by Gary Moynihan, Immersive Creative
As someone who has spent years working within Australia’s growing immersive sector, I’ve observed a persistent challenge that continues to hold back our creative potential.
While magnificent new experiences launch regularly across the country, too many talented creators and organisations find themselves starting from scratch, lacking support and a shared vocabulary that could accelerate their work.
This observation drove me to develop something I believe our industry desperately needs: a comprehensive and accessible resource that bridges the gap between ambitious vision and practical execution.
The result is Immerse Up, a freely available toolkit that is designed to empower organisations by providing them with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to develop immersive experiences that resonate with their audience.
Immerse Up: an “on ramp” to immersive
The immersive medium can sometimes lack the established development frameworks that exist in the film or gaming industries. New projects can often become an exercise in rediscovering processes, workflows, and methodologies that others have already refined through trial and error.
This inefficiency is limiting the potential of our sector. Creators spend their energy reinventing approaches rather than focusing on innovation and story. This fragmentation also stifles sector-wide growth, privileging one-off and well-funded spectacles over repeatable, self-sustainable frameworks.
Addressing these challenges requires the development of standards that de-risk innovation and offer a meaningful “on ramp” to immersive experiences.
Philosophy behind the framework
Rather than attempting to provide definitive answers (an impossible task given the diversity of immersive projects) my approach with Immerse Up centers on equipping users with superior questions. The goal involves developing a common language that reduces barriers to entry while maintaining the medium’s creative flexibility.
The term “immersive” has become so diluted through marketing overuse that its core meaning risks disappearing entirely. My toolkit deliberately returns to fundamentals: genuine immersion occurs when audiences lose themselves within carefully constructed narratives that seamlessly blend story and environment.
This principle became the guiding philosophy for everything my co-author Jonny Beavan and I developed.
Structural design and accessibility
The Immerse Up toolkit organises around four foundational modules: Storytelling and Creative Vision, Audience Insights, Visitor Experience and Interactivity, and Resources. This modular approach reflects the reality of immersive development: projects rarely follow linear paths, and creators need flexibility to address their most pressing challenges first.
Users can engage with individual sections, combine multiple modules, or revisit earlier concepts as their projects evolve. The design prioritises adaptability, recognising that rural organizations, smaller creative teams, and non-traditional venues face different constraints than major metropolitan institutions.
Targeting the “immersive curious”
My primary audience consists of what I term the “immersive curious”, individuals and organisations intrigued by the medium’s potential but uncertain about entry points. These practitioners often work outside traditional creative industries or operate with limited resources, yet their perspectives could bring vital innovation to our field.
By specifically designing content for smaller, non-traditional, and regional organisations, the toolkit acknowledges that Australia’s immersive future depends on diverse voices rather than centralised production.
Some of our most compelling stories and unique cultural perspectives emerge from communities that lack easy access to industry networks or expensive development resources.
While my focus was on supporting the Australian sector, the positive responses we’ve received from around the world show that these tools have global relevance.
See also: Exploring time & transformation: journeying into immersive design via ancient Irish mythology
Industry collaboration and support
The development process benefited from Creative Australia’s Createch program, implemented in partnership with REMIX Summits. This institutional support validated the project’s relevance while providing resources for thorough development and mentorship.
Peter Tullin, co-founder of REMIX Summits and author of The Immersive Revolution, emphasised that exceptional storytelling and compelling narrative worlds remain central to experiences that achieve lasting impact. This perspective aligns perfectly with my toolkit’s emphasis on narrative foundations over technological spectacle.
I officially launched the Immerse Up toolkit at REMIX Summit Sydney, which created an ideal platform for introducing the resource to industry while demonstrating the collaborative spirit I hope it will foster.
As Adam McGowan from Creative Australia noted, their Createch Program’s combination of mentorship, peer learning, and funding support helped ensure the toolkit addressed real industry needs.
Community-centered growth strategy
Beyond individual project development, Immerse Up represents a broader vision for the Australian immersive media sector. By reducing entry barriers, we can discover and nurture work that might otherwise remain unrealised. This grassroots approach to sector development creates opportunities for both audiences and creators while building sustainable creative careers.
Australia possesses remarkable storytelling traditions and exceptional creative talent. However, our immersive sector suffers from fragmented workflows, unclear entry points for new stakeholders, and insufficient infrastructure for creative development.
Addressing these systemic issues requires resources that support collaboration rather than competition.
Future potential and industry leadership
We are currently in an extraordinary moment in the evolution of immersive media. New technologies continuously expand creative possibilities, while audiences demonstrate an increasing appetite for meaningful, transformative experiences.
Australia has the cultural assets and creative capacity to lead globally in this space, but only if we can effectively organise our collective knowledge and resources.
The potential for discovering fresh voices, innovative narratives, and novel audience engagement methods has never been greater. My hope is that resources like Immerse Up help provide scaffolding for this growth, creating shared foundations that allow creativity to flourish.
Conclusion: building tomorrow’s immersive landscape with Immerse Up
Immerse Up represents more than a practical resource; it embodies a vision for collaborative, inclusive growth of Australia’s immersive creative sector. By democratising access to industry knowledge and establishing shared foundations for development, the toolkit can catalyse innovation while maintaining the medium’s transformative potential.
The most powerful immersive experiences transport audiences beyond conventional temporal and spatial boundaries, creating opportunities for genuine transformation and lasting memory formation. Australian creators can develop experiences that resonate globally while maintaining distinctive cultural identity.
The journey towards this requires sustained commitment to community development, creative excellence, and collaborative growth. Through resources like Immerse Up, I hope we can establish the necessary infrastructure for immersive innovation.
The Immerse Up toolkit is available for free download here.
