ECXD
There's nothing more exciting than creating wonder and awe for an audience by melding the physical and virtual worlds. This was never more true for me while working for Disney, and I continue the tradition of creating immersive worlds while experimenting with cutting-edge technology.
Today, I do this by making immersive, AI-enhanced scavenger hunts for my daughter's birthday parties.
CASE STUDY — The Midnight Gem Heist
I created an immersive, escape-room–style mystery for a dinner party — a gem-heist story told through puzzles, coded messages, and character-driven moments. Every guest became a suspect. Every course revealed a new clue. And the entire room transformed into the scene of an unfolding crime.
The game ran for 45 minutes and hit the perfect tone: challenging, theatrical, and deeply collaborative. The heist wasn’t just solved. It was experienced.
The Setup
During a dinner party full of esteemed guests, hosted by Dr. Penelope Explorer, her most important discovery, the Tanzinite Gemstone, is stolen! My daughter and her friends are detectives called in to solve the mystery of the missing gemstone.
Each room in the house has a riddle that the kids need to solve to find a physical object belonging to one of the dinner guests. Once the items are collected, the girls use an iPad to scan QR codes to see the messages from each of the dinner guests and then determine who the thief is.
The Guests a.k.a. The Suspects
Mr Oliver Crumble
Master Teddy Tinker
Odette Pirouette
Charles Whisker
Dr. Archibald Greaves
Sylvia Quillwright
Jessie Paws
Dr. Ada Numbers
Marco Keys
Axel Gimenez develops social-first stories that explore how people connect, learn, and build meaning in a digital world. Drawing from a background in motion design, product-focused storytelling, and documentary craft, he examines the ways technology, creativity, and culture shape each other and how clear, expressive visuals can help audiences understand what’s possible.