Author: Carie Ward (Page 3 of 4)

Orbicon’s Stellar Finish

oc_inept.jpgOrbital Colony finished up this weekend, finally answering the question as to what happened to Orbicon scientist Steven Mae.

The beginning of the end started when players discovered Cassandra’s blog on the Inept website. The mysterious Cassandra, who looked too much like Davina for everyone’s comfort, was on the station and that she was the one who had kidnapped Steven.

With the help of the players, Seth set up a trap for Cassandra. He would put up a fake blog post saying that more information of Steven’s had been seen in the Gardens. When Cassandra showed up to collect it, he would capture her. At 7:00 EST, players were able to listen in on what was happening in the Gardens. When confronted with the fact that she was caught, Cassandra collapsed, and gave Seth a clue to Steven’s whereabouts in case something worse happened to her.

At this point, the audio connection to the station is cut. Raider, the ever resourceful SAIPets robo-dog, is able to connect to IRC and the players start to help Seth decode Cassandra’s message. The name Cassandra provides was another directory on her website. Players had to solve a couple of different number slide puzzles before they got their answer. Steven was being held in the Level 13 Biolab V.

Rushing off to save Steven, station security protocols caught up to Raider, and he had to implement additional measures to stave off detection. Upon reaching the Biolab, Seth (with Raider and Stevie in tow) finds that Igor Bronco is there waiting. Igor had known what was happening all along, thanks to his elaborate security system. Igor’s plan falls apart though when his two daughters, Cassandra and Davina, walk into the Biolab instead of his security forces. When Cassandra pulls a gun on Igor, he grabs Stevie to use as a human shield. Unfortunately for Igor, Raider’s programming to protect Stevie kicks in and he attacks Igor, saving Stevie from both Igor’s clutches and the bullet from Cassandra’s gun.

With Igor’s plan uncovered, and Steven found unharmed, the Puppet Masters were finally able to come out from behind the curtain (u:steven.mae p:FLYHGGH). We would like to congratulate everyone involved in the game for a job well done.

Responses from the players have been positive, and we look forward to any new games that this group may put together. So if you happen to see any of those brave individuals who sacrificed their time and energy into this game, be sure to congratulate them.

A post-game PM chat is in the works, although no dates and/or times have been finalized. We will have all of the details on ARGN as soon as they are announced.

Orbital Colony Launches

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After twenty-one months of planning, fifteen months of pure speculation and a four months of dissecting the only (found) in-game site, Orbital Colony has finally launched.

Very neatly timed with the finale of Last Call Poker, Orbital Colony launched November 16th. Players who had provided their phone numbers in the Name That Rock competition were called by the TEP Foundation (not to be misheard as PEP, PEG, PET, TET or any other variation) and asked a series of survey questions. After the calls were over, players rushed to find two brand new sites to peruse: The TEP Foundation and SAI Pets

A few days later, after a hacking incident at Orbicon, three more websites appeared on the horizon. Coalition Against the Road To the Stars, Path Back to Eden and The Inept are all working to bring Orbicon down, as if Orbicon didn’t have enough problems with suing both NASA and Google.

What started as a mere training ARG for potential PMs has grown into a fully polished game that just happens to be run by several members of the unFiction community (and if you keep your eyes peeled, you might just run across a name or two carefully hidden in plain view). With phones to answer, emails to send, videos to watch, audio to listen to, and quite possibly the long lost brother of Wongmo, Orbital Colony has something for everyone to enjoy. So sit back, strap yourselves in, and get ready for your ride into space.

Discussion at UnForums

Wiki hosted by Deaddrop

IRC Chat in #orbital hosted by Chat Solutions

Vaporlofts

vaporlofts.jpgWhen it rains, it pours. Another new ARG has come to light recently, despite the fact it has had a web presence since May. VaporLofts started as a LiveJournal blog by one Anne Schreber (aka point_system), who started befriending other LiveJournal bloggers who shared similar interests. Not a lot of attention was paid to the blog until Anne started talking about an airplane exploding over the Pacific Ocean, with one person miraculously surviving. A lot of people’s interests were piqued after that. Since then, we have been introduced to Anne’s mysterious employer, VaporLofts, who seem to be interested in a lot more than just selling and renovating real estate.

While it is still too early to tell where the VaporLofts story is heading, the game itself seems to show some real promise. The pace of the game shows that the creators have a great deal of patience. The recent trend to rush game developments due to overzealousness has doomed many an ARG in the past. It is refreshing to see that this game has not yet fallen into that trap.

VaporLofts should be a good ARG for those who have been waiting to get in on the ground floor. ARGN will keep you apprised of any major developments as they occur.

Trailhead
Discussion at Unfiction
IRC Chat in #vaporlofts

Seen Steve “Implodes”

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Seen Steve, the parody ARG, wrapped up over the ARGFest weekend in the only possible manner that it could: it “imploded”.

Players gathered in the #seensteve chat room, waiting for the final game timer to reach zero, when the PM (or PhooMaster) joined the room and announced the game was over as he had “homework and stuff” to do. But before he left, he gave players one last puzzle hidden in the final flash – a puzzle which would lead players to the Project Phoo FAQ and would reveal the identity of the PM.

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ARG Parody ‘Seen Steve’ Takes Off

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It’s not every day that an ARG that starts off by IM’ing hkdl turns out to be one of the most talked about, but “Seen Steve” has turned out to be just such a game.

Seen Steve is a brilliant parody of the ARG world. So far it has encompassed Acheron, Art of the Heist, BLARGS, The Beast, Chasing the Wish, The Flaming Heart, gAIMs, Gypsysoft, I Love Bees, Lockjaw, Our Colony, Perplex City, RedKore, and Seen James – just to name a few. As a bonus, it also has ferrets and pixies which are near and dear in everyone’s heart (or at least they should be).

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The Art of the H3ist Wrap-up and Review

aothparty.jpgJune 29, 2005 marked the Relaunch Event for Tatum Think as well as the finale for the Audi sponsored Alternate Reality Game The Art of the H3ist. Players gathered at The Viceroy in Santa Monica as well as on the web to watch the live event play out.

The beginning of the end started 36 hours in advance with one of the lead characters, Ian Yarbrough, breaking into his rival Virgil Tatum’s house. While Ian found the incriminating evidence he was looking for, he also managed to get himself caught red-handed by Virgil and his two goons and was promptly captured.

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