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ARG Netcast, Episode 12

February 13, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

Episode 12 of the ARG Netcast series is supersized! Why, you might ask? The answer lies within the netcast itself, with three monster discussions on ginormous topics that found their way into this week’s agenda. So, if you don’t want to hear about how the Receda Cube was found in Perplex City, or how the Deus City creative team has responded to one of their players, or about the true meaning of This Is Not A Game, then stay away! However, for those interested, listen in as the panel consisting of Jackie Kerr, Jessica Price Brooke Thompson, Sean C. Stacey and Jonathan Waite and first-time panelist Nicko Demeter discuss these topics, and more. Note: we’re having substantial problems with audio lately, so we’re sorry for the quality of this netcast, which is not the best. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

Oh joyous day, the Receda Cube has been found! Of course, we talk about the center of attention in the Perplex City game, which officially ended (Season One, anyway) with the discovery of the Cube by Andy Darley, an admired and loved Unfiction forums member (Rand0m). Darley writes about his adventure here, and here. Also, here and here. Finally, here is the end of his tale. He’s a great storyteller. Aside from Darley’s discovery, we dish on how clues might have been given to one particular group and not the overall player base, and wonder why Violet was Combed Thunderclap, and how she knew about quirkyacuity.com months in advance of the site being registered.
Deus City has responded to a player who offered suggestions, help and bug reports by asking her to leave the game, citing Terms of Service violations. We’ve got the details! We also discuss how players might become confused by the gameplay, given that two of the characters in the game are real people.

Doom Skull Looking Simply Fabulous

February 10, 2007 / Michael Andersen

Ted Allen might be the only person protecting this world from death and destruction. Then again, he might be the person who will bring about our doom. I’m not talking about that suave Queer Eye co-host Ted Allen, although I do consider his cuisine to be earth-shatteringly delicious. No, I’m talking about the character in Doom Skull (alternatively titled Thirteen Crystal Skulls), a grassroots alternate reality game that has gathered a dedicated following over the last two months.

Doom Skull follows the search for thirteen legendary crystal skulls from outer space that may be responsible for the destruction of Atlantis. With the aid of “The Chosen” — four people cursed with the ability to communicate with the skulls — players prove their worthiness to each skull by solving a variety of puzzles. So far, they’ve successfully collected seven of the thirteen skulls. But now, Ted Allen is warning the masses that helping the skulls will lead to a cataclysm of epic proportions, so the players must decide how to proceed.

Exploring the Doom Skull universe is like taking a romp through an alternate reality gaming tutorial. Each skull has its own unique method of communication, ranging from Britskull‘s steganographic images, to Skyskull‘s pig latin, to Goldenskull‘s chessboard cipher. Not all puzzles are “traditional” ARG fare, though. Skyskull had the players work on a jigsaw puzzle, Goldenskull sent a crossword puzzle, and Roseskull had participants collecting image files from past websites, characters, and other players. Since each skull seems to have a distinct personality, these often lighthearted challenges help complement the overall character of the game.

Embrace Feedback… at Arm’s Length

February 9, 2007 / Will Emigh

Being a Puppet Master is a hard, often thankless job. If you do things wrong, your players complain about the content you’ve put out. If you do things right, they tell you that there isn’t enough content. Dealing with the inevitable crises under this sort of scrutiny and feedback is draining.

When I worked on Ares Station, I woke from a nightmare about our players. They were huge, fuzzy spiders, chasing after me through endless hallways. Finally, I made it to a helicopter and jumped aboard, only to have the spiders jump up and pull it down. In desperation, I tossed a spherical puzzle to the ground. They converged on it, allowing me to escape. From then on, any player who complained or demanded content from us was labeled a ‘Puzzle Spider’.

In an odd way, my nightmare made things easier. When our players got into the story or said good things about what we were doing, I let it give me a boost of energy. When our players criticized, I pretended it came from Puzzle Spiders to make it easier to take. After all, Puzzle Spiders don’t mean things personally. They’re just voracious consumers of good puzzles and story. As a PM, you can take their interest as a compliment. After all, if your story wasn’t any good, they’d move on to something else.

Perplex City Cube Found by Rand0m Player!

February 8, 2007 / Michelle Senderhauf

Three years after the Receda Cube’s disappearance, Perplexians can breathe a sigh of relief — the Cube is finally on its way back to Perplex City. Earlier today, Andy Darley (aka Rand0m of the Unfiction forums) visited the Mind Candy office in London to exchange the Cube for his $200,000 reward.

Darley, an amateur archaeologist, found the Cube buried in Wakerley Great Wood, a historic ancient woodland 110 miles north of London. He spent three days digging trenches in the woods before he spotted the Cube in wet clay. Darley could hardly believe that he beat over 50,000 other people to the prize.

In a press release, Darley was quoted as saying, “Of all the 50,000 players, from all these different countries, I never thought for a moment I would be the person to find the Cube. I was playing for the puzzles, and the stories, but it was only a few days ago that I thought I was in with a chance. As I pulled the Cube from the sticky, wet clay, and even after I’d found it, as I was waiting to return the Cube, all I could think about is how bizarre the whole thing really was.â€

The game’s in-game newspaper, the Perplex City Sentinel, reports that Perplexian celebrations are in high gear in honor of Darley and his fellow puzzle-solving Earthlings. There are also Earthly celebrations in store for people who can make it down to London on Saturday, February 24th, with a time and location yet to be announced.

Hopefully, more details will be released soon as to the exact location of the Cube and exactly how Darley waded through the myriad of puzzles and clues to find it. With Perplex City’s second season starting in a few weeks, news of the discovery will likely inspire new and returning players to hop on board. One can only hope there won’t be another cube to dig up! Also, we have requested an interview with Darley, so that we can focus more on his experiences as a whole after bringing finality to Season One of the Perplex City game.

Congratulations from all of us here at ARGNet, Andy, on finding one of the most sought-after prizes in alternate reality gaming history, and congratulations to all of the players for their tireless efforts and dedication to the game as it wound its way through the fabric of the past three years.

Photos for this article courtesy of Sandbox Strategies

Yay for Player Summaries! An Update on “Meigeist”

February 7, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

After weeks of our pleading in the ARG Netcast series for player input on games, given the fact that we just don’t have the time, resources or energy to be actively participating in all 173 (seemingly) alternate reality games going on at any given time, Karl “Thunderwolf” Smith was kind enough to step up to the plate and offer up an abbreviated summary of the Meigeist ARG that is currently turning heads and creating buzz. Here’s Karl with the latest:

Hi guys, I’ve just listened to your latest podcast, and so I’m writing in on behalf of all of us currently playing Meigeist. I’m really impressed with the game so far – the puzzles have been coming in steadily, we’ve had 10 already and the game’s not even been up and running a month. They’ve started off fairly easy and have gradually been picking up… a nice learning curve for new ARGonauts. The level of interaction has been very high; many people have received letters and phone calls, voice mail messages, picture-texts, the works. It’s shaping up to be very action packed, and we’ve all got our fingers crossed for live events too. Obviously as it’s being run here in the UK a lot of the events are in a GMT time frame, but people outside the UK have received letters and phone calls too, so it’s certainly not limited to UK players only.

As far as the storyline goes, it’s certainly starting to heat up now. What started as a search for a missing cat has started delving into the realms of hypnotism and mind control. There’s some great characters too. We all care about Eva, and so now we’re all worried after her latest video blog… has she disappeared for good? Add to that Bryan Wilson, the professor with a heart of gold who may well have a sinister hidden agenda, and the enigmatic Keir Jones, who is now apparently being surveilled by the very people he was keeping tabs on… but can we really trust him?

ARG Netcast, Episode 11

February 6, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

So, after hours of post-recording edits for Episode 11 of the ARG Netcast series, the audio quality for one side of the conversation is terrible at best. Don’t let that dissuade you from listening though, as this week’s roundtable is as entertaining as it is informative. Regular panelists Brooke Thompson, Jackie Kerr, Sean C. Stacey and Jonathan Waite are joined this week by Jessica Price, ARGNet writer and Unfiction forums moderator. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

The Heroes 360 experience moves along, albeit very slowly. There is a lovely player wiki (yarr, there be spoilers) that has been created, so hopefully the game gains a bit more momentum, soon. Also, see this Blogspot page for more (spoilers ahoy!) information.
Meigeist is getting love from afar. They also have a nifty player wiki which will get you caught up in less time than you can say “Save the cat, save the world.” Although, you’d sound silly saying that.
Perplex City players are pretty darn close to finding that cube, we hear. Something about a rock, and a Jurassic… something. They also have some pretty cool plans for the reward money.
Monster Hunter Club explains away some advertising, and characters show up at the Today show.
Puzzle of the week: A grid puzzle needs reconstruction (and deconstruction) for Monster Hunter Club. See this thread at the Unfiction forums for more details.
The VirtuQuest people send us a response to our questions about Township Heights. Jackie weighs in on the “mildly insulting” situation. Then the rest of the panel piles on.
Check out this beautiful mock-up (totally unofficial, we understand) of the Neowin-Unfiction branded AMD chip. This will apparently be possible thanks to the winner of the meta puzzle of the Vanishing Point game. Neowin/Unfiction for the win! We also report on the now-postponed VP post-game chat with 42 Entertainment, so ignore that part when you get to it.
Studio Cypher will be releasing the fourth chapter in their Multiplayer Novel soon, called High Stakes.
Jessica talks about her experiences with Ravenchase, which you can also read about in her outstanding ARGNet article.
Jane McGonical is going to be the first ever female keynote speaker at the Game Developer’s Conference in March. We couldn’t be happier for Jane and wish her the best!
ARGFest is less than a month away.
We let the cat out of the bag about ARGNet’s partnership with SXSW for the Screenburn festival. Details will be released in the coming weeks. Brooke will be speaking at the conference, for those who can make it.