FermiCore
Escape Room
What happens when the past won’t stay buried?
FermiCore was once a state-of-the-art nuclear reactor, but abruptly closed and abandoned for decades. Today, guests step through its blast doors into a labyrinth of rusted corridors. Interactive challenges reveal the facility’s history and the role it played in America’s nuclear program. As the reactor’s core begins to “malfunction,” guests move from observers to active participants, shaping the experience through their choices.
Role:
MFA Themed Experience Design, University of Central Florida
Solely responsible for the development of FermiCore, including narrative design, show writing, 3D environment modeling, and schematic design documentation.
As guests walk into the lobby of Fermicore, it's clear that this once state-of-the-art scientific facility has fallen into disrepair. Rusted pipes and crumbling concrete fill the room, with moss even taking over one corner.
The scientist who greets them seems a little off, telling an absurd version of the facility's history.
The group is led over to a large control panel, where the scientist starts pressing buttons until the elevator dings. The guests step inside and the doors close behind them.
As the elevator begins its descent, the lights dim and TVs in the corners start playing an old VHS tape containing safety information for the escape room and a bit of the real history of Fermicore.
The clicking noise of a dosimeter gets faster as the elevator descends.
When the video ends, the elevator grinds to a halt on the bottom floor and the lights come back on as the doors open with a ding.
The scientist looks at the guests apologetically and explains that the reactor is acting oddly. They would fix it themselves, but they've already been exposed to too much radiation. No need to worry. The guests have plenty of time before they receive a lethal dose of radiation: five to ten minutes.
The scientist instructs them to go through some doors and shut down the reactor, assuring them it's not rocket science, only nuclear physics. As the group hesitantly prepares to enter, the scientist becomes excited and asks if everyone is ready.
However, when they try to open the doors, they don't budge. It seems the dosimeter is reading higher levels of radiation than expected, and the doors will remain sealed until the levels come down. The scientist has an idea, dramatically unplugging the dosimeter and causing the clicking noise to stop.
The doors open and the scientist hurries the guests into the hallway before running back to the elevator and closing the door behind them.
The door shuts behind the guests, alarms sound. On the far wall, they see the exit door, the emergency stop button, and a large metal panel. The right wall holds the reactor core and the electrical system, while the left wall features several large handles that can be moved up and down as well as a large control terminal with numerous switches and buttons. The wall closest to the guests has the door they entered through, as well as information panels displaying real-time readouts. The ceiling is covered in crisscrossing pipes over cracked concrete.
The room is filled with metal pipes, electrical boxes, and other industrial equipment. Sensors show the current radiation levels, and the dosimeter is clicking away. All other systems are currently down because the base is only operating on emergency backup power.
With the reactor melting down, the guests must stabilize the core by fixing the electrical, water pressure, and terminal systems. A full description of the puzzles can be provided upon request.
The guests walk through the final hallway, they see that it looks similar to the entrance to the escape room, but it's now dirty, cracked, and various things are broken. For guests who failed to escape, extra damage can be seen and sound effects are played to show the impact they had on the reactor.