local businesses as a reward for completing the treasure hunt.

The Timekeeper’s Return told the story of Dr. Mia Augustina, a time-travelling historical researcher who uses her power to explore the everyday lives of pilgrims and settlers in Canterbury throughout the ages. Her time machine, an antique navigation device called an astrolabe, automatically records her research diary entries from the past in the form of QR codes, which are then visible in the present-day landscape.

When Mia’s device malfunctions during her travels, trapping her in the past, she needs some help to re-calibrate it and return to the present. As well as storing information, the astrolabe’s QR codes act as triangulation markers, which will connect the two timelines when scanned in order in the present day, and bring Mia back home.

Reading the research notes from each code enabled participants to navigate to the next, following Mia’s travels through the ages and the things she encounters in these different time periods. This journey evoked a wider reflection on the people, events and objects that give meaning to the places we inhabit in our everyday lives, as well as the wide range of social and cultural forces that have shaped the landscape in this historic quarter of Canterbury.


The Timekeeper’s Return
Designed, written and directed by Jack Lowe

Website design
AM Marketing

Graphic design
Sam Lowe

Recruitment
Canterbury Christchurch University Outreach

Testers
Oscar Dymond
Paul Dymond
Wendy Dymond
Tim Fairhall
Julian Steward

Marketing
Maria Cockburn
Jack Lowe

Printing
Canterbury City Council Print & Mail Centre
Omicron Reprographics

Participating businesses (in order of appearance)
Lakeland
Canterbury Cathedral Shop
Fitzgerald Jewellers
Canterbury Pottery
Canteen
Loake
Antoine et Lili
Biggs Opticians
Wrapped!
The Chinaman
Fired Earth
Chapter
Moat Tea Rooms
Veg Box Café
Stilwell Jewellers

Rewards kindly provided by
Canterbury Cathedral Shop

Prize draw prizes kindly provided by
The Marlowe Theatre
Chapter
Moat Tea Rooms
Canterbury Cathedral Shop
The Chinaman
Antoine et Lili
Canterbury Pottery

Special thanks
Maria Cockburn
Stefan Colley
Adam Ganz
Sandra Hadfield
Chris Needham
Mark Pegg

Acting

Dr. Mia Augustina
Oksana Savchenko

Rose
Rebecca Sampson

Max
Elizabeth Waterman-Scrase

Filming

Producer
Alex Preston

Camera operators
Zdravko Zhelev
Jules Davison

Sound
Laura Bailey

Assistant producer
Lexi Budd

Digital imaging technician
Morgan Davies


The Timekeeper’s Return was created by Jack Lowe on behalf of
Canterbury Cathedral Quarter

© 2018 Jack Lowe