unforum

[DogsHead]

it's a fair point Mikey, but as we know putting up nthe sites and pages represents a significant investment. It would be strange if the digital/virtual aspect did't play a larger part of the search...

[GuyP]

That's what I think Mikey is trying to say? That the digital-aspect *must* be relevant, otherwise they wouldn't bother making it.

Or maybe that was just how I read it.

[DogsHead]

Hmmm, yes apon re-read we are of the same mind - my appologies Mr. J!

[Incitatus]

-unrelated-

Smile... your avatar... It hurts... It Burns... it makes me go dizzy-whizzy-PassOut now...

[Mikeyj]

I had to re-read my post...but I was distinguishing between card websites and central plot websites as I see them...might just be in my head

OMG it's in my head!!!

[Leeravitz]

Have to say, now I've actually gone back and read the PM's comments on how they see the cards functioning, the implication does seem to be that they will be an adjunct to the 'official' game...so, maybe we'll see play possible at multiple levels: the card playing aspect will be one way in, following the ARG another. And I guess those who note that the revenue has to be generated somehow are also correct - selling the cards (which will, no doubt, become collectibles in their own right) is a good way of keeping the project going.

Interestingly, no - one seems to be asking what it might be that the cards would actually point to: the prototypes aren't very helpful here, because they are a) from so many different sets and b) possibly have no bearing on the actual game at all [the first thing we'll have to check is whether or not serial numbers get repeated when the official cards are released].

Will the answers when put together correctly yield another code or overall message? Are they going to offer some kind of treasure hunting map? Or is the whole points system a bit of a red herring? It's an interesting question...

Maybe the cards will have different applications: after all, one prototype led everyone to a phone number, which led to a website. But what use is it discovering that the answer to an egyptological riddle, for instance, is the name of a famous Egyptologist (probably)? Mysterious....

[GuyP]

I see what you mean - it's not immediately obvious what the in-game use of some of the puzzle solves are. Only time will tell, I guess!

I see the game like a pyramid - with the cards at the base, leading to an array of digital content, with 'hard to find' content above that, topped with The Cube.

[Leeravitz]

Yeah, could well be something 'nested' like that intended - it would be prefectly in keeping with the sense that the game has a 'basic' level, then a 'meta - level', then a 'meta - meta - level'...

which would be great, because it would mean you could get involved to a greater or lesser extent depending on time available, interest in the game etc., and yet still get something from it...

It does seem impossible right now to work out what the answers on the cards might be useful *for*: I've certainly had some thoughts, so the green card yielding A7 - might that be a grid reference of some sort - or it's A +7, maybe we'll find that all the green cards come up with an algebraic sum we have to work through to get a final answer.

Maybe in context the reference to Gardiner is an indication that we need to find a particular copy of the grammar, or maybe it's part of a code in which the word Gardener is important...

And so on...

Frankly, I think it's fine to say we've 'solved' the puzzles, but the answers we've come up with are mostly gibberish, and I find it hard to believe that all the cards will ask us to do is work out the puzzles on their own, type in the answers and get points for doing so. If you were the PM's, wouldn't you be trying to have more tricks up your sleeve than that??

This sort of thing could well make sense. It would mean that if you wanted to buy a few cards, solve a few puzzles, and gain a few points for your own entertainment you could do so...but, as with the coded message of the 333 Parcels, it would take collaborative endeavour to work out the larger picture...

On the other hand, as I said, we've already seen at least one card (the red one) lead us on a clue following trail...Surely the other cards should be yielding answers that are just as 'useful' as a coded phone - number that leads to a new website...they just seem to have given us some rather obscure details instead (many of which don't make sense - after all, if the 'answer' to Whipsmart Wordsearch is 'hello' or 'grass'...well, so what??). One possibility I can envisage is that, because the cards are prototypes, they aren't supposed to lead us to anything, but just give us a taste for what the main cards will do (in which case, maybe green card has to be treated separately from the others!). But it could be that these obscure clues will only make sense when the rest of the cards start getting released.

There could even be sneakier tricks at stake than this: do we assume that, if there is an overall card borne message, that, say, all the red cards spell out one clue when complete, all the blue cards another etc. Or could it be that there will be clues contained across card boundaries - say, piecing together all the answers to cards we know were written by Anna, regardless of colour. Or something to do with where these cards are placed in a numerical hierarchy. Or...well, you get the idea...

This could all be a good thing, of course. I rather hope that the cards will work in multiple ways once they come onto the market...

[spugmeistress]

its been mentioned a fair bit in the puzzle card threads and here too, what are the answers were getting supposed to signify?

well i dont really think theyre 'supposed' to signify anything, least not in the way of clues we should be directly looking to. for example, the answer for the vexillogy card was libya, does that mean the cube is buried there? are the thieves hiding there? no, because the scribes who made these puzzles and therefore already know the answers to them, don't know where the cube is. they cannot give us clues to the cube's whereabouts, the identity of the thief, the motive behind it etc. because they do not have this information to give, and if they did, they wouldnt be needing our help*.
the official in game stance seems to be that the puzzle cards a) give us background info (that the perplexians already know) and therefore indirect clues, in a way that would make it fun to learn about their culture. after all, not everyone can be arsed reading the sentinel every day. and b) the actual puzzles and the solving of may give us an insight to how they think, but the main point of them is to put us in a creative puzzle solving state of mind enabling us to think in new and different ways to process the indirect back ground info clues into an answer to the overall whodunit.

*tangential thought. maybe they do know where the cube is, they already said they could track it and they somehow know its on earth, so maybe they do know but they need one of us to retrieve it for them, in a kind of jafar needed aladdin to get the genies lamp for him way. hmmm... interesting conspiracy theory and would contradict what else ive just typed, but if they say the cube's whereabouts is still an unsovled mystery to them, i'll believe them for now.

rach =)

[BrianEnigma]

[Ash87]

I'm new to this whole ARG thing, but I've been trying to follow how this card thing is going to work.

The way I see it, it's not financially viable. I know PC is going to be big, but I can't see them selling enough cards to cover the costs of: the reward, adverting in the main newspapers, office space in Central London, salaries for PM's, web stuff (hosting, domain names etc), the cost of producing and distributing the cards, a profit, and whatever else they need.
For this reason I suspect that PC isn't being funded by this - on the other hand it doesn't appear (so far) that it's funded by a company for advertising. That doesn't leave many possibilities: a rich man's plaything?

Another thing to do with the cards is that I think the best way to prevent a 'gotta catch em all' scenaio would be to release a very small number of the cards - i.e such that no-one would realistically be able to buy enough packs to have them all. This would force people to co-operate in the traditional ARGy way.

That is my hat and now it is in the ring.

[DogsHead]

I like to congratulate Leeravitz for apparently reading my mind! very concise and pretty much sums up my hopes for a nested complexity (sister city of PC heh) in the game. I've been looking lately for a way to use the apparent solves as map references - I think the emphasis on "knowing perplexians" as a means to finding the cube or it's theives points to a continuing production of the map pieces on the reverse of the cards (thumbs up to Mima and POTUS). I'm intrigued by the idea from Ash87 of limiting the amount of cards...

Carry on!

[Seej]

Incidentally, if it is just a single word or something that we have to enter to get the leaderboard points then what's to stop people checking here for the solves (which, presumably, we'll be able to verify by entering them into the leaderboard ourselves) then entering the word and getting the points having done nothing other than learnt how the search function works?

Possibilities I can think of are:
1. Only the first solver gets the points, but this kinda sucks if you keep on buying packs that randomly contain puzzles that have already been solved.

2. Everyone starts keeping their solves to themselves, which sucks even more

[tanner]

i'll get no points cos although i'll buy a set or two of the cards theyll be for the community - in other words i wont send answers in

so tanner gets zero -- best place to be -- nowhere to fall

[Enigmaster]

I'll be buying the cards, trying the out, then if I get so stuck the solve is near impossible for me, I'll check the forums to see if anyone has posted a thread, or I'll start my own on the card.

Even better: The PM's could (much like the emails) include a unique ID number/code on each card therefore stopping people just cruisin the forums and picking up solves.