Category: News (Page 117 of 183)

ARGFest 2007 Panel I: Developing an ARG

March 27, 2007 / Jessica Price

ARGFest attendees were privileged to be able to sit in on — and participate in — dialogues between many of the field’s leading developers during the panel discussions held on March 3rd. The first of these panels, Developing An ARG, consisted of Adam Brackin (Fundi Technologies — Deus City), Brian Clark (GMD Studios — Art of the Heist, Who Is Benjamin Stove), Adrian Hon (Mind Candy Design — Perplex City), Evan Jones (Xenophile Media/Stitch Media — Regenesis, Ocular Effect), Jan Libby (Sammeeeees), and Dave Szulborski (Chasing the Wish, Urban Hunt). Unfiction’s Sean Stacey (a.k.a. SpaceBass) moderated the discussion.

As one might expect from such a gathering of alternate reality gaming’s better-known puppetmasters, the discussion was packed with information and insights from behind the curtain (although Brian Clark’s frequent wryly humorous interjections kept it entertaining as well as informative).

The Brooke Thompson 2007 Conference Tour, Part One

March 25, 2007 / Brooke Thompson

Editor’s note: Brooke Thompson is back after a whirlwind tour of some of the biggest festivals so far this year. She attended the Game Developer’s Conference and was a speaker at the South By Southwest (SXSW) and ARGFest-o-Con conferences. This article is the first in a series about her experiences.

What happens when you spend 15 days on the road traveling from conference to conference? You get just about nothing done, including writing reports from the road for one of the greatest websites on the internet (that’d be ARGNet, of course). At first this distressed me, but then I realized that most of the conference sessions that I had attended were well documented on blogs and news sites â€“ some nearly word for word! â€“ and that waiting allowed the experiences that I had to sink in and meld together into a bigger picture. It’s that picture that I hope to paint for you over the next few articles.

The thing that I realized as I traveled from ARGfest to GDC to SXSW is that Alternate Reality Gaming is leading the future of entertainment.

We’ve been saying that for a long time. So, what’s different? What’s changed?

The word is out. People hear “Alternate Reality Game” or “ARG” and they understand what you are talking about. I don’t mean to say that everyone that I met understood it, but if I walked into a crowd at least one or two people did and they were able to get the rest of the crowd excited and curious. And explaining it to those that have never heard of ARGs is easier today than it’s ever been. People might not know that Lonelygirl15 has an alternate reality game component, but they’ve heard of it and when you talk about how the story is out there and it’s fiction outside of a book or TV show and, in fact, might send you an email or call you on the phone â€“ they get it. It doesn’t seem strange, it seems cool.

Rand0m Act Of Kindness

March 22, 2007 / Michael Andersen

A press release issued earlier today outlines great news for alternate reality gaming community site Unfiction. The site has received its largest donation to date of $8,000 from Perplex City Season One winner and Unfiction forum member Andy Darley (Rand0m).

Darley, who made news last month after finding the Receda Cube and earning $200,000 (US) as part of the Perplex City ARG, explained his generous donation by saying, “Perplex City is the first ARG to end with a significant sum of money in the hands of one of its players, and it’s only right that some of that money should find its way back to benefit the whole ARG community.”Â Explaining why he chose Unfiction, he added, “While Unfiction certainly isn’t the only place where PXC players gather – indeed it may no longer even be the main place – it’s still the biggest and most important resource for players across the broad spectrum of ARGs”.

With over 13,000 registered members, Unfiction is the largest online community dedicated towards the promotion and discussion of Alternate Reality Games, chaotic fiction, and related puzzles.Â In addition to providing the server space for game discussion and archival, Unfiction is responsible for sponsoringÂ ARGFest-o-Con, a yearly conference that allows players and developers to get together for a weekend of discussions on the genre.

Unfiction founder (and ARGNet staff writer) Sean C. Stacey expressed his gratitude for Darley’s generous donation, and announced plans to use the funds to develop alternative revenue streams and to help defray the site’s operating costs. Past efforts to subsidize operating and hosting costs at Unfiction have included a donation drive and a Perplex City-themed online auction, and similar efforts will continue to take place including another series of online auctions scheduled to occur later this month.

Dive Into Indian Lake… If You Trust The Government

March 21, 2007 / The ARGNet Staff

By Jessie Greene and Nicko Demeter

What is the Indian Lake Project? Short answer: we’re not entirely sure. At the moment it looks more like an interesting fictional blog than anything else, but there are a few sly hints that it may be a prelude to something more ARGish (including contact from “America’s Research Gate”).

A box found in the woods near Indian Lake is given to a dying man’s nephew, known only as JohnS. Over several posts, the author slowly catalogues the contents, revealing a plot worthy of an X-Files episode. His public discussion of an apparent government conspiracy attracts the attention of several mysterious individuals.

Some of the documentation and photographic evidence point heavily towards a secret experiment that the US Government conducted in the early 1950â€™s. The posts also hint that other projects may be related to highly classified operations such as the CIAâ€™s MKULTRA.

An internet search on the blog reveals that as early as 2005, a rather baffled community has currently stumbled onto the site as well as other forums and blogs discussing The Indian Lake Project (join the Unforums discussion here). There are also uncorroborated reports of JohnS communicating with followers outside of the weblog medium.

If the Indian Lake Project develops into an ARG, it has the beginnings of a great story. But regardless of whether the ultimate form of the narrative ends up being an ARG, it lends itself to a great read and helps promote the ARG genre by the generating interest in the form and encouraging others to try their hand at cross-media storytelling.

So is it an ARG? Not yet. A blog-like episodic novel? Maybe. The work of a delusional madman? We should be so lucky. At this time nobody knows exactly what it is, ironically adding to the mystery surrounding the site. ARG or not, we will keep an eye on it to see if it evolves further.

ARGer Sam Needs You!

March 19, 2007 / Jessie Greene

Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up and become a part of history. Yes, that’s right! You too can take part in an extremely important mission by volunteering your time and awesome skills to the future of the ARG genre. The mission, if you choose to accept it:

* Help promote Alternate Reality Gaming and highlight its impact on the entertainment, education, media, and advertising fields
* Assist in archiving Alternate Reality Game press articles and game artifacts for future players, academics, puppetmasters, and the media
* Aid in the development of open discussion between game designers, academics, players,
and the media

Introduced at ARGFest, The Initiative On Alternate Reality Gaming (IonARG) is an innovative opportunity for collaboration between everyone with an interest in ARGs to help the growth and representation of the genre. Formed in December 2006 by a combined group of developers, players, and community leaders, IonARG seeks “to promote the genre through discussion and action.” Currently, there are five specific initiatives proposed by IonARG that need your help, including maintenance of the ARG wikipedia article and amassing a complete archive of game sites and news articles relating to ARGs.

Anyone can be a member, volunteer, contribute, and discuss. To enlist, join the mailing list, don your combat boots (combat boots optional), and put up your archives. Come on, put ’em up put ’em up.

IonARG.com
IonARG Wiki

Fest Quest ’07

March 14, 2007 / Will Bagby

OH NOES!! Gupfee’s been kidnapped! Even as the last words of keynote speakers Sean Stewart and Elan Lee echoed around the conference room, ARGFest attendees were quickly rounded up into groups, based on the color of the square on the back of their lanyards (so that’s what those were for!), and each group was given an envelope. The person or persons responsible demanded payment in the form of items (including a ciphered cake) that had to be collected from various locations in San Francisco. Save the ARG Ghoddess Gupfee!!

The first puzzle was to figure out where to go first. Some double letters in a piece of poetry, plus a “decoder ring” image, led to the place – MUSEE MECHANIQUE – and an item – COPPER SAL. Copper Sal?! What the heck is a sal? Was it decoded wrong? Did the kidnappers make a mistake? Already, the Questers were filled with doubt. No matter, Gupfee must be saved. {cue dramatic music} Off to the MusÃ©e Mechanique!!

The FestQuesters quickly collected their wits and headed over to Fisherman’s Wharf and the MusÃ©e (which is fancypants talk for “museum”). Fortunately for our intrepid Questers (and Gupfee), there was a labeled map enclosed with the directions, and the first team was there in no time. Upon entering the museum, the first thing they saw was Laughing Sal. Hey, it’s a Sal! And right next to Laughing Sal was a penny squisher (for lack of the technical term) that made — you guessed it — copper sals. The next puzzle used the plaque in the Laughing Sal machine, and led us to another San Francisco landmark, the world-famous Ghirardelli Square.