Flatworld Survival Guide
Flat World Survival Guide
or
How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
In 1587, on Roanoke Island, an entire colony disappeared among rumors of “a band of savages [with] putrid, worm-ridden skin impervious to powder and shot.” In 1852, Chiapas Mexico, three American treasure hunters rescued a condemned man. This man turned on them, killed one member of their party and wounded the other two. The wounded were subsequently never heard from again. On January 1993, in Downtown Los Angeles, California, a few local gangs were arrested for a shoot-out at a local school in which they had barricaded themselves. They claimed that they were only protecting themselves from an attacking horde of homeless people.
The preceding occurrences are real; Zombie attacks are no laughing matter. Had the victims been prepared, their lives could have been saved. We at the Institute for Survival from the Living Impaired provide real world simulation training for class four zombie attacks. A class four zombie attack is classified as an outbreak, a zombie apocalypse if you will, and very few places on Earth are safe.
Using 3D, life-sized stereoscopic projections and motion trackers in the Flat World setup, the user is transported into a world of destruction and chaos. Professional zombie wranglers will guide the user through a re-creation of a documented zombie attack. Lessons taught include: Running is the better part of valor, fleeing saves resources, and dying only serves to increase the threat. This methodology is taught to the user through the Flat World interface. Through the use of motion trackers, the speed of the user is captured as they run through the flats. This data is directly transferred into the system and causes the digital horde to slow or multiply based on the user’s position.
Sometimes fleeing isn’t possible. The simulation also trains the user zombie head targeting for maximum effectiveness. It’s a fact that destroying a zombie’s brain is the only way to end their threat. Our facilities train the user to aim for the eyes using light gun recognition in a truly immersive environment. Zombies attack from all sides of the flats. The user must rotate around and shoot all sides of the screen to fend off the zombie horde and bust some heads.
It is our hope that, with a populace that has been well trained for this eventuality, any outbreak will be stopped before it gets out of hand.
© 2006 Institute for Survival from the Living Impaired
Jorge Fernandez, Matt Korba, Mike Brazil
Comments
It came to my attention that some people may not have picked up on the narrative aspect of the proposal from our presentation. I will step out of character for a moment and give you all the scoop.
The setting is a world much like our own, but with some unexplained occurances that some people have attributed to bodies that have been animiated by a deadly disease. This disease is contracted by a living human from the bite of one of these animated corpses.
A group of concerned citizens have set up an Institute and are using the resources at Flatworld to create the first stage of a multi-tier training simulation for like-minded individuals who want to survive if and when the unthinkable should occur.
The paper and PPT were created to look as if they had come directly from the ISLI, from within the world the story inhabits. The historical zombie attacks weren't real. They were part of the story to reflect the fictious nature of the project, and to set the stage. The hosts that run the attraction, much like the people at Tower of Terror, are characters within the world and never come out of character, much like how we acted during our presentation.
I hope that helped clarify things.
Posted by: Mike Brazil | April 12, 2006 01:09 PM