It might look like the inside of a Minecraft universe, but this is actually in a new immersive attraction in London’s Canada Water, where a glowing orb unlocks a new way to play the game.
Visitors use it to mine, build and interact inside Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue. It’s the game’s first immersive attraction in the UK and Europe.
Real-life models of Minecraft animals and props give the digital world physical shape including a pig, a giant bee, and a towering Iron Golem built to scale.
Olivier Goulet is Managing Partner for Supply + Demand, the creative media agency involved in designing the experience in collaboration with Microsoft.
He says, “We’re inviting guests to step into the world of Minecraft literally. Our first goal was to be truly authentic to the game and the brand. And I think we’ve nailed it from what we hear from the fans. … Second, you know, Minecraft is a game of discovery and crafting, and it’s free play. … So we have our own lens in the world of Minecraft, and we made it a quest.”
Guests use the orb to gather resources in each room, shaking it to unlock virtual tools and trigger scenes across the space.
Goulet continues, “That quest is to go save the villagers. So through the experience, we’re gonna, of course, spawn in the forest like we do in the game. We’re gonna craft some tools to get in the adventure and we’ll get into the village and realize that as we help the villagers grow their village, they get attacked … And we’re going to go on a quest to make the potion and find golden apples to turn them back from zombie villagers to villagers. It’s as simple as that.”
Goulet says, “We’re true believers at Supply + Demand in bridging physicality and digital, so this is not just a typical projection. You can touch and feel stuff as you can see behind me. It’s a mix of scenic fabric and scenic projection and physical blocks.”
The launch comes as the Minecraft universe expands with a new live-action film alongside a Netflix series and more global projects to come.
This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.
[Man demonstrating using a handheld light-up orb to gather resources and clear land in the welcome room of the immersive Minecraft experience]
[Forest floor lit up with interactive greenery and forest trees on the walls as the demonstrator continues to use orb]
[Floor lit up with forest setting in the welcome room of the experience as a chicken and pigs walk around on the wall behind]
[Projected pigs and chicken moving around a block of tree]
[Real-life model of pig with other real-life model props in the welcome room of the experience]
[Welcome room]
[Large model bee]
[Large Iron Golem model]
[Large chicken model in the welcome experience room]
Olivier Goulet (interview): “We’re inviting guests to step into the world of Minecraft literally. Our first goal was to be truly authentic to the game and the brand. And I think we’ve nailed it from what we hear from the fans. So that’s number one. Second, you know, Minecraft is a game of discovery and crafting, and it’s free play. We decided to take a lens of creating our own story. So we have our own lens in the world of Minecraft, and we made it a quest.”
[Demonstrator shaking glow-up orb in the welcome room]
[Demonstrator using the orb to mine for wood or steel in the village room]
[Forest room]
[Glow-up fireplace in forest room]
Olivier Goulet (interview): “That quest is to go save the villagers. So through the experience, we’re gonna of course spawn in the forest like we do in the game. We’re gonna craft some tools to get in the adventure and we’ll get into the village and realise that as we help the villagers grow their village, they get attacked and there’s a full on siege coming in. And we’re going to go on a quest to make the potion and find golden apples to turn them back from zombie villagers to villagers. It’s as simple as that.”
[Village room, after the forest room]
[Demonstrator interacting with screens using the orb]
[Demonstrator using the orb and walking on the illuminated floor]
Olivier Goulet (interview): “We’re true believers at Supply + Demand in bridging physicality and digital, so this is not just a typical projection. You can touch and feel stuff as you can see behind me. It’s a mix of scenic fabric and scenic projection and physical blocks. Just an interesting fact is the definition of the size of our pixels, because in the game it’s a metre. Each block is a metre. But in the game, everybody’s at the same height, because every character, every skins are the same, right? So how do we define that size? We decided to go to 60 centimetres. So for younger kids and smaller kids, to have that sense of stepping in the game.”
[Track of fire torch model as it flickers like a real flame]
[Demonstration screen in the mineshaft room]
[Trailer clip, A Minecraft Movie]
Kayleen Walters (interview): “The Minecraft game is bigger than ever. We have millions of players around the world playing the game. And what we’ve seen is they want more, more than the game, and so one of the things that we’re starting to do is create new touch points like this Minecraft experience, like a Minecraft movie. We also have a Netflix show in development, and we’re working with Merlin Entertainment as well. So our idea is to create… more experiences and bring Minecraft to our players, our fans, our community around the world.”
[Trailer clip, A Minecraft Movie]
Kayleen Walters (interview): “It’s a total happy coincidence that we launch a movie, we launch Minecraft experience, and it happens to be Microsoft’s 50th anniversary as well. I think what you’ll see is Minecraft and Microsoft are global brands around the world that people love.”
[Glow-up orb]
[Model spider]
[Spider and skeleton character]
[Skeleton model holding a sword]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.