Commissioned for Tokyo Game Show 2024, Mother Ultimate created a fully playable physical recreation of Mike Klubnika’s indie video game hit, bringing considerable traffic to publisher Critical Reflex’s booth including the attention of many of Japan’s top content creators.
Consisting of a ridiculously complex build comprising physical prop creation, custom electronics, touchscreens, sound, light and a fully bespoke Unity build, the installation allowed players to experience the entirety of Buckshot Roulette in a live multiplayer environment.
We put a great deal of focus on making the connection between digital and physical as magical and seamless as possible. Our modified shotgun talked wirelessly to the rest of the system, meaning that the game state changed automatically when the gun was fired, instantly triggering lights and sounds.
Similarly all of the props were embedded with RFIDs, allowing the game to trigger events when they were placed into the centre of the table.
With more than 400 games played by over 1500 players across Tokyo Game Show, followed immediately by a four hour live play watched by 5k people IRL and 125K on Twitch, the build (and team) was tested to its limits and (just about) survived to tell the tale.