PLAY:
The Haunts of Chaddesden Moor
A place-based poetry film collection
set inside a free-roam videogame
VIRTUAL PLACE ENGAGEMENT
The Haunts of Chaddesden Moor uses worldbuilding as a means to examine and deepen connection to place – both real and imagined – and offers an opportunity for the audience to participate as an active explorer in their own creative journey. The gamification of the interactive experience adds a level of immersivity, whereby objects within the videogame are referenced within the poetry films and the overarching story. The freedom to roam around the open world provides a virtual means of place engagement, inviting further creative response from participants as the conclusion of the journey, and the beginning of another.
BACKGROUND TO THE GAME
Chaddesden Moor is a real-world location; once an open moorland, now a green space boundaried by a modern housing estate. Using topographical data from the site, the moor is transported into a free-roam videogame environment and transformed within the Unreal Engine to create a surrealist open landscape. The moor becomes the setting for a collection of poetry films that draw from personal memories of place, each presented within a building or landscape that represent the location and themes.
EXPLORE THE COLLECTION
Follow the arrows to navigate around each part of the game. Each location has a map, a background to the poetry film, and a walkthrough presentation of each film in situ.
