Tag: radio play

Prepare Yourself for Christy Dena’s New Audio Drama: AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS

In the coming months Christy Dena will release an audio drama titled AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS, guiding you through the story of a gambling philosopher’s quest to earn a living as an autopsy pathologist. While still in development, Christy was kind enough to give us the scoop on her project:

Nathan Maton: Hi Christy. I’ve been hearing about your latest project, AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS. Can you tell me what inspired you to make an audio drama?

Christy Dena: The web audio navigation format of AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS was inspired by a visit to the Louvre in 2007. I actually did something at the Louvre that some would consider criminal. I did the Da Vinci Code audio tour of the Louvre. But it was an amazing experience. It started before I entered the turnstiles. The narrator instructed me to secure my headphones, and then guided me past the security and through an alternate path through the Louvre. I was the only one in an elevator, riding around the venue following the conspiracy drama that was unfolding under my steps. The audio tour took me to all of the key exhibits of the Louvre, but with a great narrator, story and sound effects. I felt I was privy to another world that added an extra dimension to the already outstanding experience of the Louvre.

I walked out of the Louvre, reflecting on the ease with which I was guided through the venue, how I knew so much about the artworks, and was also emotionally engaged with a story layer. I suddenly thought, why can’t I have this for the web? Why can’t I have audio tours of the web? I immediately thought of ARGs, and how the audio characters could guide players to read the source code of webpages. This seemed a fun way to make ARGs more accessible and also an interesting design challenge. And that is how the idea for AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS being a cross between a radio drama and Google search!

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The Case of the Gumshoe Radio Play

gumshoe.jpgWell, either I’m a psychic genius or someone out there is listening close to our netcasts. Hot on the heels of my prediction in Episode 8 of the ARG Netcast series that there would be a radio play-style alternate reality game released sometime in 2007, we got a game tip about Gumshoe, an “interactive, 6-part radio drama.” The first episode in the series is set to be released on Valentine’s Day by the Gallagher Brother’s Radio Theatre. We can’t say for certain how the interactivity will be built into the series, but the site is currently advertising a free membership in something called the Gumshoe Secret Society, which includes “an exclusive Decoder Ring, which you can use to discover hidden clues within each broadcast.”

Anyone interested in what could possibly lie ahead in this detective tale can listen (in browser or as a download) to the first preview for the radio play. It’s too early to be certain about what Gumshoe will end up looking or sounding like, but it would be very satisfying for me, personally, to be dead-on right about a prediction for once, so we’ll get back to you after February 14th to see what shapes up.