A novel mixed-reality gaming technology stack enabling the creation of unique and affordable digital-physical connected games, coupled with the prototyping of a new game IP designed to showcase its affordances.

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We are in an unprecedented time of growth within the gaming industries. According to the Entertainment Retailers Association, the UK's game industry surpassed a £4bn valuation in 2020, a year where music and video entertainment saw a significant decline in non-digital sales. This contrasts sharply with UK game sales, either physical or digital -- up 4.6% and 16.3% respectively. The tabletop gaming market in particular has experienced a golden age over the last ten years, reaching $13.4bn global market value in 2021 and with a projected growth to $26.68bn by 2027\. Novelty and originality are hugely valued qualities for consumers of play products, making them extremely receptive to innovative new ideas.What if we mixed the cinematic, sensory-rich nature of video games with the tactility of tabletop games and the progressive narrative techniques of immersive theatre, to create a bold new type of game unlike anything that's existed before, and at a price point affordable to the average consumer?This project aims to develop a prototype for a new gaming technology: the creation of a mixed-reality system that exists as equal parts digital video game and physical board game, and with a key focus on unit cost, developer accessibility and manufacturing sustainability.This project will also encompass the development of a prototype game around this technology, demonstrating its potential as an entirely novel way of creating dynamic and immersive games played socially at the table.This simple yet robust system will present game designers with a host of interesting play interactions to explore including (but not limited to): wireless game piece identification, player voice recognition, the delivery of context-sensitive audio, physical piece movement tracking and the possibility for remote play over the internet. It will do all of this at a cost to the user far cheaper than current competitors.Lastly, this project aims to prototype a suite of accessible tools to enable third party designers to develop, manufacture and release their own games built on the technology.