My Role
The Team
Project Duration
Collaboration
Project Lead & MGM Live Concept lead
Concept, strategy, user experience design, mixed reality interaction design, user behavior research, set dressing, XR virtual production design, documentation, information architecture
Khushi Bhatt, Bhavna Bhavanishankar, Sara Williams, Alyse Landry, Amir Ahmadi, Satchel Hallmark, Sarah Yandell, others. & Prof. SuAnne Fu, Prof. Jon Denham
March 2022 - June 2022
10 weeks
Immersive Reality |
User Experience Design |
Game design and development
Virtual Reality
User Experience
Metaverse
Experience Design
XR Virtual production
The Brief
Research the physical MGM Resorts experience and develop concepts for a virtual space that strengthen the brand identity of the diverse portfolio and find unique ways to entertain guests in the digital realm.
Project Overview
New opportunities through the metaverse are leading the top entertainment companies to consider how they can expand their brand into unique, digital spaces. In addition, the metaverse itself serves as a tool for these brands to create a network of virtual consumers who can utilize their digital spaces to make memories and connections with others online and be wowed in ways that are impossible in real life.
MGM Resorts has always been at the forefront of the entertainment industry. Across the globe, their properties amaze guests with spectacular live shows, concert events, immersive environments, and more. However, the emergence of the metaverse in popular culture has presented MGM Resorts with a new opportunity to expand its brand beyond its physical spaces.
In March of 2022, SCADpro and MGM Resorts collaborated to conceptualize how the brand could take advantage of the metaverse to expand its portfolio to the digital world. The diverse, multi-faceted team envisioned a wide array of possibilities for MGM Resorts to secure its position as a leading brand in the physical and digital entertainment industries.
Our Solutions
MGM Live is an opportunity for MGM to pioneer a ‘never before done’ variety of entertainment by bringing it into the digital realm. By adding a digital dimension to live entertainment, it is possible to give way to hybrid concerts that are synchronous in the real world and the virtual world using the power of real-time motion capture and visual effects.
MGM Live presents a unique opportunity for MGM to venture into digital real estate and expand their portfolio of offerings, thus attracting more Gen-Z and Millennial guests by bringing awareness and advocacy with MGM through activities that they enjoy.
What it is...
Creating experiences that are multi-modal and can be accessed from presently common hardware as well as adapting to emerging technology.
We prototyped MGM Live using Unreal Engine 4.27 linked with the Perception Neuron 1 motion capture suit.
A wireless suit using accelerometers, to translate the movements of the choreography from the artist to the VR world in real-time.
In addition to prototyping this concept, we built a full-fledged concert stage based on the rooftop of MGM Grand in Las Vegas, called the centrifuge, on our XR Virtual Production volume as our artists played Bruno Mars in our in-house concert production. Thereby, delivering a slice of what it could be like to create a bridge between the real world and Metaverse applications of the synchronous hybrid concerts at a large scale.
As the player steps into a concert, they would go through several touchpoints and locations throughout the experience. Each location gives a slightly different experience, both visually and thematically. All the environments will be fully customizable for MGM and the artist to realize their vision of a larger-than-life musical experience.
All players will spawn into the central zone upon entry. This is the large ‘island’ where all players, regardless of their tiers, can socialize and hang out. Access to this island is part of the “Basic” ticketing tier which is inexpensive while still giving the audience a good view of the artist. This ability to provide a ‘front row’ experience for everyone is one of the key offerings of MGM Live.
Central Zone
Depending on the tier of the player’s ticket, they will have access to “Premium” and “Elite” islands. These islands are designed to have a strong MGM theme represented that reinforces the MGM portfolio by providing each player with a visual identity of the MGM Las Vegas hotels. For example, the Luxor and New York-New York islands would build brand awareness and recognition when the player eventually visits Las Vegas.
The Elite islands offer the players full autonomy and customization. Elite players are on-boarded a few minutes early to give them the opportunity to decorate their space based on their interests. This gives them the opportunity to display this customization during the exclusive virtual afterparty with the artist that will be held on the same island.
Premium Zone
Elite Zone
A key insight from the primary research performed was that one of the most important aspects of attending physical concerts is socialization; not just with friends but also with other fans of the artist with similar interests. To keep the essence of this socialization, MGM Live brings it into the digital realm where players will have the chance to interact with fans and feel like they are a part of a crowd.
Minigames
Minigames allow the artist to create the look, feel and theme of the concert just the way they want it to, and create a unique experience for every audience member. The games are arranged in a set, at predetermined intervals of time so as not to distract the players from the main attraction of the show, the artist’s performance. The aim of these games is to give the players a chance to experience the collectiveness of a thousand players playing the same game.
Just Dance
When a player is brought onto the stage at random, the Just Dance game prompts choreography so they can dance along with the artist.
Another instance is a virtual equivalent of the wave; choreography prompts are provided to all players at the same time, synchronizing all their lightsticks, controlled by the game.
The prompts then guide the players to collectively move and dance in a way that creates a light show in itself.
Every 20 minutes, a giant spinning record appears in the sky in the form of a color wheel. As it does, a floating orb appears before every player. Every player releases their orbs towards the sky where it floats up to the colorful record and sticks to it.
The section on the record with the most orbs determines the color of the artist’s outfit in the virtual space and in the real world.
Color Cue
Beat Saber would begin every 30 minutes as a wave of cubes emits from the stage, spreading across the islands as each player dances and plays to the song that the artist sings. They compete for the leaderboard and the top one percent of players are prompted with quick selfies of their avatars which are displayed around the artist in the arena.
Beat Saber
