College of West Anglia (CWA) Games Design students have supported Collusion to design The Intergalactic Hanseatic League, a science-fiction, time-travel experience taking place in King’s Lynn town centre and online.

This groundbreaking, family-friendly event – free for all to enjoy on Lynn’s High Street during the day and its projection sites after dark – will plunge the entire town into a futuristic narrative that casts 21st-century King’s Lynn as the heroes of the future.

Chris Stanhope said:

“Almost 30 students were involved in the design stage of the game, providing feedback and suggesting gameplay improvements and new features, and testing the game and provided general feedback which was used in the final stages of the games development.

Collusion also provided lots of industry insight sessions and Q&As with our students and explained how they entered the industry and also explained the technical side of how different sites are mapped in 3D, loaded into Unity, and then used to make content “fit” the building. It was a particularly insightful experience for our students.”

THE STORY

A crew of three-time travellers – the Captain (played by Game of Thrones & Tinsel Town actress Kate Dickie), the Navigator, and the Computer – make themselves known in Lynn and reveal that they’re contacting us from 2225. In the 23rd century, ‘Earthport Lynn’, as it’s known, is a thriving, bustling spaceport as well as a culturally important holiday destination for intergalactic tourists.

The good news: the people of Lynn are the heroes of the future. A pivotal historical event in late 2021 called the MINDSHIFT changed the course of history – averting the climate crisis and leading to a thriving, happy planet and remarkable advances in time and space travel.

The bad news: There’s been a glitch in spacetime. The IHL must fix it – if they don’t, the MINDSHIFT won’t happen, plunging Earth into an alternative future of climate chaos. That’s why they’re here: to find out what went right in Lynn 2021, so that they can save their future – and ours.

HOW TO EXPERIENCE THE PROJECT:

• • WATCHthe live-action film TRANSMISSIONS at the Majestic and Corn Exchange cinemas as movie previews – or at www.the-ihl.comand in selected high-street shops. You can also watch on mobile devices by pointing your camera at QR codes on posters around town!
• • VISITthe after-dark, large-scale projected PORTALS at all the town’s main projection sites: Greyfriars Tower & Gardens, King’s Lynn Minster, St Nicholas’ Chapel, The Custom House, and the Corn Exchange, as well as the AGENTS OF CHANGE exhibition created by 500+ Lynn schoolchildren in the Old Argos windows.
• • JOINthe AGENTS OF CHANGE campaign! Share your ideas for the MINDSHIFT on //www.tiktok.com/@incollusion">TIKTOKor create your own designs for the future using the DATA LOG activity book and the parent/teacher Resource Pack available at www.the-ihl.com/agents-of-change/.

The project, led by art/tech organisation Collusion, was created by a team of 23 creatives, including King’s Lynn–based artists Gavin Toomey (Director), Karen Frances Eng (Creative Communications) and Savannah Andrews (Assistant Producer).

During the first half of 2021, Collusion engaged 570 schoolchildren, including from Eastgate Academy, as Agents of Change. They contributed ideas and designs for the future of the town, incorporated into the artworks in the Old Argos windows and projections at the Corn Exchange. Their ideas are also shot to space in the MESSAGE IN A SHUTTLE game at Greyfriars Tower.

“The project has been amazing. The children have learnt so much and changed the school, Introducing a meat-free Monday for school lunches, talking about recycling and other issues,” says Linda Hothersall, Head Teacher at Eastgate Primary, who successfully implemented the IHL project as a full-school takeover across several weeks.

THE INTERGALACTIC HANSEATIC LEAGUE is the second in a trilogy of projects being delivered by Collusion with the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk that seek to explore positive approaches to combating climate change and to develop the town as a centre of excellence for interactive town-scale artworks.

Cllr Graham Middleton, Deputy Leader at the borough council and Cabinet member for Business, Culture and Heritage, says: “Our aim is to establish King’s Lynn as a centre of excellence for collaborative, creative, digital installations that add to the cultural offer in the town. We’re also making use of technology that we have to highlight the climate change issue. The Borough Council has declared a climate emergency and we need all residents and businesses to play their part. I’m pleased to see that hundreds of young people have supported this project and learnt about how they can be Agents of Change.”

Rachel Drury, Director of Collusion, says: “Collusion loves working in King’s Lynn. We’ve been developing work here for six years and are enormously proud of this project, which empowers children and young people with creativity and imagination to be ‘Agents of Change’. Even at a young age, they have amazing ideas and can play an important role in tackling the most difficult of issues.”