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Papercraft scene: a navy and cream arcade cabinet titled Curriculum to Culture stands on a Mario-style grassy ledge, a pixel character runs toward it past SXSW EDU banners, with the Austin skyline and a sunset sky behind
SXSW EDU 2026 · Case study

Curriculum to Culture

A keynote that became an arcade game.

A conventional presentation about leading change in the age of AI became a playable side-scrolling story — a papercraft arcade cabinet audiences walked up to and played.

Play the gameStart a conversation
Powerpoint → Story → Playable experience
Slide from a conventional deck: Innovation Culture with four bullet points
BeforeSlide 27 of a well-meaning deck
Pixel-art SXSW EDU title screen for Curriculum to Culture in a cream paper frame with a Start Presentation button
AfterThe same argument, playable
300+
Educators in the room
4 weeks
Concept to cabinet
∞
Conversations after
The challenge

Nobody remembers slide 27.

The brief was a 45-minute keynote on leading change in the age of AI. The risk was obvious: another well-meaning deck that fades the moment the lights come up.

We wanted the audience to feel the argument — to make choices, take risks and see consequences — not just watch it.

The approach

Turn the argument into a game.

We rewrote the keynote as a side-scrolling quest: each ‘level’ a real decision leaders face when steering culture through change.

AI accelerated the pixel art, level layouts and iteration. The concept, story and judgement stayed firmly human.

Papercraft arcade cabinet in navy and cream with red and blue trim, screen showing the pixel-art SXSW EDU title Curriculum to Culture
The build

A cabinet you could walk up to and play.

We built a papercraft arcade cabinet and dropped it into the room. Instead of watching slides, people grabbed the joystick and made the very decisions the keynote was about.

  • 01

    Real decisions, not bullet points — each level a choice leaders actually face.

  • 02

    Pixel art and level layouts accelerated with AI; the story and judgement stayed human.

  • 03

    One of five levels shipped playable for the floor, the rest storyboarded for what comes next.

The result

What it changed.

Packed room
Active participation
Lasting conversations
A story people retold
Play the game
Paper arcade game: pixel-art SXSW EDU title screen for Curriculum to Culture with a Start Presentation button, in a cream frame

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