Navigating to Neotropolis 2024: Past Immersive Game Experiences

Preparations have begun for my time at Neotropolis, an event returning for its third year in 2024. Like its sibling event Wasteland Weekend, Neotropolis is a hodge-podge of an immersive festival that attempts to collect many niche activities into one event.

I've enjoyed Wasteland Weekend for about a decade now, and I'm excited to explore the creative space Neotropolis offers. Although the communities for both events currently are almost identical, I'm hopeful that the immersive activities at Neotropolis will grow to be more tech-related as electronics are more prevalent from its sci-fi theme.

There are already some really awesome projects underway. One of my favorites from the previous year was done by Alleycat Asset Acquisitions, one of the many "factions" (clubs) present at the event. They created a wonderful bounty hunter game with custom 3D-printed wrist devices.

Not only did it add to the immersion of being a cool hacker, but with leaderboards, ID cards, and a video explaining the rules, the AAA bounty hunter game was easily one of the more immersive aspects of the event I enjoyed.

Then there is the project I helped co-establish with a fellow collaborator who enjoys being referred to with a William Gibson-like moniker, "The Swede". This project is of course NeoNav, a suite of tools to help facilitate play at the event. I was able to make a web interface client that could serve as a dashboard for some core features. For the last few years, it has run off a resort-style wifi network and on-site web server provided by The Swede's faction, Wayward Communication Corporation, which he calls Wayward Access.

Perhaps the very first and of my favorite games at the event was the Power Core Mission by Pilot‘s Perch. The objective is to recharge an interactive battery core for five minutes at one of several charging ports. With the ability for unsavory forces to “hack” and corrupt the charge attempt, the activity becomes more intricate than expected. The cores pulse colored light which was a level of detail that made it not only fun to play with but also watch as others gopher the devices around the event.

Lastly, one activity I missed last year was the cool VR game HackNeo by Andy Thorne. Written in Unreal Engine 5, this Neotropolis exclusive game was only available on a Quest 1 VR device that Andy presented to folks he encountered at the event. This is one of the more intimate and creative experiences I'd love to see more of.

As 2024 will be the third year of Neo, I am hopeful to see more of these kinds of activities come forward and establish themselves. Neotropolis is growing to become a confluence of technology with immersive experiences in storytelling.

Been to Neo and think I missed something good? Feel free to mention it in the comments.