Month: April 2006 (Page 2 of 2)

Who Is Benjamin Stove? Wrap Up & PM Chat

April 11, 2006 / Carie Ward

The question of “Who Is Benjamin Stove?” has finally been answered after four months of intense speculation. Depending on who you ask, Ben Stove is: a tinfoil hat nut job; a teacher; a research; a shaman; an alien; hot-headed; a great guy; a man of vision; enigmatic; a scientist; a friend. In other words, just your average internet personality.

Players were first introduced to the mystery of Ben Stove in the form of a painting of a crop circle. From there, they found Ben Stove’s mentor, Dr. Martinez, and obtained copies of letters written from Ben to Dr. Martinez over the years. The letters were filled with secret codes that led to libraries all over the country at the same time as they caught the eye of some mysterious Men In Black. Eventually, Ben Stove himself was found, along with his website filled with research into crop circles. His research showed players that the crop circles were a warning to the people of earth about the dangers of fossil fuels and that using alternatives, such as ethanol based products, were the way to save humanity.

Third Wave of Perplex City Cards

April 10, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

It’s been nine months since Perplex City opened its doors to the public, asking for assistance in finding the Receda Cube. Now, with the third wave of playing cards available, players have more clues to help them in their search for the cube — and with it, the $200,000 reward that accompanies its safe return. Players were also treated to a visually stunning redesign of the Perplex City web site in the past week, which has added some valuable resources that open the door for people interested in getting involved with PXC for the first time.

“The world of Perplex City is deeper and more complex than anyone imagined,” stated Michael Smith, CEO of Mind Candy Design, in a press statement released this past week. You don’t have to look very hard to get a sense of what Smith is talking about, as one of the hot new features of the newly renovated web site is the new “Story So Far” section. In this part of the site, information is given that allows all players, whether new to the game or not, a chance to catch up on the events that have taken place so far. It is large in scale and loaded with content, showing that Perplex City isn’t just puzzle cards and blogs.

Studio Cypher

April 9, 2006 / Michelle Senderhauf

During the live event for the IDEAS Festival ARG, I came across a laminated cipher reference card made by a company calling themselves Studio Cypher. After the curtain was lifted, I got the chance to speak with the Puppetmasters behind both the IDEAS Festival ARG and Ares Station. Ian Pottmeyer, Will Emigh and Nathan Mishler have formed a company dedicated to the production of ARGs called Studio Cypher.

Their website describes Studio Cypher as a company that â€œcreates multi-player novels: stories that place you in the middle of a mystery you can help solve.â€ Mishler and Emigh explained that they use the term â€œmulti-player novelâ€ rather than ARG to avoid alienating potential players who arenâ€™t familiar with the term. Studio Cypher is going to use a partial pay-to-play model for their ARGs. Players will be able to play along without paying a fee, but wonâ€™t be able to access some of the premium content in the game. Although they havenâ€™t announced an official price, I was told that the cost will be less than $10 per adventure. The first episode is due to launch sometime over the next month.

IDEAS Festival 2006

April 9, 2006 / Michelle Senderhauf

As previously reported, the 2006 IDEAS Festival took place this past weekend at Indiana University in Bloomington. The annual festival celebrates Interactive Digital Environments, Arts and Storytelling (IDEAS) and promotes the university’s Masters Program in Interactive Media and Game Design (MIME). In past years, the festival exhibits were judged and awarded prizes. The coordinators of this year’s festival decided to eliminate the judging to create a more open environment where ideas could be shared.

Works in several different media were exhibited including video games, alternate reality games, immersive virtual reality environments, interactive sculpture and mobile art. Many of these pieces explore different ways to immerse or interact with the audience. One piece by Robert Derr, Chance, immerses the art museum-goers by giving them the opportunity to interact with the artist by rolling a die to determine his fate. Derr places four video cameras on his body and moves throughout the city in the direction determined by what number is shown on the die. Another piece, The Uncanny Road Ahead, uses virtual reality technology to immerse players in the virtual environment. I attended the event myself to exhibit Orbital Colony as interactive art and storytelling, but the IDEAS Festival had an ARG of its own, IDEAS Festival 1906. I actually was lucky enough to take part in a live finale for the game during the show:

One of the characters, Director Anderson, entered the hall and announced that he was going to exhibit a game from the future called Non Compos Mentis. This was the cue to begin my mission. I nervously made my way through the halls of the university building, keeping an eye out for Anderson’s cronies. Agent Sueno and Silas McGuffin were counting on me to retrieve the evidence they needed to bring down Director Anderson. I made my way to the locker and unlocked it with the combination they had given me. I found enough evidence inside to ensure that Anderson was going to be brought to justice. Soon after, I joined Sueno and McGuffin to confront Anderson and show him the video of his future arrest.

Overall, the most exciting part of the festival was the high level of awareness about Alternate Reality Games. A surprising number of people in attendance knew what an ARG was and could name at least one example. Most of those who weren’t already familiar with the genre were very interested in learning more.

The Joke’s On Us!

April 3, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Nothing is more humbling than when a thoughtful April Fool’s Day prank goes awry. And, in this case, by “goes awry” we mean “bombs terribly”. You see, we had developed this great trail for April Fool’s day, which started with our April 1st announcement. Since the article talked about changes on this site, most people assumed that when they found that the link to the ARG Graveyard had changed to a custom 404 page that the case was solved. This was not the case, and maybe it was bad timing for me to make the decision to roll out that update at the same time. As a wise man told us earlier today, there’s a subtle sense of irony that our fake ARG failed miserably. But, because there was a bunch of work put into it from us to you, we’d like to take you through it anyway.

A Very Important Message From ARGN

April 1, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

At this time, we would like to make a very personal statement for everyone who follows this site or has toiled in our archives from time to time.

Playing an Alternate Reality Game is hard work, but its even harder reporting on one. Real life takes a back seat to the importance of getting the news out to our valued reader base. I’ve personally made many sacrifices — skipping hip replacement surgery, for example — to make sure that the word about ARG gets out there to the masses. Love is, and always has been, my motivation, but now it’s time to come clean.