Interactive Theatre Play
Year
2026
Services
Technical Game Designer
Client
De Toneelmakerij
Intro
Video Games meet the stage. I designed and developed the interactive virtual environments for In Real Life, taking the project from paper prototypes to a full-scale professional premiere. By bridging Unity with theater-standard software like QLab and Isadora via OSC, I transformed the stage into a responsive, playable space where digital visuals live in sync with live actors.
Process
Balancing Flexibility with Rigidity
The production cycle for live theatre is fast-paced and high-pressure. Unlike traditional game development, where systems are polished over years, theatre requires "fast and dirty" solutions that must be 100% reliable by opening night. My role was to manage this technical debt while ensuring the creative team had the freedom they needed.
The Hybrid Timeline System
I utilized the Unity Timeline to ensure the final show was consistent and repeatable. However, to accommodate the "messy" reality of rehearsals, I had to modify its behaviour:
Iterative Control: I built a custom interface to Play, Pause, and Skip to specific moments, allowing the director to jump to any moment in the script without restarting the scene.
The "Feasibility" Filter: I acted as the technical gatekeeper, quickly prototyping features to determine if a new idea was worth the time investment. If a prototype proved stable, it was integrated directly into the final production.
Goal
Modular vs. Linear Logic
A major challenge was deciding which elements should be locked to the Timeline and which should remain independent. Modular Freedom: I developed certain interactive elements as independent, modular systems. This gave the actors "playing room" during rehearsals to explore their movement without being punished by a rigid timer. Consistency for the Run: As the play took its final shape, I transitioned these modular elements into a more structured format to ensure the performance was identical for every audience, every night.
Team & Scaling
From Paper to Life-Size I worked within a multidisciplinary three-person team consisting of myself, a 3D Environment Artist, and an Industry Expert. Collaborative Design: We began with shared paper prototypes to map out spatial logic and sightlines before committing to code. The Scale Shift: I managed the transition from a desktop development environment to a life-size 2-camera projection system. This required "boots-on-the-ground" recalibration in the theatre to ensure the Unity lighting and assets translated perfectly to a massive physical scale.
Result
Working on In Real Life taught me how to adapt game design principles to a high-stakes, live environment where there is no "undo" button.
Designing for Performance: I learned that technical systems are only as good as the people using them. Building tools for directors and actors taught me to prioritize user workflow as much as the end-result visuals.
Agile Problem Solving: The fast-paced nature of theatre reinforced my ability to prototype "fast and dirty" to prove a concept, then refine it into a stable, production-ready system.
Cross-Industry Communication: Collaborating with theatre experts helped me translate complex technical jargon into actionable creative decisions, ensuring the whole team stayed aligned from paper to premiere.