Alice sucht Stress: A Light-Sensitive City Adventure
Alice sucht Stress: A Light-Sensitive City Adventure
A project by Bruno Müller
Supervised by Prof. Dr. Frank Gabler
Project done in Study Semester 6 | Summer 2025
About the Project
Alice sucht Stress is a chaotic action game in which the player takes on the role of Alice, a mischievous and thrill-seeking character who discovers a lightsaber lying on the street. From there, Alice sets off on an unpredictable adventure through the city, using her newly discovered weapon to cause trouble and cut through objects in her path.
A key part of the project is its student-built light-sensitive physical interface, which was developed specifically to provide the interaction between the player and the digital game. Rather than relying solely on a conventional keyboard or controller, the interface translates physical interaction with the student's hardware into actions within the game.
The gameplay centres on moving through the urban environment and cutting through objects. The current version includes cars and streetlights, while future plans include pedestrians, birds and other dynamic elements. The interface and game work together to turn the city into an interactive playground where the player's physical actions directly influence the digital environment.
The game is not only about causing destruction, as the player's actions also attract increasing police attention. Police cars become an additional challenge, forcing Alice to balance her desire to create chaos with the need to avoid getting caught.
If too many police cars slip through, Alice is caught and faces jail time. This creates a risk-and-reward system in which players are encouraged to push their destructive behaviour further, while still paying attention to the consequences of their actions.
The title, Alice sucht Stress, translates to “Alice is Looking for Trouble” and reflects the mischievous personality at the centre of the experience. By combining a student-developed physical interface with a playful digital environment, the project explores how custom hardware can create a more direct and engaging form of interaction. The result is a playful balance between physical input, digital destruction and escalating consequences.
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