Construction Haus hosted Accueil, an experience, on Caturday November 16 and it was a fantastic success!
What’s an accueil? It roughly translates to welcome centre or reception, and specifically in this context it’s where you check in when you’re going canoe camping. We printed up 86 paper invitations based on a template for a camping permit from Canot-Camping la Vérendrye, the organization that used to manage the canoe routes in the reserve (it’s now been taken over by the SEPAQ) and I gave out all but 3 of them to our friends starting in late August.
Each invitation had a “Code HU ERR”, a pun on “huard” meaning loon and “Code QR” meaning QR code. (Everything was in French at the event. Tokebakicitte.) Anyone who scanned their “Code HU ERR” before the event was taken to a confusing page like this one.
At the event itself, the Code HU ERR came alive: attendees were able to scan their codes using this creature (there’s a camera in its neck):
This allowed folks to start loon fights, using some amazing custom software written by Mike Townsend (frontend) and myself (backend). Usually one loon won (and gained points), but sometimes they both won by falling in love!
The game was a great success, with 40 people playing over the course of the evening, including one friend who famously never plays video games. Players even surprised us with how they interacted with the art; some folks took photos of their “Code HU ERR” or other items (there were powerups and bonuses too), and there was a lot more grinding than we expected – loons gotta loon!
And it was fun to write. I started my part in early September, partially because I wanted it to exist and partially to stay active at software development while looking for work. Initially I wrote very clean and maintainable code, but towards the end I can only describe my work as a descent into madness.
The game was by far the highlight of the evening for almost everyone, but we had other art too…
Accueil Sign
I laser engraved this on some scrap acrylic, and edge lit it with LED strip. And unlike last time I found time to program my LEDs, so it glowed and sparkled!
If you’re curious about the logo, I haven’t been able to find an official reference but I’ve seen it all over Québec to indicate the direction to an Accueil…
The other sign?
Masseteurtarte!
Masseteurtarte is my friend Christ Alain’s extremely elaborate and impressive long-running art project. It’s a real actual credit card that can be used to buy real actual things, but it has its own payment network that’s… somewhat divorced from the reality of our banking system. They lent me some signage and a card reader, and I integrated it with my invitation printing system so that anyone who showed up at the event without their “Code HU ERR” had to use a masseteurtarte to pay a “reprinting fee”. And anyone who used their card got a surprise email generated by an LLM!
Of course, loon games and credit card shenanigans are all well and good, but sometimes you just need to recharge. gearhead_liz set up an
introvert recharging station
in their room, complete with a campfire and animal friends!
We also had a
Drybag Testing Lab
but what happens in the Drybag Testing Lab stays in the Drybag Testing Lab!
All in all, it was a fantastic evening. Thank you to everyone who came!
This sounds so great, I wish I’d been able to surmount my social anxiety that night because I think all of this would have actually soothed my nerves instead of activating them. I’m glad to finally understand the Huard game! That was confusing, but it all makes sense now.
Looks great! Sounds even better. I’ve got to remember next time to think about all the cool things you guys have done so I can coax myself out of my shell.
As always, it was a blast to put together an experience for our peers! Who knows what shenanigans we’ll pull next year? Not me, that’s for sure- not *yet*, anyway…