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nicktierce.com
Writer. Designer. Rabbithole cartographer. Immersive & interactive adventures. nicktierce.com
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I need everyone to know that @hastin.net & @rixter.bsky.social made magnets for their Friday Night Sizzler group, which went to see Mission: Impossible last night.

Few are aware of Before Tomorrowland, but ten years after its sister film was released, we sat down with the authors. The story of this book's writing is filled with unfathomable personal loss, collaborative tensions, and eventual reconciliation. It was an honor to record it for posterity.

Wrote up a few thoughts on the experience design of Destination Hill Valley at Universal Fan Fest:

I closed out the final night of Universal Fan Fest in Hill Valley, which ended on a charming half-loop with no band and no pyro/projections, but the cast was on fire. Strickland cancelled the school dance before it began, and then gave a sweet thank-you speech to end the show for the last time.

I just backed Misfit Island on @kickstarter.com, and you should too!

I made a silent puppet film about Godzilla vs. Paul Bunyan. (thank you to @iamchubbybunny.bsky.social for Japanese translations and @okaywolf.ink for clanky piano!!)

I think the educational opportunities of a Walt animatronic far outweigh any potential uncanniness. In my experience, AAs of historical figures bring a unique simulacratic dimension over a live performer, whose life outside the character I'm always subconsciously aware of. The AA is only Walt.

Sinners in 70mm IMAX was like looking into the face of god.

Destination Hill Valley at Universal Fan Fest boasts simultaneous character threads to follow, but the micro-immersive format buckles under the decision to replicate moments from the film rather than design a new narrative framework for the space. Projecting clips for the finale felt discordant.

Fan Fest's Jujutsu Kaisen offering is ported from a USJ show but is no longer in 3D, and despite being meticulously designed to play out from a fixed perspective, the T2-3D screen it played on in Japan is taller than the DreamWorks theater, so they had to awkwardly pan & scan up and down throughout.

I thought Star Trek: Red Alert walkthrough at Universal Fan Fest Nights was cute, and I appreciate that it at least made the overtures of telling an original story. Also, if nothing else, it has canonized the Playmates toy tricorder from the '90s.

The mods on the Life & Trust discord warning folks to not break into the show building now that it's shuttered made me realize I've never seen any Starcruiser fan spaces feel the need to post a warning like this, and I'm not sure if I should feel pride or shame.

Surprising nobody, I dove headfirst into The Leonardo Challenge at Tokyo DisneySea. A map-based exploration quest across a theme park space with physical installations that lead to one of four unique finale interactions? I'm in love. Bravo, @davidbfox.com!

I was warned by @hastin.net that the merch situation at Tokyo Disney was grim, and it most certainly is, but I was able get a pen case of a fictional art supply company created solely to appear on a giant crayon box in the queue for Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies, so I'm happy.