The Ladder

Opened April 2, 2024.

Starting in January 2023, I did extensive work on tech for The Ladder, an immersive experience in Los Angeles by Hatch Escapes, and was the Lead Creative Technologist on the project from June 2023 until June 2024.

A short video featuring demonstrations of the devices, practical effects, and theatrical tech work I completed for The Ladder.

During my time working on The Ladder, I built and programmed many interactive games and puzzles from scratch and repaired, improved, and reprogrammed many more.

I also custom-built a multimedia cueing system with TouchDesigner that integrated DMX lighting control, live sound, Art-NET LED strip control and image mapping, SQL database queries, and MQTT IoT interfacing to synchronize the main show control system with dozens of custom devices and Unity projects displayed on screens.

The Ladder is officially described as "a fully replayable immersive experience in which your choices and performance determine the outcome." It is without a doubt one of the most complex, technologically advanced, and presentationally polished immersive experiences in the United States.

My role was to make its many technical systems not only work well, but work well together in service of crafting a rewarding narrative and gameplay experience. In the process, I got to work with a team of talented craftspeople and designers to turn the project into a reality.

To learn more about my work on The Ladder, see below for some closer looks at a few of the projects I worked on for the experience.

To learn more about The Ladder and book tickets, click here.