Quarter-life Carnival

If at first you don't succeed . . . 

Quarter-life Carnival is a VR “adulting” obstacle course which prompts players to share failed attempts within the game in order to unlock "failure ghosts." When the player chooses to share, the use of VR offers a unique opportunity to observe these past failures, represented by ghosts serving as level guides.

This prototype contains two levels: Adversity Alley and The Insomnia Gauntlet. How many failure ghosts helped you along the way?

Quarter-life Carnival normalizes failure by encouraging players to share their unsuccessful attempts and learn that past failure helps, not haunts, you. This virtual game environment provides safe grounds to fail, helping players build resilience against failures in their real lives.

The Quarter-life Carnival prototype was developed in 48 hours for the 2023 XR Brain Jam hosted by Games for Change with the prompt "Diverse and Resilient Communities."

Team 6: Blunderdogs

Tony Lopez (Producer, XR Developer, and Designer)

Aaron Santiago (XR Developer)

Evgeniia Rein (Technical & Environmental Artist)

Nicholas Moore (3D Artist, Composer, and Sound Designer)

Minhee Kim (Behavioral Research Subject Matter Expert)

Mercedes Hesselroth (Narrative and Interaction Designer)