Location Based Experience
Lionsgate
Twilight Saga: Midnight Ride
year
2019
capabilities
Environmental Design
Lionsgate needed a groundbreaking attraction for its first theme park, Lionsgate Entertainment World on Hengqin Island, China. The challenge for TAIT was to create a compelling Virtual Reality (VR) experience based on the wolfpack’s thrilling motorcycle ride from Twilight: New Moon.
Twilight Saga: Midnight Ride is a first-of-its-kind attraction that combines VR with simulator technology and a dynamic, multiplayer game engine. Riders hop onto a dirt bike and race through the moon-lit forests alongside Jacob and the Black Pack.
The ride required a unique combination of interactive controls, 360 degrees of real-time generated content, and a custom 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) motorcycle motion platform. As development progressed, we identified three principles that would determine success. First, it could not simply feel like an elaborate arcade game. Second, it had to be a communal experience. Third, it had to tell a story. TAIT collaborated closely with the attraction engineers at CAVU Designwerks, game developers at DreamCraft Attractions, and the multimedia specialists at Framestore to bring the ride to life based on these principles.
The result of months of hard work was a genuinely thrilling, hyper-real experience. Riders control their own character within the virtual Twilight universe, choosing how fast they accelerate and which direction they steer. A point-source audio solution provides a rich soundscape without covering riders’ ears, so they can hear their friends laugh, yell and cheer. And the story remains king, combining real-time action with timed story beats to extend the canon of the much-loved Twilight Saga.
Credits
produced by
Thinkwell, now tait
Parc Oméga
Oméga La Nuit
Tom Ford Beauty