​Overview

Type: Immersive Narrative Escape Experience / Live Performance/ Puzzles
Team: Liang (Creator & Lead Designer)，Avivi Li (Space designer), Student Forum Cohort, Advisors
My Role: Creator, Narrative Designer, Puzzle Architect, Producer
Current Stage: Narrative Finalization, Puzzle Prototyping, Space & Flow Design
Tools: Twine Mapping, QLab, Physical Prototyping, Improvisation Workshops
Estimated Completion: February 2026 Premiere at Wesleyan University

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The Seventh Fire is a one-room immersive narrative experience that merges branching storytelling, escape-room mechanics, and live performance. Inspired by historical fragments and hidden campus lore, the piece invites players into what appears to be a simple anniversary event—until time fractures, memories surface, and the room begins to reveal a secret ritual buried beneath Wesleyan’s past.

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Opening in February 2026, this installation represents the culmination of my Theater × IDEAS linked-major capstone. Development began in September 2025, supported by a student forum I created and taught: THEA 419 – Playing the Story And Escape the Room.

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Design Goals

• Build a player-driven narrative blending agency, ritual, and emotional discovery.

• Use branch-and-bottleneck storytelling to keep choices meaningful but coherent.

• Integrate analog puzzles, environmental clues, and actor improvisation to drive story progression.

• Create a space where audience decisions, physical movement, and live narrative combine to form unique experiences each run.

• Treat the room as a “living video game”—a responsive environment shaped by player action.

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My Role

Creator · Lead Designer · Producer · Narrative + Puzzle Architect · Forum Instructor

I oversee the entire creative and production pipeline:

• Develop the world, lore, branching structure, narrative timeline

• Write the script and character interactions (including “if/then” actor sheets)

• Design all puzzles, clue logic, and progression flows

• Build the spatial dramaturgy and audience movement

• Lead the THEA419 student forum, teaching narrative systems & puzzle design

• Lead rehearsals, playtests, and production meetings

• Coordinate with faculty, designers, actors, and technical support

This is my first fully integrated work combining game design, live performance, and physical computing into one unified player experience.

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Process（Ongoing）

Fall 2025 — Research & Prototyping (via THEA419 Student Forum)

Through weekly sessions I designed and taught, our group investigated:

• Immersive-theater foundations

• Branching-narrative systems

• Puzzle mechanics & game-feel

• Improv-based audience interaction

• Site-specific, light-based spatial storytelling

• Safety, consent, and reset systems

• Low-tech prototyping and micro–escape room sprints

These workshops generated early drafts of story beats, puzzles, spatial layouts, character arcs, and interactive testing models that directly feed the spring production.

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