When creative briefs become nightmares: inside The Scope Creep

Every project manager knows that creeping feeling. The brief that seemed straightforward at kickoff starts mutating. Deadlines shift. Stakeholders multiply. What began as a contained piece of work slowly transforms into something unrecognisable, feeding on your sanity as it grows. Wondermake’s The Scope Creep takes this familiar industry nightmare and literalises it, creating an interactive web experience where a cursed agency brief actually tries to devour your mind. The digital experience casts players as project managers attempting to keep an increasingly chaotic project on track whilst the titular Creep gradually assumes control. It’s structured as choose-your-own-adventure interactive fiction, presenting scenario after scenario of recognisable creative industry disasters – missed deadlines, endless amends, shifting requirements – each demanding a decision under mounting pressure. The catch? Whatever you choose, the outcome is always, in some way, inevitable. “The ‘pick a card, any card’ mechanic felt like a natural evolution of the project’s core themes,” Creative Director Jonny Gibson explains. “It’s about the illusion of choice, that sense of control you think you have over your destiny. In a lot of magic tricks, the outcome is already predetermined, no matter which card you draw. The same is kind of true for The Scope Creep.” This navigation system presents decisions as a hand of cards, each decorated with geometric patterns that hint at something arcane manipulating outcomes beneath the surface. The tarot influence runs throughout, though the team kept the mysticism subtle rather than overt.