<aside> 🌱 You are a bug - risk life and limb to grab as much nectar as you can from inside the jaws of a massive venus fly trap! Dodge trigger hairs or else the trap will snap shut on your arm!
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Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors was an obvious inspiration - she’s the reigning queen of killer plants!
As humans, we’re so used to being on top of the food chain that we thought it would be fun to flip it and introduce an apex predator of sorts.
We stuck with a closer to real life adaptation, since it gives us a lot of surface area inside the trap.
Our pincers were also designed to put players in the shoes (legs?) of a bug wandering around inside the trap. Hands have a lot of natural dexterity that’s eliminated when confined to a pinching, insect jaw-like motion.
Foam + stiff felt make the edges safe to touch, and a disturbingly shiny faux alligator skin interior makes cleaning easier.
Our main fear factor is the trap itself of course! There’s a very animal response of “nope, nuh uh” to sticking your hand in what looks like a massive bear trap.
Initial construction of plywood, hinges, and cushioning
Decorative spikes cut and glued - this is when it really started looking like a flytrap
Testing for safety and scare factor
V2 of pincers - more creative options to grab objects (using the spikes for grip? longer or shorter tongs? a precision pinch with the tips?)
New coat of paint and interior fabric
Bending a flex sensor will change the resistance of the conductive particles, causing it to change the output.
Stepper motor up and running (not in the right direction yet!)
Cutting the power releases the fishing wire and causes the trap to snap shut!
We were inspired heavily by the ecological ideal of the commons dilemma (tragedy of the commons) - as much as players are competing against each other, they must work together to ensure no one triggers the trap prematurely in order to harvest as much as they can. While not a 1:1 recreation of the concept, we find that the greediest players are likeliest to trigger the trap, and ruin this shared resource for all.