The four ingredients of Timber! The Forgotten Legends

January 19, 2024

Not so long ago, the stables of the horse-drawn carriages that used to run through the streets of Montreal’s Old Port could still be found in Griffintown. It was a vivid reminder of life before the advent of the automobile, electricity and the cell phone.

This important part of Montreal’s history was the perfect setting for the world premiere of Timber! The Forgotten Legends from October 19 to November 25, 2023.

Created by 4elements, this digital experience puts participants in the boots of legendary Quebec lumberjacks. Chopping down trees, driving logs and battling werewolves are just some of the challenges to be faced in this role-playing game set in an interactive environment.

An interactive game for young and old alike

Timber! The Forgotten Legends is designed for players aged 12 and over. So it was with two young explorers of school age that I set out to experience the game.

As soon as we arrived on site, a series of QR codes could be scanned to connect to the wifi network and download the mobile application at the heart of the game. The two budding lumberjacks were handed pre-configured devices at the reception desk.

Once the app was installed, it was time to create our characters. The process took just a few seconds, the key moment being to decide on names for our alter egos from among the wackiest combinations. We chose Gros Voleur, Mister Catherine and William Pinotte.

Before entering the game’s main area, our group of adventurers was invited to wait in a small antechamber. It was here that we met Old Toussaint, a character projected on a human scale.

At the end of Old Toussaint’s monologue, we were met by animators in period costumes. Speaking in the old-fashioned way, they introduced us to the interactive environment in which the game takes place. About the size of a basketball court, the space comprises three main zones: the river, the forest and the camp.

Different techniques are used to shape the spaces in the play area. The river, for example, is created using a floor projection. The forest is made up of fabric tubes stretching from floor to ceiling. For the camp, scenery elements such as an anvil and boxes of equipment and provisions were fabricated.

Participants who are familiar with role-playing games will quickly get the hang of it. As Alexandre Desjardins, director and interactive designer at 4elements, sums up, Timber! is first and foremost a “mobile game that connects with the environment, i.e. with projections, interactive objects and other players and actors”.

The 50-minute experience flew by in the blink of an eye. I was very impressed by the variety of actions to be performed during the play session. Between tree-cutting, the log drive and confrontations with hordes of werewolves, there’s nothing to get bored of! As for the pair of young lumberjacks, they particularly enjoyed the spontaneous activities where all players were involved, such as putting out a fire by carrying water from the river.

The four ingredients of 4elements

All in all, we had a great time at Timber! The Forgotten Legends. Simon Coulombe, Director of Technology at 4elements, is delighted with the experience, noting that his company’s raison d’être is “to get people tripping”.

To achieve this, he and his team have perfected a recipe based on four ingredients: “light, interactivity, sound and storytelling”. 

The light

The experience relies on no fewer than 13 projectors. “Our approach was to use several less powerful projectors rather than one large one to cover our surfaces,” explains Alexandre Desjardins.

The 4elements team opted for Panasonic 5000 lumen laser projectors.

Lining up several projectors side by side to form a large image offered several advantages: it was more economical, produced higher resolution images and offered better luminosity. “There was also the aspect of geometry to consider,” recalls Simon Coulombe. That’s why the lenses of the chosen projectors had a very short focal length. “In gaming, people have to get very close to the projections, so by placing the projectors close to the screens, we limited the problems”.

The use of such equipment also enables striking projections on dark surfaces. With laser projectors, you can achieve perfect blacks,” says Alexandre Desjardins. If you take Vieux Toussaint, for example, he appears in the darkness of the environment.  You don’t see the screen, you just see the character, who seems to emerge from the darkness.”

The 4elements team was astute in making the most of the material they had on hand. “If we take, for example, the projection of the river on the ground… Our challenge was to ensure that the players’ shadows were not distracting,” notes Simon Coulombe. To achieve this feat, “the multiplication of several small spotlights helped a lot”. Indeed, at all times, at least a quarter of the surface is covered by two beams of light. 4elements’ system D doesn’t stop there. To be able to successfully project onto the floor, despite relatively low ceilings, ingenuity was required. That’s another trick we’ve patented,” he explains with a touch of pride. To avoid losing height, we used a system of mirrors. As a result, the projectors are positioned parallel to the ceiling, rather than with the lens pointing downwards.

Interactivity

The game really shines when it’s interactive. The best example is cutting down trees. To chop down a tree, you have to wield your phone as you would an axe. Each movement towards the trunk is accompanied by the sound of impact. After a few blows, the tree falls, symbolized by the long fabric pipe collapsing to the ground.

But what makes these interactive actions possible is the localization system that tracks and identifies players in space. There are plenty of immersive experiences that will track a person’s position in space and cause visual effects to react to that person’s passage,” explains Alexandre Desjardins. The difference with our system is that we’re able to identify precisely who is there, and react with effects that are specific to that player.”

The sound

There’s no doubt that sound is an integral part of this digital experience. Already, participants are invited to chant “Timber!” when they have just cut down a tree, to warn other players who might see their characters suffer damage if they stand too close to a falling pine.

What’s more, Simon Coulombe points out that Timber! relies on “interactive spatialization, which makes it possible to recreate sound effects in the place where actions are taking place, even if the players are moving at all times”. This effect is particularly noticeable when the werewolves go on the attack.

Storytelling

Alexandre Desjardin points out that the environment of Timber! “is inspired by historical facts, research we did with a historian, and references to books and legends. As he says, this attention to detail “brings a richness” to the experience.

In 50 minutes, players go through the full range of emotions. Basically, it’s a survival game. Alexandre Desjardins makes no secret of the fact that he wanted participants to experience a certain “tension”. But he also had other aims. For example, the majestic forest projections are designed to “inspire wonder”. Some of the game’s events are also there to cause surprises.

In short, the aim of the exercise is to make the participant “feel like a hero”.

What happens next…

Timber! The Forgotten Legends is not a permanent installation. It has been designed to be set up in a variety of locations. It will therefore be traveling over the coming months. Although no official commitments have been made to date, the 4elements team is in talks with various venues to secure new performances.

But that’s not all! “For this project, we cleared the way, experimented, learned by trial and error, recalls Simon Coulombe. We also saw more and more possibilities for this tool to tell stories and convey knowledge.”

So, as Alexandre Desjardins points out, the game machine developed for the experiment could “be used to tell other kinds of stories, for future 4elements projects”.

Other adventures are therefore on the cards for the future. Until then, beware of werewolves!