Turn the place visitors came to see into a story they can explore.
Overlay Dynamics creates self-guided narrative experiences for places people explore. Visitors follow an immersive story through the real world, solving puzzles built around existing landmarks, art, architecture, and markers.
No performers to book. No construction or build-out. No daily staffing.
What is an Overlay?
An Overlay is a self-guided location-based game that combines the adventure of a scavenger hunt, the puzzle-solving of an escape room, and the narrative flow of an immersive theater performance.
Instead of planting clues or building a set, we use the setting already around us. A name on a plaque, a figure in a mural, or an overlooked piece of local history can become the key that unlocks the next part of the story.
Visitors might begin with a poster, QR code, printed guide, or mysterious message. The game then leads them through the site at their own pace. An Overlay can be a focused experience completed in under an hour or a branching story that unfolds across multiple visits.
Give people a reason to look twice.
- Encourage deeper exploration. Guide visitors toward overlooked exhibits, historic details, partner businesses, or parts of a site they might otherwise pass by.
- Inspire return visits. A new story can make a familiar place feel undiscovered. Additional chapters and seasonal experiences can be commissioned when you want to invite visitors back again.
- Turn interpretation into participation. History, conservation, art, research, and local identity become things visitors actively uncover instead of passively receiving.
- Connect the places around you. An Overlay can create a shared experience across venues, neighborhoods, businesses, or collaborating organizations without requiring them to operate a conventional event together.
- Meet players where they are. Layered hints, multiple difficulty paths, and saved progress let families, first-time puzzle solvers, and experienced players engage at the level and pace that works for them.
- Learn what visitors actually did. Digital experiences can report how many people began, which challenges they reached, where they spent the most time, and how long they remained engaged.
Transform the visit, not the place.
Overlays are designed to run without performers, planted clues, custom construction, or daily supervision. The existing permanent details of your site do the physical work; the narrative gives visitors a new way to see them.
| Live immersive event | Escape room | Conventional scavenger hunt | An Overlay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily staffing | Performers & operations | Supervision & resets | Occasional guides | No staff needed |
| Physical build | Sets, props, & rigging | A purpose-built room | Printed or planted clues | Zero physical build-out |
| Relationship to Place | Production staged within it | Construction within it | Route layered onto it | Story drawn from within it |
| Run Length | Limited engagement | Until replaced or refreshed | Single event | Indefinite & expandable |
| Ongoing cost | Daily labor & operations | Upkeep & maintenance | Materials & platform costs | Web hosting & monitoring |
Physical artifacts, performers, collectibles, and facilitated finales can be added when they meaningfully improve the experience. They are possibilities, not requirements.
Built for places people explore.
An Overlay works anywhere visitors are already moving, looking, and discovering:
- Tourism organizations
- Business & cultural districts
- Museums, gardens, zoos, & aquariums
- Universities & colleges
- Parks, libraries, & public spaces
Overlay Dynamics works nationally from Los Angeles.
The Proof
30,000 players
reached in one week, with zero marketing spend JoinCult.com / Culver City, CA
6 days
from concept to playable experience – designed from 700 miles away Perceptual Technology Division / Park City, UT
12 city blocks
turned into a playable puzzle hunt The Foxglove Papers / Downtown Los Angeles, CA
Infinite Possibilities
custom web apps, NFC interactions, and persistent progress tracking Los Feliz Everywhen Association / Los Angeles, CA
Built for your site, from first clue to final report.
Every Overlay starts with story, not technology. We find the narrative that belongs to the place, then develop the puzzles and platform around the site’s physical character, audience, operational needs, and goals. A typical engagement includes:
- 01 / Investigation: Discovery sessions + location scouting
- 02 / Architecture: Narrative & puzzle design + web/print system
- 03 / Verification: Accessibility review + Playtesting & milestones
- 04 / Deployment: Launch + hosting, monitoring, & reporting
Investment
Concept sprint – from $6,000
Site and audience discovery, a tailored creative premise, a sample visitor journey and puzzle concept demo, and a production scope, schedule, and budget. When a concept sprint proceeds into production, part of its fee may be credited toward the full engagement.
Contained Overlay – from $25,000
A complete experience for a focused site or route, with an original story, six to ten challenges, web-based or print-based play, testing, analytics, launch support, and first-year hosting.
Expanded Overlay – from $50,000
A larger experience with more locations, branching paths, accounts and saved progress, NFC or partner integrations, multiple difficulty modes, or custom reporting.
Annual support begins at $3,600/year after the included first year and covers hosting, monitoring, scheduled puzzle checks, minor technical fixes, and participation reports. New chapters, seasonal experiences, and substantial revisions are scoped separately. Travel and project-specific production expenses are also scoped separately.
Pilot partners: A limited number of early institutional partners may receive reduced launch pricing in exchange for permission to publish approved photography, results, and a case study. Ask about availability.
A small studio built to move quickly.
Overlay Dynamics is led by Ben Deeb, a Los Angeles-based narrative experience designer, television writer, game designer, and developer. Ben has written four episodes of ABC’s Black-ish and holds two Emmy nominations for esports broadcast work.
His interactive and narrative work has been commissioned by experiential and marketing agencies including MKG, Denizen, Concept Arts, Ignite, and Aspect Ratio. In one recent engagement, he designed and built a playable web-based puzzle game for an entertainment campaign in three days.
Each project brings on the specialists it needs instead of carrying a large production team between commissions. Subtle co-branding is preferred; white-label production is also available.
Looking for narrative design, campaign work, or creative technology for an agency or brand rather than an experience for a place? Work with Ben directly at BenDeeb.com/hire.
Start with the place.
Tell us where visitors are walking, what you want them to discover, and what a successful experience would do for your organization. You do not need to arrive with a story or puzzle concept – that is what we are here to create.
Prefer email? Write to Ben@OverlayDynamics.com.