Puppetmaster Help-New

How to Make an ARG for a Complete Beginner?

ozzi9816@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 31 May 2017 07:08:42 +0000

Hey. I've gotten back into ARGs, and I'd like to create one of my own. I know enough to know that I won't be launching anytime soon, and it'll probably go through a lot of planning, but I still do want to make one; the only problem is I don't how to make the puzzles/a good puzzletrail/a good trailhead (and other etc things). I wanted to look at ARG post-mortems to see how they did it, but most of them have been taken down (a lot of the articles too), so that leaves me with no knowledge of how to actually handle running one.

Anyone here got good up to date links about the intricacies of running/making an ARG? Good puzzle ideas, how to make the various social media accounts look realistic (dates and such), and things of that nature would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Seeking User or Agency to Create ARG

ozzi9816@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 31 May 2017 07:01:35 +0000

I am looking for portfolios and resumes from people or companies who have created ARGs and successfully run them to completion.

My agency is looking to review your past work to help determine if it would be appropriate and feasible to run an ARG for a popular tourist attraction. To this end, we would need to see outlines and production notes from past games.

Please be prepared to discuss elements of your work including cost planning and lead times necessary for games of different sizes. This is not a guarantee of work, but all submissions will be vetted for future consideration.

Any and all work contracted would be very fairly compensated.

Interested parties should email me at FPenca (at) LNPNews (dot) com. Please include "ARG Development" in your email title.

Thank you!

Advice on my Videos

kevinnormal@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 18 May 2017 07:38:29 +0000

Greetings. I tried making a couple of videos to introduce to my arg but they did not have much attention and honestly I feel like they are not good enough, but I cant exactly pin point why. Does anyone know how I could improve them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZidlWo9DyM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abpjGfFV2hQ

They are kind of weird I wonder if I went overboard.

PM Writing Tips

okayer88@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 08:49:23 +0000

Hello.

I'm a relatively new PM, currently working on a new ARG.

This is not intended to be transparency area, not in one bit, but more a way for PM's to possibly help each out with writing or story points.

I specifically am looking for a little help with some setup on my end of the field, needing a tad of help with my story writing if any PM (or helpful friend?) could help me out with the concept at all.

Creating ARG puzzles?

Habits@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 00:12:11 +0000

I've been looking into PMing for a bit now and have to an extent already started. I was curious if any more veteran PMs could help out a little by telling me about puzzles. When to introduce a puzzle, why popular ARG's puzzles work, and how to make such puzzles. Thank you for taking your time

Essential Reading: The Wyoming Incident

dazeytweeter@forums.unfiction.com — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 02:41:32 +0000

The Wyoming Incident, tracked here on Unfiction at http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18035 and http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27872 (this link contains mild spoilers until a certain point in the explanation) is very likely the longest-running ARG in existence, from its first heartbeats (video postings and activity in the first linked forum, among other things) in 2006, to its last (so far) in 2013. The reason I would ask all prospective Puppetmasters to be aware of it, however, is not the length of TWI, but the events therein.

In summary:
----------------

The first videos of 'The Wyoming Incident' appeared on Google Video and Youtube between July and August 2006. The original video, posted on Google Video, identified its content as what was broadcasted in Neobrara County, Wyoming, during a hijacking of several local-programming stations. While the video is safe to view, the story describes various adverse effects of viewing the video, due to a troublesome frequency in the audio.

Followers are anonymously led to The Happy Cube, a message board dedicated to "Cubing" (Read: Serial Murder), and the blog of one Gregory Miller. The character of GMiller is used to lead the story, eventually moving the blog from an independent host to a Blogger site. Eventually, progress is made. GMiller reveals, among other things, that he is not, in fact, Gregory Miller. He is the original owner of the Wyoming Incident videos, an ancient inspiration of dark impulses that his people tasked him to update into a modern format. He distributed the first few videos himself, and followed them to their final owners, including Gregory Miller, Happy Cube administrator Jack Q. Pembry, Danny Cable (who wasn't a particularly important character in any way), and Jamie. Jamie was the uploader of the second video, AKA "givemeanumber" on Youtube, and the only surviving video owner, which proved extremely angering to GMiller.

With this post came the fourth Wyoming Incident video, as he had promised to Unfiction users following the mystery, and the promises that GMiller would answer four questions from Unfiction followers, one of which he would choose himself, and that the fifth Wyoming Incident video would soon be shared on a file-sharing platform called Ares. It was around this time that the third video was discovered to have been the first posted.

A user on The Happy Cube named Iliketofix, the most recent member before followers of TWI were directed to the board, directed followers to "Hackjob Johnny presents video 5" on Ares in accordance with GMiller's schedule. It was then slowly revealed that Iliketofix, who may or may not have been GMiller, was a servant of Father Paranoia, one of nine Dark Muses mirroring the Nine (good) Muses of greek mythology. He began posting frightening, disturbing and disgusting short stories which became 'required reading' for the followers, which he later revealed as the engine for a mass harvest of negative energy from followers to the game to feed Father Paranoia.

Iliketofix tells players, among other things, that a legion of Paranoia's black-eyed children, who eat the living and wear the dead, would be joining the board to stalk players. When one of the black-eyed children eats a player, Iliketofix is replaced by Ilovetofix, who finally reveals their overall goal: to create such underlying negativity in humanity that when The Nine Muses have their way, bringing humanity to the peak of perfection, humanity will tumble from that peak and descend into an endless age of darkness. Jamie is eventually found, and followers find a consensus that yes, they do want to hear his last words. The poor acting gives away that he isn't actually dead, but Iliketofix shrugs it off, pointing out that ownership of the second video has already broken Jamie's mind, so he's no better off alive than dead.

One of The Wyoming Incident's weaknesses as an ARG, from a certain perspective, is the vast amount of lore and role-playing that takes place on The Happy Cube to bring about major developments. As such, a great length of time goes by between the previous point of note and the next.

(cont. in next post)

[Contact] The Interaction Thread

Aerobane@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 21:24:32 +0000

As more and more ARGs are becoming heavy in interaction, I think it is time we gave prospecting PMs a little helping hand. Whether it be for a trailhead, a reach for more players or a puzzle I'm guessing it would be beneficial for a lot of people if we listed our online contact details.

It has also occured to me that some people, including me, may not be getting involved in many ARGs simply because the characters aren't interacting with them. To put it frankly, there is nothing quite like the feeling of someone basing a trailhead on you. This thread, if people reply, will also take the strain off people like HKDL and PokeKiller who seem to be constantly under attack by trailheads. So, I'm hoping I'll have a good response. Just an E-mail and an instant messenger name would be suffice.

So, if any PMs want to throw a trailhead my way, here's my details:

E-mail: Crowfoot [at] gmail [dot] com

AIM: CrowfootCornix

Question.

CodenameDuchess@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 04:24:33 +0000

Does anyone want to help me make a game? I'll give the details of it to those who are interested.

Discussions behind the curtain

Pixiestix@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 19:48:24 +0000

I have been looking for a place to have discussions that are a little farther behind the curtain. Someplace for PMs to ask questions and make suggestions that aren't just a click away from player discovery. Not finding one, I decided to do it myself and set up http://reddit.com/r/ARGMasters . It's a private subreddit so puzzle/plot discussions shouldn't show up in player Google searches.

I checked the Terms of Service and General Guidelines and didn't see anything prohibiting this kind of post. If I missed something, please let me know.

Best ways to promote an ARG?

Hunter_Omega@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 19:24:53 +0000

Me and some friends are creating an ARG. It is mainly YouTube-based, but will expand to other sites like forums and the like. The problem is, viewers aren't just going to find the channel on a random stroll through the internet. Now, some ideas I have thought of are maybe placing some cryptic in-game message in comment sections of other ARGs to decode that leads to an entrypoint within the ARG as well as hanging up in-game flyers around my city that have vertical tear-offs with an entrypoint on it (i.e. the YouTube channel or a related link). I probably will do these, but are there any other ways to make the game popular?

I need some help with a project.

SystemDoc@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 02:45:13 +0000

Greetings,

I have a project I am working on for the last year or so that has to do with time travel, as well as film making.

I just need some help with literally everything, mainly writing.

PM me for info.

Looking for some guidance from experienced PMs

Crescent@forums.unfiction.com — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 23:17:05 +0000

Hi - PM here currently running an active game. If your players aren't collectively associated as yet, (no wiki started, etc) how do you get in contact with them OOG without breaking character? I don't want to rip the curtain at all.

I'm looking for a, or several, experienced PMs here I could speak to, who are relatively active. Who can I reach out to?

I an working on a game

drake_goldwin@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 06:33:28 +0000

So I have been toying with this Idea since I saw the institute documentary. I have parts fleshed out but need Ideas to help keep it fresh.

Background
It involves me being picked by 3 different groups for recruitment due to undeveloped supernatural powers. A mysterious stranger is manipulating things to get my friends to keep my safe as well as telling them what is going on, fleshing out the story as it goes on all the while trying to keep it a secret from me to keep me safe. Till act 3 where I get involved with "Players" to flesh out the final story.

Rabbit Hole
Giving my friend a gift that cant be opened till they get a sign. inside will be a cipher key. It will be wrapped in brown paper with a Key hole drawn on it. "I got a vibe, this would be needed"

After a few days they get a Picture text from a unknown number with the Chinese symbol for divine as it looks like a key.

First Mailer
Will give them a puzzle to solve and Picture of Me (that looks like someone is taking them with out me knowing) With drawings and the first cipher on the back, a message in binary, and clues to a blog with hidden info of the back ground.

Second Mailer
Another picture of me with the second cipher message with drawings and a message hidden in a word search and "Fake" official document about recruiting me. with more background and story

Now I want to do a few more mailers as well as get them to go on a book hunt at used books stores for a coded message in the dedication. Traveling to Points to deliver Special Items to power points in the city. As well as a message hunt, to reveal more of the story and my future.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Drake

Any PMs interested in collaborating or skill trading?

Robotguy@forums.unfiction.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 20:13:54 +0000

I run a locally-based transmedia project in my city and have been working on a new iteration for the past six months, but have hit some writing hurdles and become very interested in meeting potential collaborators. I could elaborate on the project to whoever is interested, but I'm really looking to get to know some fellow creators and partner on potentially more than one project, theirs or mine.

My project is locally-based and all-ages, although I'm using many mediums and have the necessary funds and hardware, and a basis for the story fleshed out. I'm mainly having difficulty crafting an effective and captivating story, while working out some issues with scaling and integrating player-generated content to really ignite the interactive elements.

Is this the place to look? I've been on /r/ARG, but most of the ARG community in general is composed of players looking for or discussing current games. I'm interested in creators aware of transmedia and looking for ambitious and unusual projects. It's frustrating to have to explain ARGs and the ultimate potential to newcomers or green-artists, especially if they have nothing to compare the experience to. Being part of the Jejune Institute was easily one of the most confounding and wonderful experiences I've had in the realm of art, so I have no shortage of motivation in pursuing the spirit of it. I'm also within the stage of my project where some fundamental writing and conceptual ideas would be helpful, and could be done at any distance. I thought this might be the best place to start! If anyone's interested in talking more, please contact me.

Seeking Postproduction and Kick-In-The-Pants Specialist(s)

JinniaFlyer450@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 01:18:18 +0000

Call me Jin. I live in the Chicago suburbs, I'm 19, and I'm working on a Slenderman-based ARG. Sounds relatively simple, right? Well, it would be...if it weren't for two things:

A. As much as I like my project, I have motivation issues. I'd really love to actually be able to finish something I start, and I have a good feeling about this project, but I'd really appreciate having someone to talk about the project in its entirety with and to give me a good kick in the pants every once in a while when I start slowing down.

B. I don't have good editing software. It seems expensive, and I don't really know how to edit besides. If I need to, I will learn and buy something, of course, but if there were any people with some experience with video editing and software out there who would be willing to help me out, I would be forever grateful.

In return, I can offer:

A. Ideas for your project(s) if you're stuck. I've always been good at that. I love stitching up holes in plots and finding contradictions, too!

B. Scriptwriting--If you would like, I have samples of my scripts to show you if you want to see something before deciding whether or not to help me. I'm also an avid roleplayer.

C. General camaraderie/a listening ear. I love making new friends on Skype and would probably love to meet you.

PM me or comment here if you're interested in either capacity. People who wish to apply for either or both positions needed are welcome.

--Jin