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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Orbital Colony » Orbital Colony: General/Updates

Postgame PM Chat

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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?

Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

Just a reminder, Chat will be in just over an hour from now.

_________________
Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 6:45 pm

Giskard
Sassypants

Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 2066
Location: Chicago

Ok, here's the log for the moderated session of tonight's PM chat. I'll be finetuning and cleaning it up along the way...

Quote:

[01:00] <Giskard> ok right, it's time to start!
[01:01] <Giskard> welcome to the Orbital Colony PM Chat all! Smile

[01:01] <Giskard> the channel will remain moderated throughout the chat, afterwards, you'll have the opportunity to chat freely with any of the PMs that want to stay on
[01:01] <Giskard> in a minute, you can send me a PM with your question[01:03] <Giskard> first, i'd like to give the PMs a chance to introduce themselves
[01:03] <Giskard> but not before...
[01:03] <Giskard> i've officially welcomed them to the channels Smile

[01:03] <White_Knight> thanks man
[01:04] * varin waves
[01:04] <Flynn> thankyou
[01:04] <qbkooky> Smile

[01:04] <Giskard> there are 8 PMs present, and as you know, they are from 6 different timezones! many thanks for being here tonight folks~!
[01:04] * slyfox waves hello
[01:04] * jchillerup waves
[01:04] * colin waves
[01:04] <Giskard> would you like to have a quick word Magesteff?
[01:04] <varin> (9 PMs)
[01:04] <varin> Razz

[01:04] <Giskard> oops, 9 Smile

[01:04] <Giskard> in the meantime, players can start PMing me their questions!
[01:05] <jchillerup> "PM"ing
[01:05] <jchillerup> (ok, that was a bad pun)
[01:05] <varin> all questions must be in the form of a puzzle
[01:05] <Magesteff> Hi gang. First off I want to say a big thank you to the people who were waiting 2 years after we started putting this together. Your the best!
[01:05] <varin> and thanks to the long list of PMs who training off and on with us!
[01:05] <Magesteff> We had a lot of people involved in the very beginning
[01:05] <White_Knight> heaps
[01:06] <jchillerup> tons
[01:06] <bagsbee> loads
[01:06] <varin> 40?
[01:06] <jchillerup> bunches
[01:06] <jchillerup> 500
[01:06] <Flynn> lotsandlotsandlots
[01:06] <varin> hehe
[01:06] <jchillerup> Smile

[01:06] <White_Knight> i think 40 was closer
[01:07] <Flynn> I also want to say thanks to everyone who played - it was a blast
[01:07] <Magesteff> a few of the people you wont see here currently that had a big influence on the storyline - Sunny DuPree - her father passed away somewhere during the end of the first year.
[01:07] <Magesteff> But the main protagonist being a child was her idea
[01:07] <White_Knight> which was brillian
[01:07] <White_Knight> t
[01:07] <varin> *nod*
[01:08] <Flynn> *nod*
[01:08] * slyfox agrees
[01:08] <jchillerup> *nod*
[01:08] <Magesteff> Angela - who gave us the twins and set up Cassandra's character
[01:09] <bagsbee> there were...numerous rewrites of the story Smile

[01:09] <jchillerup> Three main versions
[01:09] <jchillerup> With different twist
[01:09] <jchillerup> s
[01:09] <slyfox> and rewrites of rewrites
[01:09] <varin> it took almost a year to get the story done, I think
[01:09] <Magesteff> Mos who gave us the inflated Leon, which Sly took over and ran with
[01:10] <Magesteff> And just for the record, we did have over 400 registrations to Name that ROck
[01:10] <jchillerup> Yeah
[01:10] <White_Knight> well shall we do self intoductions and get to the questions?
[01:10] <Magesteff> and the person who won was not a PM
[01:10] <bagsbee> yeah there were a lot of people who added bits and pieces of the story
[01:10] <varin> I think it hit 500+ at the end of the game
[01:11] <Magesteff> Who wants to be next
[01:11] * varin checks
[01:11] <bagsbee> 529, but a few of those are us Smile

[01:11] <varin> yeah, about 500
[01:11] <varin> hehe
[01:11] <Giskard> right
[01:11] <Magesteff> yeah about 7 are Bagsbee
[01:11] <Magesteff> :0
[01:11] <qbkooky> I guess I'll go?
[01:11] <Giskard> shall we start with the questions? we'll probably get to stuff like this during them?
[01:11] <qbkooky> works for me Smile

[01:12] <colin> yeah shoot
[01:12] <jchillerup> yup
[01:12] <Giskard> ok, first up is kaitwospirit
[01:12] <White_Knight> yeah cool
[01:12] <White_Knight> hey kai
[01:12] <Flynn> hi
[01:12] <kaitwospirit> what exactly was Igor doing? I feel stupid, but I never figured out his evil plans.
[01:13] <Magesteff> Smile

[01:13] <Magesteff> Igor well first he duped NASA into paying him for coming up with an asteroid deflection plan
[01:13] <Magesteff> then he stole the asteroid
[01:13] <Magesteff> and used it as the station
[01:14] <Magesteff> Steven knew he was responsible for that
[01:14] <Magesteff> it was a simple case of blackmailing Steven
[01:14] <Magesteff> to toe the company line
[01:14] <Giskard> do you want to flup kaitwospirit?
[01:14] <White_Knight> he also set up the murder of peter veldinski when he found out what he was doing with money that was syphoned from the orbicon research funds (its all implied and hinted at in the memos)
[01:14] <Magesteff> at the end he was planning to use the tourists as guiney pigs
[01:15] <Magesteff> OK my spelling sucks
[01:15] <varin> Razz

[01:15] <kaitwospirit> no, I got it
[01:15] <jchillerup> Guinea Pigs, I think Smile

[01:15] <White_Knight> cool
[01:15] <varin> he was a very bad man ;P
[01:15] <White_Knight> yeah not nice
[01:15] <bagsbee> evil genius, one might say
[01:15] <Giskard> ok, thanks kaitwo!
[01:15] <Flynn> mwahahaha
[01:15] <Magesteff> His ethics and morals were a bit twisted
[01:15] <Giskard> caspian_x is next
[01:15] * varin puts her pinky up to her lip
[01:15] <slyfox> No! just missunderstood
[01:16] * caspian_x waves to all the pms
[01:16] <White_Knight> hey caps
[01:16] <jchillerup> Hi
[01:16] * Flynn waves
[01:16] * qbkooky waves
[01:16] <varin> hiya caspian_x
[01:16] <caspian_x> like everyone else here, i first wish to congratulate all the PMs and BTS people on a very fun game and thank them for creating such an enjoyable and memorable experience.
[01:16] <caspian_x> My question is about your ARG experience prior to becoming PMs. In general, how long had you been playing ARGs and/or how many had you played before attempting the PM/BTS work?
[01:16] <jchillerup> Thanks.
[01:16] <White_Knight> .....3 years i think
[01:16] <jchillerup> As for me, I started out lurking MU.
[01:16] <White_Knight> a long time!
[01:16] <White_Knight> yeah same
[01:16] <Magesteff> We have a wide range of experience in Playing
[01:16] <varin> I've been playing since Push Nevada and Chasing the WIsh
[01:16] <colin> Project Mu (metacortechs) was my first
[01:16] <qbkooky> I joined the community after reading the Guide from the Beast
[01:17] <Magesteff> I started with Chaing the Wish in 2003
[01:17] <Flynn> mine sums up as played Mu, got into this, disappeared, came back just after it started
[01:17] <White_Knight> project MU was i think a BIG insperation for alot of us
[01:17] <Flynn> yep, definiteley
[01:17] <jchillerup> Agreed.
[01:17] <White_Knight> probably my fav game so far
[01:17] <jchillerup> Thanks imbri Smile

[01:17] <Magesteff> I played Chasing the wish, Acheron, started playing ILB...
[01:17] <bagsbee> Metacortechs here too
[01:18] <slyfox> I joined UF at the end of Archeron(?). Followed up on the training thread. Played Aware. About 2 weeks playig experience before I started
[01:18] <White_Knight> but besides MU i played archeron, ILB, LCP, UrbanHunt....and theres a few others there too
[01:18] <Flynn> I haven't played anything since MU
[01:19] <bagsbee> then the last half of Acheron
[01:19] <Magesteff> As far as BTS/PM work, when this started most of us had very very little experience
[01:19] <bagsbee> so, 1.5 ARGs and I though I was an expert Razz

[01:19] <jchillerup> Actually, I haven't played any ARG.. I know it sounds strange, but I've lurked _a lot_.
[01:19] <Magesteff> lol
[01:19] <bagsbee> expert enough to PM
[01:19] <bagsbee> boy oh boy
[01:19] <qbkooky> (and I played Strange Dreams and a little PerplexCity!)
[01:19] <varin> I had no PM experience before we started, but joined the Omnifam team while doing this.
[01:19] <Flynn> heh, 0.7 for me
[01:19] <qbkooky> (oh and Omnifam!)
[01:19] <White_Knight> but i have to say that on the running side of big games. i organised and ran alot of large scale live action roleplaying games and have GM'd since i was like 11
[01:19] <varin> hehe
[01:19] <varin> thanks Bill Smile

[01:19] <Giskard> would you like to flup caspian_x?
[01:19] <Bill> Smile

[01:19] <caspian_x> sure
[01:20] <caspian_x> any tips for somewhat new players looking to try PMing someday? things to keep in mind while playing and gaining experience?
[01:20] <Magesteff> GET HELP
[01:20] <varin> haha
[01:20] <Flynn> yep
[01:20] <White_Knight> hehehe
[01:20] <varin> professional help
[01:20] <Flynn> lots of it
[01:20] <Magesteff> Get lots and lots of hel[
[01:20] <caspian_x> hahaha
[01:20] <varin> Razz

[01:20] <White_Knight> dont be to quick to get into PMing
[01:20] <jchillerup> Yeah.. Make sure you're team is very verbatim.
[01:20] <Flynn> and however much time you think you'll need, double it
[01:20] <Magesteff> No we could have used another 3 or 4 people helping with the game
[01:20] <jchillerup> err.. wrong term.. Versatile
[01:20] <varin> definitely, we were short handed during the live run of the game
[01:20] <qbkooky> If you can, don't spearhead something on your own - help out BTS and stuff (BTS on games that actually finish! Razz

), and once you see how much crazy!work it is, THEN decide to try it.
[01:21] <slyfox> Get a good team together. Don't over reach
[01:21] <Magesteff> Running a game takes 2 or 3 times what it does to be an active player
[01:21] <colin> pay attention to thing like the game structure; don't worry about things like websites, that can be done easily enough
[01:21] <Flynn> we learned a lot of lessons - can you tell Razz

[01:21] <Giskard> ok thanks you!
[01:21] <White_Knight> yeah watch out for real life....we had ALOT of that get in the way....muggings, cancer, movings, exams, work, deaths, births in some cases
[01:21] <varin> make sure you have extremely tough skin
[01:21] <slyfox> Try not to have a job, family, life etc
[01:21] * varin shuts up
[01:21] <Giskard> impressively broad answer Smile

[01:21] <Giskard> thanks caspian_x! Ciaran is up next!
[01:22] <caspian_x> Smile

thanks for all the informative answers
[01:22] <jchillerup> It's like coding.. Take the time you think it'll take to code it - multiply it by 4
[01:22] <varin> hi Ciaran
[01:22] <White_Knight> i dont think we could sum all the lessons up
[01:22] <Ciaran> Hi all. Smile

[01:22] <White_Knight> hey ciaran
[01:22] <Flynn> hi Ciaran
[01:22] <jchillerup> Hi Ciaran
[01:22] <Magesteff> We do have a thread for them over at Varin.org
[01:22] <jchillerup> Yes.
[01:22] <varin> We'll be opening that up to the public soon, btw
[01:22] <varin> (after we deleted email addresses and passwords and things)
[01:23] <jchillerup> Yeah.. You guys will have acecss to all our draft plots
[01:23] * Magesteff sets up the imbripole for bagsbee
[01:23] <Giskard> ciaran, the floor is yours Smile

[01:23] <Ciaran> I didn't actually play OC, although I'm interested in being a PM for an ARG, so I'll probably have a few questions during the night, but my first one is: What was the basic storyline of OC? I didn't follow along so it's harder for me to follow what people say.
[01:23] <Ciaran> Giskard: I know, I was typing Smile

[01:23] * White_Knight sighs
[01:23] <White_Knight> wizard of oz meets ransom
[01:23] <jchillerup> Where to begin, where to begin..
[01:23] <Flynn> hard to sum up really
[01:23] <Ciaran> Sorry. I did look in the forums first.
[01:23] <qbkooky> well there's this asteroid, right?
[01:24] <Flynn> the best bet is to take a look at varin.org, once we open it up
[01:24] <varin> and these little microrobots dug it out Smile

[01:24] <White_Knight> and throw a little of lassie or benji in there
[01:24] <varin> yeah, we'll have a full plot walkthrough probably up tonite
[01:24] <bags> yeah I'd kind of like to know as well, there were parts *I* couldn't follow Smile

[01:24] <Ciaran> Razz

[01:24] <varin> LOL
[01:24] <Magesteff> It boiled down to a basic line of a kidnapped man and the search to rescue him
[01:24] <qbkooky> try this: colony built in dug-out orbiting asteroid, scientist goes missing, evil boss, cute daughter, puzzles, crazy-religions, twins?!?!
[01:25] <Flynn> it changed a lot - there is much stuff on the cutting room floor
[01:25] <varin> LOL!
[01:25] <Flynn> hehe
[01:25] <jchillerup> Indeed, Flynn..
[01:25] <slyfox> I'm not sure we know fully either
[01:25] <jchillerup> Lots of plot twists that could be interesting to see "live".
[01:25] <White_Knight> pretty much bad man kidnaps girls daddy and her uncle and dog track him down....oh and a love story in there too
[01:25] <Magesteff> There is the background stuff and then the storyline
[01:25] <varin> We had to let go of a great deal
[01:25] <Giskard> i think that making public your "production notes" will be of great value to all the budding PMs out there... we are all looking forward to it
[01:26] <Magesteff> it is difficult for us to separate because some of the background information was necessary to the story
[01:26] <jchillerup> You should see the different plot lines we have..
[01:26] <Giskard> do you want to flup on this question Ciaran?
[01:26] <slyfox> A whole plot line about cloning
[01:26] <White_Knight> yeah or move it around....origanaly stevie was supposed to be sick...but we moved that to cassandra
[01:26] <Ciaran> Giskard: Yes! That would be awesome.
[01:26] <Ciaran> Er, not on the flup, though.
[01:26] <jchillerup> I remember reading them in class, not listening to the teacher Smile

[01:26] <Giskard> ok, see you back later on a next question then Smile

[01:26] <Giskard> next up is AmberJoy
[01:26] <Magesteff> Lets just say we had about 4 or 5 storylines that we played with and still had to cut a lot out of the end product
[01:27] <AmberJoy> In retrospect, do you wish you would have done any of the puzzles differently? If so, what were they and why?
[01:27] * Magesteff looks at the others
[01:28] * White_Knight sits back
[01:28] * jchillerup looks at Magesteff
[01:28] <Flynn> hmmm
[01:28] <White_Knight> i didn't realy do any of the puzzles
[01:28] <varin> We did a bit of experimenting on the puzzles
[01:28] <jchillerup> PussleMazterz?
[01:28] <White_Knight> i was strictly content and fluff
[01:28] <colin> I think we should have made more mistakes in the puzzles to make it harder Very Happy

[01:28] <varin> Some worked well and others definitely didn't
[01:28] <Flynn> lol
[01:28] <slyfox> what suprised me was the puzzle youe spend days over is solved in hours while the quicky hold people up for days.
[01:28] <White_Knight> oh but i do know one that we would have done differantly
[01:28] <varin> We wanted to make the characters involved somehow with the puzzles
[01:28] <qbkooky> Numbers on the back of the cache photos: I'm sorry "ordering them" was just putting 2, 6, 8, 9, 10 in order. the other pictures from the wallgreens were just my personal photos :[
[01:28] <White_Knight> hey varin tell the password story
[01:29] <White_Knight> Smile

[01:29] <bags> the puzzle trail took longer than expected I think
[01:29] <Flynn> yes
[01:29] <varin> which sort of backfired in a way
[01:29] <Magesteff> We were expecting to be done before christmas
[01:29] <Magesteff> Smile

[01:29] <varin> We had certain puzzles where you had to contact Seth or Stevie and that made things harder on us
[01:30] <varin> we wanted it to be more than just a "puzzle trail", but it ended up giving us a bunch more work to do Razz

[01:30] <jchillerup> But, IMHO, it was well worth it.
[01:30] <Magesteff> We wanted there to be a little something for everyone - the puzzlers and the people who thrive on character interactions
[01:30] <varin> exactly
[01:30] <AmberJoy> *nod*
[01:30] <slyfox> It also left us a bit stuck as to why Seth could do any of te puzzles himself.
[01:30] <varin> we wanted the interaction people to have to work at the puzzles too
[01:31] <White_Knight> there was actualy a puzzle in one of the newsletters that we actual forgot was there...or we knew it was there we'd just forgoten it was a puzzle and that caused a big panic
[01:31] <White_Knight> Smile

[01:31] <varin> hehe, ok password story?
[01:31] * Magesteff has to apologize for making the Lucky Asteroid Rot 7 puzzle harder
[01:31] <White_Knight> yay
[01:31] <Flynn> go for it Wink

[01:32] <White_Knight> this was the biggest panic session we had i think...besides the end game
[01:32] <varin> as I was putting up Steven's puzzle trail there was an error made on my part
[01:32] <varin> I had deleted the puzzles, but not the password to *one* of the puzzle pages
[01:32] <varin> Delusional figured out that password and gained early access to the trail
[01:32] <Magesteff> *nod*
[01:32] <varin> (before the puzzles were up)
[01:32] <varin> PANIC!
[01:32] * Joins: delusional696 (~fook@2470642c.31478372.res.rr.com)
[01:32] <slyfox> at the wrong point
[01:33] <varin> haha speak of the devil
[01:33] <Magesteff> Speaking of whom
[01:33] <Magesteff> LOL
[01:33] <White_Knight> speak of the...
[01:33] <Flynn> heh
[01:33] <White_Knight> hey delusional
[01:33] <bags> nice
[01:33] <varin> so Igor sent him a nice gift in the mail to thank him for not spilling the beans
[01:33] <AmberJoy> which was?
[01:33] <varin> hopefully, it arrived... I never saw it posted on UF
[01:34] <AmberJoy> flup?
[01:34] <jchillerup> lol.. I remember talking to delusional696
[01:34] <Giskard> ok, thanks for sharing the story Smile

delusional will probably have the opportunity to tell about his side of the story later Smile

[01:34] <Giskard> AmberJoy, flup?
[01:34] <AmberJoy> What was your favorite puzzle and why?
[01:34] <jchillerup> I was a bit rude, because I was panicing.. Sorry delusional696 - nice find
[01:34] <varin> total panic
[01:35] <Flynn> mine was contact1976
[01:35] <White_Knight> fav puzzle
[01:35] <Magesteff> But delusional is a prince
[01:35] <jchillerup> The Static puzzle.
[01:35] <Flynn> pure genius
[01:35] <White_Knight> hmmm...
[01:35] <varin> static puzzle
[01:35] <qbkooky> My favorite was the static puzzle too Smile

[01:35] <jchillerup> Because it was so... odd.
[01:35] <qbkooky> because if it were me I NEVER would've solved it Smile

[01:35] * Flynn hates the static puzzle, it made his eyes hurt
[01:35] <White_Knight> yeah static
[01:35] <Giskard> ok then
[01:35] <bags> mine too Smile

[01:35] <Giskard> thanks AmberJoy!
[01:35] <slyfox> not sure
[01:35] <AmberJoy> thank you all
[01:35] <Magesteff> Mine was the first one that Lisa ANne sent to Stevie!
[01:36] <varin> although I'm personally fond of the Hmong language puzzle
[01:36] <Magesteff> It's Lisa's fault that Raidar got a voice!
[01:36] <Giskard> next up is Dionysus
[01:36] * Magesteff pats teh_lisa on the back
[01:36] <Dionysus> Ok first of all.. THANK YOU. his was my first non-Majestic ARG and I learned a dton and it got me through my post-Americrops depression.
[01:36] <bags> thanks Dio Smile

[01:37] <jchillerup> Flattered Smile

[01:37] <Flynn> thankyou Smile

[01:37] <Magesteff> Smile

[01:37] <White_Knight> thanks
[01:37] <varin> thanks Smile

[01:37] <Dionysus> Now, my question.. Are you now or have you ever been a commu-Wait.. wrong notes *shuffles papers* With regards to the stoey.. at the end it mentioned that Bronco did somethign to Keith Gulliver.. however I never foudn any reference to him dissappearing, unlike Jonathan Reinhardt who vanished early one and I developed a mild obssession with.. so what happened with Keith?
[01:37] <White_Knight> i think this is for sly
[01:37] <Magesteff> It was fun watching the 15 minutes of swearing after the release of the Cassandra picture
[01:37] <slyfox> Keith started off as a very different character
[01:37] <Magesteff> *nod*
[01:38] <slyfox> As I recall, in one draft he was killed by Igor who them tried to frame Steven for the murder.
[01:38] <Magesteff> *nod*
[01:38] <White_Knight> yeah
[01:38] <slyfox> this plot, like many other hit the cutting room floor but Keith lived on.
[01:39] <slyfox> So sort of as a tribute to him I guess he appeared as a minor character
[01:39] <Giskard> would you like to flup on this question Dio?
[01:39] <Dionysus> Sure..
[01:40] <Magesteff> Believe it or not we had a lot of background info worked out
[01:40] <Magesteff> that you never really saw as players
[01:40] <slyfox> tons and tons
[01:40] <White_Knight> yeah heaps
[01:40] <varin> down to the names of Bronco's various pets
[01:40] <Dionysus> Jonathan Reinhardt. Whatever happened to him? Did he really just 'quit'? Was there no mystery and I just beign paranoid?
[01:40] <Magesteff> but we did have a solid base we were working with
[01:41] <varin> he was "let go" after the hacking
[01:41] <varin> or well maybe he was
[01:41] <varin> we left it up to you to decide and spec about ;P
[01:41] <White_Knight> ah the hacking....my best work Razz

[01:41] <Magesteff> Someone had to fall on his sword after the CARTS hacking
[01:41] <bags> evil, evil PMs
[01:41] <varin> btw, the hacking was one of my favorite parts Smile

[01:42] <Magesteff> OH, yeah and the small child talking in that sound clip
[01:42] <Magesteff> It was varin's daughter saying "Igor Bronco"
[01:42] <Giskard> right, thanks Dio! he'll be back with more q's Smile

[01:42] <White_Knight> i was afraid i'd put too many NZ referances in and they'd suspect me
[01:42] <Magesteff> we threw it in on a whim at the last second
[01:42] <Giskard> next up is Ofiuco
[01:43] <Ofiuco> Hey guys! Obligatory congrats here. This was my first ARG, and I am very impressed.
[01:43] <Flynn> Smile

[01:44] <jchillerup> Smile

[01:44] <jchillerup> :------------)
[01:44] <bags> thanks, glad you enjoyed it Smile

[01:44] <Ofiuco> My question is: so, as PMs-in-training, what do you think were the most important lessons you learned from running OC--that is a horrendously long nose.
[01:44] <Magesteff> Thank you.
[01:44] <slyfox> Very Happy

[01:44] <jchillerup> Don't lie to people.
[01:44] * bags thwaps jchillerup
[01:44] <bags> make sure you have the time to devote to it
[01:44] <colin> ummm..never run an ARG
[01:44] <varin> Set limits on yourself. There is always something that needs to be done.
[01:45] <qbkooky> Lesson: simple--- proofread proofread proofread. then proofread it again.
[01:45] <jchillerup> Yeah.. Proofplay, Proofplay, Proofplay, Proofplay
[01:45] <White_Knight> dont work with an ozzie Razz

nah....probably work with a team you trust
[01:45] <colin> seriuosly, I think project amngament is one huge thing that was missing for us, and i think someone should have that as more or less there sole task
[01:45] <jchillerup> say that 10 times in a row Smile

[01:45] <Magesteff> and always test the puzzles in as many different browsers as possible
[01:45] <bags> oh and always check you WHOIS :/
[01:45] <varin> LOL
[01:45] <jchillerup> Heh
[01:45] <bags> your
[01:45] <Magesteff> listen to your team mates
[01:45] <Flynn> cross platform is a good thing, and allow LOTS of time
[01:46] <jchillerup> My real life address is on the whois of theinept.net
[01:46] <Magesteff> you can disagree with your team but every angle needs to be looked at
[01:46] <Flynn> and have a good team, that works well together and can take criticism
[01:46] <varin> there were things that we proofread 2 and 3 times that slipped through with errors
[01:46] <slyfox> Don't over reach, make sure you have the time, get a proofreader. Be prepared to question everything
[01:46] <Magesteff> because it is better if a team mate looks at it and pulls it apart before a player does
[01:46] * slyfox agrees
[01:46] <varin> I second Magesteff's there
[01:46] <Magesteff> and remember to make time for sleep
[01:47] <Flynn> and thirded here
[01:47] <White_Knight> ok shall we move along
[01:47] <Magesteff> I think the first week we collectively had like 3 hours a night
[01:47] <slyfox> Develope thick skin quickly.
[01:47] <Giskard> ok, flup for you Ofiuco?
[01:47] <varin> I think we could easily write the 101 things not to do as a PM Razz

[01:48] <Magesteff> Just like every PM
[01:48] <Magesteff> Wink

[01:48] <slyfox> and I'll have a lot more respect for other PMs having crossed the curtain myself
[01:48] <Giskard> ok, well, Ofiuco will be back later too i think Smile

[01:48] <Ofiuco> It seemed like you guys had a lot of characters and not all of them were 'active', so to speak -- so what would you say is most important in managing such a large cast?
[01:48] <Flynn> definitely
[01:48] <Giskard> ah
[01:49] <White_Knight> hmmm
[01:49] <varin> you should have a PM to play each character, at least
[01:49] <Magesteff> Not being so in love with a character that it can't end up on the cutting room floor if needed
[01:49] * slyfox agrees with varin
[01:49] <varin> we had to "let go" quite a few characters because we couldn't handle the workload
[01:49] <jchillerup|> Damn.. I pung out
[01:49] <jchillerup|> I had some things to say
[01:49] <Magesteff> Even with the ones left it was still darned hard to manage them all
[01:49] <jchillerup|> jchillerup My real life address is on the whois of theinept.net
[01:49] <Flynn> a small core of active characters, and be happy to leave the rest as background
[01:49] <jchillerup|> jchillerup I remember being so tired when registering the domain, and I knew my IRL info would be on the WHOIS, but I thought "to hell with it - let them send me a postcard" and pressed "Purchase"
[01:49] <jchillerup|> jchillerup Haven't received any postcards yet...
[01:49] <slyfox> We lost a whole ground station
[01:49] <jchillerup|> jchillerup Oh.. And DON'T DIE! We had LOONG breaks with no action at all.. Rather discuss things with people and settle on weeks-off, instead of just idling away.
[01:50] <bags> moving right along...
[01:50] <White_Knight> yeah diffinatly...focus on a few and have the rest as backround
[01:51] <Giskard> ok, thanks Ofiuco! next up is teh_lisa!
[01:51] <teh_lisa> first off you guys all rock, thanks for a totally awesome game
[01:51] * Flynn is feeling loved up tonight - I love you all!
[01:51] <teh_lisa> so we know that there were 500+ people registered for name that rock. about how many active players were there throughout?
[01:52] <bags> hi lisa Smile

[01:52] <bags> hard to say
[01:52] <White_Knight> i realy couldn't say...there were like 15 i kept my eye on but there was more than that
[01:52] <jchillerup|> I don't think we had any fancy-pancy web statistics system
[01:52] <jchillerup|> But we sure didn't beat MU, damnit
[01:53] <varin> we had a few hundred unique visitors on each site, but that's not really an exact science
[01:53] <slyfox> Some were really active at first then fell away. As a PM I'd love to know why.
[01:53] <slyfox> Other's join part way through
[01:53] <Giskard> i think, judging by the huge list of q's, we've gotta move on a little faster, so no flups from now i guess Neutral

[01:53] <Giskard> next up is markzpot!
[01:53] <teh_lisa> ok Smile

[01:54] <Magesteff> I'd say there were maybe 25 or 30 "Active players"
[01:54] <Magesteff> and a number of lurkers
[01:54] <MarkZpot> Ok, as the rest I'd like to thank you all for a wonderful ARG, I loved everything except for the fact that I missed the whole ending.
[01:54] <White_Knight> so did i
[01:54] <jchillerup|> We're sorry Smile

[01:54] <jchillerup|> IN fact, I did that too
[01:54] <Magesteff> And we loved the Techno remix!
[01:55] <MarkZpot> My question is.. Was the script pre-determined from start to ending? ...jwm mx hxd twxf sdbc qxf raarcjcrwp cqjc VBW-vnbbnwpna bvrunh rb!?
[01:55] <jchillerup|> I slept over all my alarms and stuff, I'd set up
[01:55] <jchillerup|> rot13
[01:55] <MarkZpot> 9
[01:55] <White_Knight> sorta...the script ebbed and flowed a bit throughout and some bits wern't finalised till they went out. We were always refining stuff and adding stuff.
[01:55] <jchillerup|> But I guess that's a general thing
[01:55] <varin> There were a few crossroads too
[01:55] <Magesteff> We had a definite story arc we were following
[01:55] <colin> I think the simple answer to that is 'yes'
[01:55] <MarkZpot> Ok, thanks!
[01:56] <Magesteff> and an idea about the end, but nothing scripted until a couple of weeks before we did end.
[01:56] <White_Knight> yeah the main story line was finalised about a year before we started the actual game
[01:56] <varin> One of the first crossroads was at the beginning of the game, actually.

_________________
"They never tell you truth is subjective, they only tell you not to lie." -- Gary Jules

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 10:10 pm
Last edited by Giskard on Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:16 pm; edited 4 times in total

Giskard
Sassypants

Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 2066
Location: Chicago

Quote:

[01:57] <colin> shoot caspian_x
[01:57] <Magesteff> :p
[01:57] <caspian_x> hi again, i have to leave soon but before i wanted to ask: Can you describe any special planning that went into placing the evidence caches and ensuring they were found by the players?
[01:57] <Magesteff> We had PM's in those areas
[01:57] * jchillerup| looks at the Americans
[01:57] <qbkooky> simple as that.
[01:57] <slyfox> Yup
[01:57] <White_Knight> thats about it
[01:57] <varin> And they never moved and they were there the whole time
[01:57] <qbkooky> as far as ensuring they be found
[01:58] <colin> i checked to make sure there was players in melbourne
[01:58] <colin> but that was it
[01:58] <jchillerup|> We DID plan on having a cache here in Denmark..
[01:58] <qbkooky> we build in the two levels - the poem clues and then the pictures, so if you missed the poems, raidar's pictures would help
[01:58] <jchillerup|> I had pneumonia at that time, so that was kindda cancelled.
[01:58] <Magesteff> JC you had pneumonia at the time
[01:58] <Flynn> bristol was placed after we knew tom was active, because at the time he was the only active uk player we knew about
[01:58] * Magesteff pats JC
[01:58] <jchillerup|> Smile

[01:58] <varin> go Bristol!
[01:58] <Flynn> Very Happy

[01:58] <White_Knight> and we thought about one down here but theres only like 3 players down her inclueding me
[01:58] <Flynn> plus it was handy for the trip to the parents for xmas
[01:58] <Flynn> Wink

[01:59] <jchillerup|> There was one Dane signing up for NTR
[01:59] <Magesteff> and Miss_caro wasn't very active
[01:59] <White_Knight> next question
[01:59] <caspian_x> ok then, thanks again for everything!
[01:59] <jchillerup|> He wasn't active, though Sad

[01:59] <bags> yeah sorry if we're rushing through or not answering questions fully, there's a lot of them to get through...most of us'll be around for awhile tonight though
[01:59] <Giskard> next up is Ciaran!
[02:00] <Ciaran> Hi all.
[02:00] <Flynn> hi
[02:00] <Ciaran> My question is: How was the game organised? Being initially a PM-training ARG, I'm curious as to whether the group had any experienced PMs in it to "teach" the others, or whether it was all played by ear, as it were. Did anyone have ideas on how to put it all together?
[02:00] <jchillerup|> Hi.
[02:00] * varin hides
[02:00] <White_Knight> i'll take this one
[02:00] <Magesteff> Bill was our mentor, as was Spacebass
[02:00] <jchillerup|> We did have some professional PMs watching us.
[02:00] <White_Knight> varin had a bit of experiance to....but thats about it
[02:00] <jchillerup|> Magesteff BTS'd Acheron
[02:00] <jchillerup|> Didn't you?
[02:00] <White_Knight> realy?
[02:01] <Magesteff> I had done a little BTS work
[02:01] <Magesteff> I did one bit of evidence for Acheron, and I was Melody Heller for Aware 1
[02:01] <Magesteff> but the Melody thing was after I had committed to doing this
[02:01] <Magesteff> this was much harder
[02:01] <bags> none of us had any PM experience, really
[02:02] <Magesteff> because I was one of the lead PMs
[02:02] * Ciaran nods.
[02:02] <Magesteff> OK I guess I should clarify my answer...
[02:02] <bags> I talked with a few former PMs for advice and such, especially imbri
[02:02] <Magesteff> Smile

[02:03] <Magesteff> yeah we did ask for loads of advice
[02:03] <bags> and there was a point when things were sort of at a standstill, and I dragged Bill in, kicking and screaming
[02:03] <Ciaran> So I guess having at least one experienced PM as a mentor is a good idea.
[02:03] <varin> definitely, Ciaran
[02:03] <Flynn> yes
[02:03] <Magesteff> Ciaran, there are always experienced PMs around
[02:03] <Giskard> ok, i think we should be moving on Smile

[02:03] <Giskard> thanks Ciaran!
[02:04] <Ciaran> Okay. Thanks!
[02:04] <Magesteff> Next?
[02:04] <Giskard> rogi is up next (and here's a dedicated player, his name is even based on OC! Smile

[02:04] <Rogi> Great job, All.
[02:04] <jchillerup|> THanks
[02:04] <Magesteff> Smile

[02:04] <Rogi> Was there any significance to the length or colors of ribbons.ink or the second item included?
[02:04] <Rogi> It felt like there were timing issues around the repairshops puzzle, what was the intended solve path as related to it?
[02:04] <Rogi> Ah, Both fired at once.
[02:05] <Magesteff> Color of the ribbons - no significance
[02:05] <Magesteff> the "highlighting" on the saipets site one was because originally there were case sensetive letters in the password
[02:05] <Magesteff> sensitive
[02:06] <Magesteff> which varin fixed before that ribbon was decoded
[02:06] <varin> hehe, and then I fixed my fix which didn't need to be fixed
[02:06] <Magesteff> me looks at Flynn for repairshops
[02:07] <Rogi> And on Repairshops, It seemed we were having an "order" problem.
[02:07] * Flynn is still cross eyed
[02:07] <varin> we expected you to get all of the frames once you got the first
[02:07] <Flynn> there was a *ahem* issue with the repairshops puzzle
[02:07] <varin> but ummm you didn't
[02:07] <Rogi> But "OCSPACE" confused me.
[02:07] <Magesteff> You solved the locations based on the poems.
[02:08] <Magesteff> OCSPACE was to open the dogbot
[02:08] <Magesteff> Raidar
[02:08] <Flynn> it caused some panic, because frame 2 was broken
[02:08] <Magesteff> Always double check your puzzles before they go out the door.
[02:08] <Flynn> I spent hours fixing it by hand Sad

[02:08] <varin> triple check
[02:08] <jchillerup|> Proofplay, Proofplay, Proofplay
[02:08] <Giskard> thans rogi!
[02:09] * bags whistles innocently
[02:09] <Magesteff> next!
[02:09] <Giskard> next up is grumpyboy
[02:09] * Magesteff pats bags on the back
[02:09] * grumpyboy beats Flynn over the head with a bat
[02:09] <jchillerup|> That's not nice.
[02:09] <grumpyboy> that's all
[02:09] <grumpyboy> kidding!
[02:09] <jchillerup|> Wink

[02:09] <Flynn> hehe
[02:09] <grumpyboy> from a game stand point, i realize u can't have a character (Seth) solving all the puzzles. otherwise it wouldn't be any fun for us.
[02:10] <Magesteff> ok...
[02:10] <grumpyboy> but at what point (bcos players are stuck even after being beaten over the head with many hints) would u actually have Seth "solve" a puzzle?
[02:10] <varin> waiiit, Flynn gets hit for static?
[02:10] * varin points at bagsbee
[02:10] * jchillerup| watches bagsbee whistling
[02:10] * grumpyboy beats bagsbee as well
[02:10] <Magesteff> Should they hit Anyone for static since it got a few of the more hard core puzzle people involved?
[02:11] <grumpyboy> i'm kidding, it was awesome Smile

[02:11] <Magesteff> Seth was busy interviewing station personnel
[02:11] <Flynn> re having a character do a solve, we did have Causepoet send Seth the solve to lucky
[02:11] <Flynn> ironically just before Shelina got it
[02:11] <Magesteff> *nod*
[02:12] <Flynn> which is why we credited Shelina as mailing before CP
[02:12] <Magesteff> since she sent the solution
[02:12] <Magesteff> Smile

[02:12] <Flynn> also, if you hadn't got the final tile slide puzzle then Seth would have solved it
[02:12] <Giskard> thanks grumpyboy!
[02:12] <Giskard> next up is Mapmaker
[02:12] <grumpyboy> thx
[02:12] <Mapmaker> Quickly, thanks & congrats. Anyway: OK, I give up. What do cases RE24921 and TE65785 refer to?
[02:13] <varin> ok, I'll take that one
[02:13] <jchillerup|> Ooooh
[02:13] <varin> When I was making the cases up for Seth's site I wanted to stick a little easter egg in there
[02:13] <varin> and a few nods to args/puzzles of the past.
[02:14] <varin> Months later, when I went back to proof it before going live even *I* couldn't figure out those two.
[02:14] <Mapmaker> hahaha
[02:14] <varin> They both refer to ARGS, but I don't know which...
[02:14] <varin> the dates should be the finale dates
[02:15] <jchillerup|> haha
[02:15] <varin> so I guess it will go on as a mystery of OC
[02:15] <jchillerup|> I love it
[02:15] <Mapmaker> fair'nuff
[02:15] <Giskard> White_Knight, you wanted to comment on this?
[02:16] <White_Knight> on the subject of easter eggs we actualy had alot more in the game, refering to things that gave us insperation, but alot of them were removed due to it becomeing too cheesy. but if you look carefully you can find referances and illusions to many books.
[02:16] <varin> oh!
[02:16] <Magesteff> *nod*
[02:16] <varin> And some of the characters listed in the newsletters were easter eggs too
[02:17] <Flynn> and there are a couple more in the arrivals log
[02:17] <White_Knight> and there were also clues to our identies
[02:17] <Magesteff> Scarpe was an homage to Scrappy Doo
[02:17] <Magesteff> Scarpegrosse on UF forums
[02:17] <varin> there was a nod to jamesi and spacebass in there somewhere
[02:17] <Magesteff> and others
[02:18] <qbkooky> also one quick note speaking of easter eggs: The "Maldives Ground Base" photo IS actually the structure near the Milwaukee Art Museum where the cache was, but the reason the photo got in was because of the pre-released computer-generated photos from earlier
[02:18] <qbkooky> it just so happened the source images from the "promo ground base pics" were actually preview images from the new wing to the Milwaukee Art Museum
[02:18] <qbkooky> and so it was meant to be more of an easteregg than a Kloo. apologies. k, next ? Smile

[02:18] <Giskard> right, thanks for those little looks BTC... we'll probably see more when the forums are opened to the public Smile

[02:18] <Magesteff> It was a big construction project by the water.
[02:19] <Giskard> next up is Dionysus
[02:19] <Magesteff> ok NExt?
[02:19] <Dionysus> Besides the CausePoet and password debacles... did we, the players, do anything you really didnt expect? If so how did you cope?
[02:19] <varin> We expected you to email Steven...
[02:19] <varin> it was one of the crossroads early on...
[02:19] <Magesteff> No one really e-mailed the characters early
[02:19] <varin> If you had gained his trust, Seth would have asked you for help right away
[02:19] <jchillerup|> *cough* webmasterSPLATorbiconcorp.com *cough*
[02:20] <jchillerup|> But that wasn't very in-game..
[02:20] <jchillerup|> People were very eager to get access to the Intranet.
[02:20] <varin> we were actually shocked that no one emailed Martha when her email was made public in pregame
[02:20] <Magesteff> even when it became clear you had an e-mail address for Martha Crappert very few actually mailed her
[02:20] <varin> but that's why we created the penpal program, to give you guys a little push Razz

[02:21] <Magesteff> and even that failed
[02:21] <Magesteff> O_O
[02:21] <varin> well, it picked up after that Smile

[02:21] <White_Knight> next
[02:21] <Giskard> thanks for that dio!
[02:21] <Giskard> next up is Ofiuco
[02:21] <Magesteff> Oh and we expected at least one person to rat out stevie on the ribbons
[02:21] <varin> omg, yes
[02:22] <Magesteff> and no one did
[02:22] <Ofiuco> Okay, so, question on everyone's minds: why is Cordelia pregnant in all her pictures?
[02:22] <varin> lol
[02:22] <jchillerup|> Well...
[02:22] * Magesteff looks at Varin
[02:22] <jchillerup|> varin?
[02:22] <varin> two words Stock Photos
[02:22] <varin> actually we had a few that were non-pregnant, but she looked really really bad in them.
[02:23] <Ofiuco> 'this is me at 2 AM after the Christmas party'?
[02:23] <varin> Very Happy

[02:24] <Ofiuco> (that's it for me Very Happy

)
[02:24] <Giskard> right, thanks!
[02:24] <bags> ok so has the convo moved over to #orbital? Very Happy

[02:24] <Giskard> next up is AmberJoy
[02:24] <AmberJoy> I'm sorry for not thanking and complimenting you last turn. (tired kids here)
[02:24] <Magesteff> We were surprised that no one tried to find where we got our photos from as they have as part of the meta on other games
[02:25] <AmberJoy> How difficult was it to coordinate with the real life companies that gave you info on the technologies that were relevant to the story, and did any of those people follow along with the game?
[02:25] <AmberJoy> i.e. Lift Port and the guys who made Raidar
[02:25] <jchillerup|> Liftport did.
[02:25] <Magesteff> Not very ...
[02:25] <bags> surprisingly easy
[02:25] <Magesteff> We contacted them both and got permission to use their ideas and the Roboscience guys were willing to let us use the pictures
[02:26] <Magesteff> They were very supportive of the idea
[02:26] <White_Knight> Pat Rawlings (who is an animator for nasa) and Roboscience were EXTREAMLY helpful....i just emailed them and asked if i could use their stuff and explained it was for a game and they just emailed back saying sure. Pat even sent me some stuff that wasn't publicly avalible to use and Roboscience sent me high def versions of their photos. Fantastic guys
[02:26] <colin> i think when there is no money involed it's a lot easier
[02:26] <bags> little tip to future PMs: companies will help you if you ask, it's free publicity for them
[02:27] <White_Knight> espechly small companies
[02:27] <Magesteff> Liftport was glad to have people taking an interest. They just had one request - not to kill the station/have a ribbon failure
[02:27] <AmberJoy> Did any of them take a look at the game at all?
[02:27] <varin> hehe, which would be bad publicity Smile

[02:27] <Magesteff> Liftport did
[02:27] <Magesteff> they even posted to the forum once I think
[02:27] <Magesteff> early on
[02:27] <White_Knight> I'm not sure about Pat and Roboscience....i'd have to email them and find out
[02:28] <AmberJoy> Liftport posted? o.O
[02:28] <Magesteff> Once
[02:28] <Magesteff> pre-pre-game
[02:28] <AmberJoy> oh ok
[02:28] <AmberJoy> thank you again!!
[02:28] <Magesteff> ok next
[02:28] <bags> next?
[02:28] <Giskard> ok, next up a question from someone not here to ask it themselves: "i would like to know if there where a lot of things that didn't get used and maybe an example. for instance i remember the search bar on PBTE and never using it for anything."
[02:28] <qbkooky> I think a lot of things (as we've said already) ended up on the cutting room floor because of time / capabilities. The search bar was built into the system running the site... since we didn't think Leon would necessarily be an HTML master Smile

[02:29] <White_Knight> I know for one that i have alot of stuff lying around in my folders on my computer....but i wont give examples as they still may get used for a future game Wink

[02:29] <Magesteff> there was a LOT that ended up getting cut due to time and lack of people to help run those aspects.
[02:30] <qbkooky> I think that cover it. Smile

Next?
[02:30] <Giskard> ok, next up is old_man, but as he is idle at this moment, i'll ask his question
[02:30] <Magesteff> Thanks for asking
[02:30] <Giskard> "<old_man> When creating the storyline, did you write it all out first before thinking of where to put in puzzles or did you form some parts of the stories because you thought it'd be cool to have such and such puzzle in the game?"
[02:31] <slyfox> We had a few puzzles early on from the brain stroming sessions
[02:31] <slyfox> they got worked into the story line at that point
[02:31] <slyfox> the ribbons were early on
[02:31] <slyfox> though they appeared at the end of teh game.
[02:32] <slyfox> As we've said stuff got cut
[02:32] <Magesteff> One of Sunny's ideas
[02:32] <slyfox> but alot of the puzzles we came up with close to launch
[02:32] <slyfox> does that answer your question?
[02:33] <Giskard> well, probably, but as he is still idle, i'll just assume it does Smile

[02:33] <Magesteff> The puzzle trail was specifically built for the backstory
[02:33] <Giskard> next up is Dionysus again!
[02:33] <White_Knight> cool next
[02:33] <slyfox> The TTY was late, the slide puzzle was early.
[02:33] <Dionysus> Im just full o questions...
[02:33] <Dionysus> Was there a way for the players to 'lose'? Like if we didnt manage to crack that last puzzle in time during EndGame?
[02:34] <Flynn> short answer is no - you couldn't lose this one
[02:34] <Flynn> if you'd really taken ages over the tile puzzle Seth would have got it
[02:34] <Flynn> but it might not be so easy next time Wink

...
[02:35] <Magesteff> We built this with a specific happy ending
[02:35] <colin> next!
[02:35] <Magesteff> we didn't want to kill anyone
[02:36] <Magesteff> Giskard?
[02:37] <Giskard> yeah, sorry Smile

[02:37] <varin> lol
[02:37] <Giskard> was coordinating the last questions, as of now, the queue is closed
[02:37] <Magesteff> ok
[02:37] <Giskard> please keep any remaining question untill after the moderated session, or ask them on the forums
[02:37] <Magesteff> A few of us will be hanging around after
[02:37] <Giskard> mapmaker is next!
[02:37] <White_Knight> i will
[02:37] <Mapmaker> Another really specific question - is the photo of the Orbtanical Aquaculture (http://www.wasileistation.com/orbtanical/orbtanicalimg/aquaculture.jpg) area from The Land pavillion at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center? I think I recognize it...
[02:37] <varin> I'll take that one since I took the shot Smile

[02:37] <Magesteff> Smile

[02:38] <varin> my husband was completely embarassed on our vacation to Disney because I kept saying 'OMG, that looks like a space station... OMG that looks like the gardens... OMG..."
[02:38] <Magesteff> lol
[02:38] <varin> so yes to answer your question Smile

[02:38] <Mapmaker> haha
[02:38] <Mapmaker> ok
[02:38] <Giskard> thanks Smile

[02:39] <jchillerup|> Smile

[02:39] <Giskard> next up is Ciaran
[02:39] <Magesteff> Tell Creepo we love him for putting up with us for so long
[02:39] <Ciaran> Hi again, and sorry for coming up so often ;p
[02:39] <Ciaran> Having been through the experience yourselves, how would you suggest that another training ARG should start getting going, if another one was to start? I'm kind of interested in doing one, y'see. Smile

Not sure if it's too soon though.
[02:39] <jchillerup|> I'd say GO FOR IT
[02:39] <Flynn> but don't announce it
[02:39] <Flynn> Wink

[02:39] <varin> go for it, but don't annou...
[02:39] <Ciaran> Whoops. Wink

[02:39] <varin> lol
[02:39] <Flynn> heh
[02:40] <varin> it creates more stress when you know people are waiting Wink

[02:40] <jchillerup|> But there is much more work behind an arg than you might think
[02:40] <colin> define the size of the project, and stick to it
[02:40] <Magesteff> and find some plaec to have a private space that is protected
[02:40] <Ciaran> Okay, so how would you get going? If you're not announcing it a forum thread to get PMs obviously isn't good.
[02:40] <colin> OC kept getting bigger and bigger
[02:40] <jchillerup|> Yes, it's good, Ciaran, but don't announce the game.
[02:40] <jchillerup|> Just let people PM you, and keep quiet when you've got a team
[02:40] <varin> or more specifically don't announce when it "might" launch
[02:40] <Ciaran> Oh, right.
[02:40] <colin> i'd announce on UF but then do the development privately
[02:40] <Magesteff> We announced the background in public
[02:41] <Ciaran> I'll do a search on the forum thread in a bit after the chat.
[02:41] <jchillerup|> And be sure to get one of each type of PM
[02:41] <Magesteff> but then discovered we had to hide the developement process until we were done running the game
[02:41] <jchillerup|> Get a versatile crew.
[02:41] <varin> OC definitely grew beyond a "training ARG"
[02:41] <jchillerup|> Yes
[02:41] <varin> although we were definitely trained
[02:41] <Flynn> yep
[02:41] <White_Knight> it swelled out of control
[02:41] <jchillerup|> And another thing.. I thought it was nice to work with people from around the globe.
[02:41] <Flynn> but we had some very good guidance
[02:41] <Magesteff> Learn how to cut early and cut often
[02:42] <bags> yeah for me, the notion of a training ARG sort of went out the window once we were going full steam
[02:42] <jchillerup|> Be sure to have some EU'ers and, possibly, NZ'ers along
[02:42] <White_Knight> and maybe an ozzie
[02:42] <Magesteff> We had a few ideas we wanted to prove anyone could do
[02:42] <colin> ok, next
[02:42] <Magesteff> one was including people in other areas of the globe
[02:42] <bags> and it drove. me. crazy. that we had a meta site and everyone was looking at us
[02:42] <Magesteff> which I think we managed to do
[02:42] <jchillerup|> Definitely
[02:43] <Ciaran> Thanks. Very Happy

I'll bear all that in mind.
[02:43] <jchillerup|> My English's improved a lot Smile

[02:43] <Giskard> right, thanks again Ciaran!
[02:43] <Giskard> next up is Rogi
[02:43] <Rogi> Thanks.
[02:43] <Rogi> There was an animation, early on, that had some circular "artifacts" flying through it. Was there anything to that?
[02:44] <Magesteff> The PDA
[02:44] <Magesteff> for Wasilei staion you mean?
[02:45] <White_Knight> we're just figureing out who to blame....one sec
[02:45] <Rogi> The one we called UFO's, I think.
[02:45] <White_Knight> Razz

[02:45] <colin> Well, I don't know of any artifacts i meant to put in there...
[02:45] <Magesteff> I think he means the red dot
[02:45] <varin> hehe, the infamous red dot
[02:45] <Magesteff> that didn't belong to a website
[02:45] <colin> the red dot was just to make it interesting
[02:45] <Rogi> Not the PDA.
[02:45] <White_Knight> no i know the one he's talking about....
[02:45] <Rogi> A pre-game animation.
[02:45] <varin> ohhhhh
[02:46] <White_Knight> the slightly differant black colored dots
[02:46] <Magesteff> The dog biscuit?
[02:46] <varin> that was just a part of the background image I used
[02:46] <White_Knight> and the answer is....no...they didn't mean anything
[02:46] <Rogi> Thanks.
[02:46] <Rogi> All done.
[02:46] <Magesteff> Next
[02:46] <Giskard> ok
[02:47] <Giskard> next up is tominbristol
[02:47] * Magesteff hugs Tom
[02:47] * Flynn thanks Tom for finding the cache
[02:47] <tominbristol> lol.... my pleasure... it really was!
[02:48] <bags> hi tom Smile

[02:48] <Magesteff> Your question please!
[02:48] <tominbristol> i would love to know if all the six drops were set up as soon as repairshops.gif was uncovered, if they were set up at the same time as each other and whether they were monitered whilst we tragically (in some cases!) failed to find them. And were we always supposed to need the ribbons to complete!
[02:48] <qbkooky> the coordination of the cache's was tricky because different PM's in different areas, and with different levels of involvement. Ultimately, several caches were placed earlier on in the puzzle trail, other's as close as the weekend before. As far as needing the ribbons: each PM wrote their own Poem to locate the caches... so depending on the clarity of the poems, the ribbons may have been necessary
[02:49] * qbkooky doesn't really type THAT fast
[02:49] <varin> lol
[02:49] <Magesteff> We had the caches in place before repairshops went live
[02:49] <qbkooky> and we monitored them via the forums - anything more than that.... ?
[02:49] <qbkooky> yeah.
[02:49] <varin> I went back to my cache once
[02:49] <varin> the morning that Lisa went
[02:49] <Flynn> in terms of Bristol (cos it's the one I did) it was place on Xmas Eve, and never visited afterwards
[02:49] <colin> the melbourne cache was planted before christmas
[02:49] <tominbristol> I loved the way the game spread its arms and encompassed the whole globe... Smile

[02:49] <Magesteff> the ribbons were to lead you to the files with the pictures to help you locate the caches that was pre-planned
[02:49] <varin> just to make sure it was still there since she was driving so far (I live a few miles away)
[02:50] <Flynn> for the poems, I left that to others for mine as I'm not too creative that way...
[02:50] <tominbristol> ....and Flynn you are fantastic! was very well done.
[02:50] <Magesteff> I did the rough draft on a couple that everyone helped clean up and make look pretty
[02:50] <tominbristol> Thanks guys!! A lot of people are missign a great deal now OC is over. Smile

[02:50] <Flynn> heh, I thought I'd either hidden it too well, or someone else had found it
[02:51] <Giskard> ok, thanks for that
[02:51] <Magesteff> It is always a chance that a non player will find stuff that isn't handed over directly
[02:51] <Giskard> here comes the final question, which is related to the above
[02:51] <Giskard> go ahead lisa Smile

[02:51] <teh_lisa> ok
[02:52] <teh_lisa> very quickly, was there really a chicago cache?
[02:52] * Magesteff hugs Lisa Anne
[02:52] <Magesteff> No
[02:52] <teh_lisa> ok Smile

[02:52] * teh_lisa hugs mage
[02:52] <varin> ;P
[02:52] <Magesteff> but you guys seemed to think there was
[02:52] <teh_lisa> yepo
[02:52] <Magesteff> so we added it
[02:52] <Magesteff> Smile

[02:52] <Flynn> ;P
[02:52] <Magesteff> Lisa, and thank you for sending that first puzzle to Stevie
[02:52] <teh_lisa> hey no problem Smile

[02:52] <Magesteff> it made for a lot of flavor to the game
[02:53] <teh_lisa> thank all of you for a super wonderful experience
[02:53] <varin> and if you look really hard in one of the CHicago pics you can see Creepy McComa Razz

[02:53] <teh_lisa> something i know none of us will forget
[02:53] <Magesteff> Thank you all for being such super players
[02:53] <jchillerup|> Yeah, seconded
[02:53] <varin> thirded!
[02:53] <Giskard> ok, that concludes the moderated session
[02:53] <Magesteff> Yep.
[02:53] <Flynn> You were great, thankyou Very Happy

[02:53] <Giskard> i would like to thank all players for participating, and all PMs for being so patient Smile

[02:53] <slyfox> thank Giskard
[02:53] <MarkZpot> Thank YOU!
[02:53] <Flynn> thanks Gisk
[02:54] <jchillerup|> Giskard, had your word?
[02:54] <Magesteff> Markzpot we loved the techno remix, just loved it
[02:54] <Giskard> any questions you might still had, please ask them now (until you've made all the PMs raving made and have them leave:) or post them to unFiction
[02:54] <White_Knight> I'd just like to take a second before we close to thank Giskard for being the mod for this chat
[02:54] * qbkooky applauds gisk
[02:54] <Giskard> any last words from the PMs before we unlock the channel?
[02:54] <varin> thanks Giskard!
[02:54] <Magesteff> Thanks Giskard
[02:54] <jchillerup|> The chan is still +m, btw
[02:54] * Flynn joins in
[02:54] <jchillerup|> Thank you, players, for playing
[02:54] <qbkooky> is anyone gonna ask about "FLYHGGH"?
[02:54] <Flynn> just... Thanks!
[02:54] <varin> *snicker*
[02:54] <bags> THANK YOU PLAYERS, MUCH LOVE
[02:54] <Giskard> hehm thanks guys... on my behalf, moderating (and playing) OC and this chat was a lot of fun!
[02:54] <jchillerup|> Send me postcards Smile

[02:54] <Magesteff> not while the channel is +m
[02:54] <varin> Seriously, this wouldn't have been a success without you
[02:55] <slyfox> thanks for turning up.
[02:55] <jchillerup|> Make my family proud
[02:55] * jchillerup| lives with his parents...
[02:55] <colin> ok un-moderate
[02:55] * jchillerup| sets mode: -m
[02:55] * colin hides

Color Legend:
bags, red
colin, green
Flynn, darkred
jchillerup, blue
Magesteff, darkred
qbkooky, darkblue
slyfox, red
varin, green
White_Knight, blue
Player's questions in bold

If anyone is interested in the log of the chat afterwards, it's too big and cluttered (and way too late for me Wink

) to clean it all up by hand, but let me know and I'll send it to you.

_________________
"They never tell you truth is subjective, they only tell you not to lie." -- Gary Jules

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 10:18 pm

ahecht
Veteran

Joined: 23 Oct 2004
Posts: 130
Location: Wilton, NH

Thanks for that transcript -- I'm sorry now that I missed it live.

BTW, you might want to edit delusional696's Join line.

_________________
ILB: Lt. Luzer
LCP: ahecht
VP: ahecht
NIN: 24.24.2.106

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:06 pm

Giskard
Sassypants

Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 2066
Location: Chicago

ahecht wrote:

BTW, you might want to edit delusional696's Join line.

I left it in intentionally, as he was the subject of discussion at that time and his joining caused some hilarity Smile

_________________
"They never tell you truth is subjective, they only tell you not to lie." -- Gary Jules

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:12 am

MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?

Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

Giskard wrote:

ahecht wrote:

BTW, you might want to edit delusional696's Join line.

I left it in intentionally, as he was the subject of discussion at that time and his joining caused some hilarity Smile

What increases that is that I had talked to him earlier and he was afraid he would forget...

_________________
Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:55 pm

Delusional
Entrenched

Joined: 16 May 2005
Posts: 839

MageSteff wrote:

Giskard wrote:

ahecht wrote:

BTW, you might want to edit delusional696's Join line.

I left it in intentionally, as he was the subject of discussion at that time and his joining caused some hilarity Smile

What increases that is that I had talked to him earlier and he was afraid he would forget...

Yes, and I almost did forget. It was about 6:30(central) and I literally said "oh shit, the Orbital-colony chat is going on!" Razz

.
And ahecht may or may not have been talking about the four letter word in my join line(I never even realized it was there).

Anyways I want to say thanks to all the PM's for the x-mas card and the plate, It was very nice and really unnecessary of you guys/gals to do that.
Thanks! Oh and Varin, I never posted about it because I didn't want to have to explain why they where sent to me.

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:37 pm

Shelina
Unfettered

Joined: 03 Apr 2003
Posts: 552
Location: Madrid, Spain

Quote:

02:10] <Magesteff> Should they hit Anyone for static since it got a few of the more hard core puzzle people involved?
[02:11] <Magesteff> Seth was busy interviewing station personnel
[02:11] <Flynn> re having a character do a solve, we did have Causepoet send Seth the solve to lucky
[02:11] <Flynn> ironically just before Shelina got it
[02:11] <Magesteff> *nod*
[02:12] <Flynn> which is why we credited Shelina as mailing before CP
[02:12] <Magesteff> since she sent the solution

I just wanted to thank you all for your hard work, I've enjoyed a lot this game Very Happy

And thank you very much for the ribbon!! I didnt expect to receive anything, actually, so it was a nice surprise Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:13 am

Giskard
Sassypants

Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 2066
Location: Chicago

delusional696 wrote:

And ahecht may or may not have been talking about the four letter word in my join line(I never even realized it was there)

Umm, ah, right... yeah, that was not left in intentionally, thanks Smile

_________________
"They never tell you truth is subjective, they only tell you not to lie." -- Gary Jules

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:17 pm

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