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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Orbital Colony » Orbital Colony: Meta/Questions
Request for player feedback from the PMs
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Slyfox
Unfettered


Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 323
Location: Manchester, UK

 		Request for player feedback from the PMs
Hi all,

First of all I'd like to thank everyone who played the game for doing so; I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did developing and running it. Next, in the name of making the next one better, I'd like to open up this thread as a place for everyone who played, lurked or ignored this game to give some feedback. The praise we've received has been nice but I want to hear about what you think did and didn't work and most importantly why. Please feel free to be as honest as you like so long as you can say why you feel that way. To give you an idea of what I'd like to know,

If you fell away during the game I'd like to know why.
If you joined late I'd like to know why.
If you thought an aspect of the game was weak or strong I'd like to know why.
If you'd have liked to have seen more or less of something I'd like to know why.

I hope you get the idea. Feel free to be as critical as you like both in a positive and negative way, I've got thick skin.

Finally, I don't plan to defend anything we did in the game within this thread and I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone. I'm doing this because I genuinely what to improve the ARGing experience from a players perspective. If you'd rather comment privately on the game then PM me and I'll pass any comments onto the PM team unless you specifically ask me not to.

OK. Fire away!
_________________
"I mean, think about it.....its on the internet, right? Therefor, it's GOT to be real!! I mean, who would use the internet to lie? That'd just be crazy!" --- StercusMaximus

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:19 am
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OrlandO
Boot


Joined: 20 May 2005
Posts: 64
Location: a lume spento

 		Player feedback
Hi! First, compliments on a game well done!
Since you asked for feedback from drop-out players, here's my 2cts.

I started out on the game but had to drop out out of necessity (moved to another country, which left me with little time and no internet for quite a while). A pity, since I had been waiting for the game to begin for a while (I even got a brochure in the mail -- thanks for taking the trouble of sending it all the way to Belgium!). After that I never really got back into the game, though, for a number of reasons. Mostly through laziness on my part, for there was a lot to read up on, but also because of some external reasons:

- What attracted me initially to OC was the SciFi aspect, which seemed to become less and less important.
- Some of the content and websites seemed to distract me from the plot, as there did not seem to be a whole lot of 'point' to some of them. I realise they functioned as back story, but I found it a little bit disappointing that there was not more 'happening' to them, if you know what I mean: it seemed a waste not to use them (http://www.wasileistation.com/ would be an example). I get the feeling that all of you had much more content lined up for this game that you had to cut out for the sake of flow?
- The endgame came as a total surprise for me, and I am sorry I missed it. Looking back it was an exemplary endgame in which everything came together: the use of different tools of communication (sound, IRC, websites and live puzzles), yet all subject to and warranted by the main story line. But from a narrative point of view, I would have preferred a bit more of a narrative arc, a build-up that prepared the players for the transition from finding the hidden caches and ribbons to the climax of the final confrontation. Perhaps it is just me, but it seemed somewhat rushed (or perhaps it was just that I was sort of getting into the game again, and then you guys ended it like that! Shucks!).

On the other hand, this is my top 3 of things I liked Smile

- the pre-game, the contest and sign-up and earlier the e-bay teasers.
- the character Stevie and the player interactions with her, perhaps the strongest point of the entire game, especially in combination with Seth and:
- Raidar and the SAIpets: a wonderful solution to the problem that a young protagonist such as Stevie poses in relation to the story and its technological backdrop.

And runners-up: the caches, the trailer, and the repairshops.gif puzzle (!!).

Hope this helps. FWIW, please bear in mind that these criticisms come from someone who lurked throughout most of the game after it began, and who may have missed or failed to pick up on a lot of stuff.
All in all I think you have done a wonderful job and I hope you will do another ARG soon.
_________________
"né che poco io vi dia da imputar sono, che quanto io posso dar, tutto vi dono."

PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:56 am
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Lysithea
Unfettered


Joined: 04 Feb 2004
Posts: 468
Location: Australia

 		I was looking forward to Orbital Colony for a long time, but in the end I didn't participate much. The simple reason for this is that the bulk of the action occurred during the wrong part of the year for me.

I intended to catch up and join in but I had some computer issues.

I tend to be biased towards puzzles anyway, but I particularly liked repairshops.gif and contact.wav because there is something to be learned from doing them. I regret that I couldn't help solve them when they were released.

The -worldwide- caches added a lot of excitement. It was fun to find out about the cache in Australia.

Well, I'd like to have seen more of the game itself. I'd definitely be interested in playing anything else that the team works on. Smile

Based on what I saw of Orbital Colony, well done to the PMs. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to participate as I had hoped and as the game deserved.
_________________
"Some people grow into their dreams instead of out of them." - Miles Vorkosigan

PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:03 am
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tom_in_bristol
Veteran


Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Posts: 71
Location: bristol, UK

 		My point of view couldn't be more positive. This was my first ARG and I loved it from when I joined (lucky 7s) onwards. Every player I spoke to went out of their way to be helpful, and the puzzles were all a real team effort (although certain people were vital in their perserverance and technical skills LOL). My only disappointment is that the ARG I have begun since OC hasn't been so well planned or fast-moving.

The idea of having the players helping Seth yet with the clues coming from an independent source (Steven) worked absolutely perfectly, although Seth did become increasingly redundant throughout the game. The fact that we could interact with IG characters (Seth, Davi, *Raidar* etc...) only increased the sense of inclusiveness.

The four caches were a fantastic touch which I realise might not have been so easy to arrange, especially over three continents! We were however a bit baffled by the difference in levels of detail of the clues in each of the cases - the US ones were specific, the others less so. Perhaps this is an indication of how much some of us (i.e. me) had to wise up when looking for them.

The only down side (fairly trivial i know) might have been typos in the ribbons, FLYHGGH, and a couple of others but they never distracted us from the solves. I also have to admire the patience of the PMs during certain drawn-out, torturous solves which went ond for FAR too long Smile

I do agree with the post above when it mentions about the wasilei station site, it would have been great if it updated during the game, but I recognise the effort that went in to it initialy to make it actually very genuine!

Bring on OC2... you would honestly get serious donations if you fancied it... Wink


Tom
Cool

PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:03 pm
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