Synopsis of the game

I wanted to state clearly what the Gridlocked game is in around 200 words. 240 words actually. Here is my first draft...

The visual structure of the game simulates a panopticon substituting prison cells for a revolving wall of video showing computer users captured by webcams. The computer user becomes the observer/guard/game player. Each video clip is seamlessly looped, appearing to the player as continuous live video feed. Once the player gives permission for their webcam to become active, their video image, in real time, will also be included in the wall of video. The player will appear to be locked into the grid, gridlocked. The player will discover their entrapment serendipitously. Therefore the player is not only the observer/guard but also appears to be the observed.

Entrapment
Timecode will be included in each video clip (with randomly allocated starting points between 30 and 10 minutes) counting down to zero. Some video clips will be set at zero and will show a distressed static image of a trapped subject. The game will last up to 30 minutes and as the video clips reach zero they will change from moving image to static distressed image.

Escape
The aim of the game is to escape from the grid before the timecode reaches zero. The player will be able to discover oral clues within video clips by rollover. The clues will lead to a small number of simple challenges in order that the participant may stop the timecode from reaching zero, avoiding becoming trapped in the game forever.