With the development of new technology, ARC was able to become ARC Labs, and new excavators were created to aid in the discovery and retrieval of Perplexium. The operation is much larger, and while there is a small number of permanent ARC team researchers and engineers, most of the work is done by volunteers – this is where you come into play. Visitors to PNP have the chance to don a hard hat, enter an excavator, and take it through Mt. Mystere looking for new deposits of Perplexium. The Excavators come equipped with four digging arms and four mining drones for reaching areas the excavator itself does not fit, both controllable by the volunteers inside. The back of the Excavator has a storage compartment for the Perplexium that is gathered while inside the mountain. Volunteers end their trips by returning to ARC Labs, where they sort, organize, and then test the fusions of the different versions of Perplexium they recovered. All of this is done from inside the excavator for safety reasons. There is a dedicated lab setup where volunteers combine Perplexium, and researchers are on hand to keep track of the results. The whole experience is guided by ARC’s Lead Researcher and Lead Engineer.
There are eight variations of Perplexium: Black, White, Silver, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, and Purple. Each have a different impact on the world around them when “activated” in the lab, and the fusion of two types of Perplexium can have larger and more varied reactions and impacts. The Excavators serve as a way of gathering Perplexium and keep track of what has already been gathered. Quantities are shown on a display inside the excavator so volunteers can be wary of what they have already mined, and what they could focus on. Some perplexity is rarer than other variations (Black, White, Silver), and to incentivize their retrieval, scores are given to each volunteer based on how many variations and the quantity of Perplexium they gather. This helps to gamify the experience to keep volunteers returning for more.
There are six scenes in total, as well as the load and unload portions of the experience. The volunteers load in, drill to explore unseen sections of Mt. Mystere, Retrieve Perplexium with their mining drones, harvest Perplexium with their excavators, return to ARC Labs through the shared space, sort Perplexium, then move to a room where they attempt to fuse the Perplexium crystals. After an unexpected fusion, the volunteers are taken to the unload portion of the labs, to return to PNP. The ARC Labs entrance comes off the mountain, so it can be seen by those passing, and the exterior appears to be new and technologically advanced. The portion of ARC Labs which exists inside the mountain appears as a meeting of technology and sleek design with the mountain’s interior, as it exists in what were once mine shafts.
Lead Researcher: Edward, Black Male, mid 30s.
Lead Engineer: Cynthia, Asian Female, mid 30s.
QUEUE PRESHOW SCENES
INT. ARC Labs, EDWARD and CYNTHIA wearing ARC Lab coats over regular clothing appear on a screen visible in the queue space.
CYNTHIA
Hello volunteers! Thank you so much for visiting ARC Labs, I’m Cynthia -
EDWARD
And I’m Edward –
CYNTHIA
And we’re here to get you ready for your journey into Mount Mystere, to help us discover more Perplexium!
EDWARD
As you may know, after Lawrence Schmidt first discovered Perplexity National Park, he and his colleagues uncovered some strange gem formations on the mountains exterior. In order to better understand what this new material was, the Abnormal Research Company was founded. The old mine shafts, which you can find nearby, were the first attempts ARC Labs’ predecessors made to uncover the mysteries of what they named Perplexium.
CYNTHIA
The mines worked for a long time, and some real breakthroughs were made. We discovered that there are at least 8 variations of Perplexium, which appear in different colors – Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, Black, White, and Silver. Over time though, the mines became less effective. Enter: The ARC Excavator. My pride and joy.
EDWARD
The Excavator is the latest in ARC Labs technology, and it is what you’ll be using to help us collect new Perplexium deposits. Cynthia will explain how everything works inside the vehicles soon.
Volunteers enter queue preshow room with an ARC Excavator on display. Cynthia and Edward can be seen inside the excavator.
CYNTHIA
This is our state-of-the-art mining vehicle, the ARC Excavator. Once inside, you’ll have control of two parts: the excavation arms, and the mining drones. Your control panel has a joystick for moving the arms and the drones, and a set of buttons that will be used for a variety of purposes. You’ll use the arms to gather Perplexium in locations where it is easily accessible (Edward demonstrates the arms moving up and down, side to side). When you press the button labelled “collect” the arm takes any Perplexium you’ve gathered and deposits it into the back of the excavator. (Edward presses a button and the arm of the excavator moves in a motion towards the back of the vehicle for deposits). Your controls also work for the mining drones once they’ve been deployed. (Edward presses a button, and a physical mining drone wheels around from behind the vehicle). You operate it with the same controls, moving it into spaces not big enough for your excavator. Simply press the drone button to deploy, and again to call it back to the excavator.
EDWARD
It’s a really simple process, and don’t worry, we’ll be around to guide you and give you instructions along the way. Once you get situated into your own excavator’s we’ll be back in touch. And after you return to ARC Labs we’ll go into my favorite part, Perplexium Fusion!
Volunteers move into the load area, guided by ARC Labs researchers and engineers into excavators. Each volunteer is handed a hard hat with built in safety goggles that function as 3D glasses for when screens are in use.
EDWARD, V.O.
Alright everyone, follow the ARC Labs team members into your excavators, and we’ll get you on the way to mining Perplexium in no time.
CYNTHIA, V.O.
Once inside the excavator, make sure you buckle your seatbelt, and secure your hard hat and safety goggles. Perplexium can do some unexpected things, so be careful out there.
After a safety check, the excavators move out of the load zone.
CYNTHIA, V.O.
Alright, now that we’re set, you should see the joystick for movement, the collect button, the deploy droid button, and a series of buttons numbered one through eight – those will come into play later.
EDWARD, V.O.
The Excavators feature a smart navigator, so don’t worry too much about where you’re going. We can override it and bring you back if we need to, so just go where the Perplexium takes you! In this case, its off deeper into the mountain.
Excavators arrive at a dead end, where they see a large drill to their right and left.
EDWARD V.O.
I know it looks like a dead end, but that drill there will open up a new path into Mt. Mystere we found yesterday. Once you’re on the other side, we’ll see what we can find!
Excavators rotate towards the drill, and while the volunteers are focused on it, the walls “break” and clear a space large enough for them to pass through. The excavators rotate back to the front and start through the new opening.
After passing through a tunnel, they arrive at a small deposit of Perplexium that the excavator cannot get close to because of a ridge.
CYNTHIA V.O.
Alright! Looks like this is the perfect opportunity to use the mining drones, hit that deploy button. Once your drone is in position, push the collect button to activate the pickaxe, and gather as much as you can!
A chorus of “good jobs” and “well done” and “don’t forget those ones!” come from the voice over.
EDWARD, V.O.
Alright, that’s a great job, go ahead and call back those drones and we’ll get you moving along. You can see on the displays on your control panels which kinds of Perplexium you gathered.
The excavators move into the next scene, what looks like an underground lake of gems.
CYNTHIA, V.O.
Wow! Okay the arms are going to be the better tool here. Scoop up as much Perplexium as you can, then lift them arms overhead, and they will deposit the Perplexium in the back of the excavators. See how much you can grab before we have to move on!
Across the lake, volunteers can see another excavator in action, prompting a bit of competition among them. In order to hide the mechanism for recycling the gems, there is a lower overhang across the gem lake, keeping either vehicle from seeing much overhead.
CYNTHIA, V.O.
Take a look at your displays! Great job collecting, crew. Let’s head back to the lab to finish up your volunteer work.
The excavators follow a path deeper into the mountain and exit a tunnel into a shared space wherein they can see the Perplexium Gem Runner (Mine Cart Experience) and a look into the caverns challenges.
EDWARD, V.O.
You can just see some of the old mine tracks from the first attempts to collect Perplexium off to your right. And look! There are the caverns too!
The excavators exit the shared space into what looks like a garage with the ARC Labs logo above the entrance. The vehicles pull alongside a window into a research lab, empty except for four large crane game style claws on the ceiling and a large screen on the far wall. Under the screen is a countertop with 8 holes, one for each color Perplexium gem.
EDWARD, V.O.
Alright, now it’s time for my favorite part. Before we can get to the fusion tests themselves, we have to dump and sort your collections.
The excavators make a sort of rumbling sound, and then four carts of gems are wheeled in from the side of the room.
EDWARD, V.O.
Okay, your excavator controls now control the claws on the ceiling, just move them to the carts, pick up a gem, and then place it into the correct container against the back wall! We know this part can be boring, so I added point values to the colors of the Perplexium, and you’ll get bonus points for the colors we need more of! Just pay attention to the screen on the back wall to see your score and what the bonus is!
Volunteers take some time sorting gems and gaining points. Their scores are also visible on the displays in the vehicles. After, they move down what appears to be a lab hallway into a room with a small chamber where the gems can be manipulated.
EDWARD, V.O.
Now it’s time for the real fun: FUSION! Using your controls, vote on which colors to fuse, and we’ll log the results. We’ve learned already that temperature makes fusion more likely, so don’t be alarmed if the temperature shifts!
Volunteers vote with their controls, and gems appear in the chamber from underneath. The room gets colder, and the gems fuse and react, some floating or causing things in the room to float, others creating localized clouds and rainfall. The room’s temperature increases, and the second selections are brought up. The gems again fuse and react, some glowing, others simply disappearing.
EDWARD, V.O.
Okay, just one more and we’ll call it a day for you: let’s see what these do!
The last selection appears, the rooms temperature shifts wildly from hot to cold, and the gems fuse and react, this time causing an explosion that blows the excavator out of the room and into a space that mirrors the load zone, though this time with clear damage done from the fusion.
CYNTHIA, V.O.
Wow! I think that’s definitely enough for today. Go ahead and exit the excavators, and our ARC Labs team members will guide you out of the labs. It looks like we’ll have some cleaning up to do… until next time,
EDWARD & CYNTHIA, V.O.
Thanks for volunteering!
Volunteers exit the vehicles and are guided into a hallway that leads to an exit lab, where they can download a report of their trip: what kinds and how many Perplexium gems they collected, and the results of the sorting game and fusion tests. The lab area then exits to the outside of the mountain.