unforum

[JohnLockeGuy]

The Finale

[Nightmare Tony]

You have to work hard. On my last game (still technically in progress), main pm left and I had to solo the bugger for a month. Drove me mad, cause I lost my gf at the same time. One of the other pms helped close it out sucessfully, so phase 1 is complete until the next phase. Doing recruiting for the next phase which is huge, so hard work as always.

Hard work and commitment is trhe secret to keeping it going.

[FLmutant]

Just personally, I think the "keep it from imploding" is good organization, a flexible team and hard work ... but endings are an interesting question.

Part of endings is wanting the stories we tell to be satisfying to an audience: that's really a narrative design task, to make sure that the work feels to the audience like it was worth the investment of their time. You've got a few thousand years of literature and drama as examples to draw inspiration from.

The other part I think is a more open field: experience design. What should the experience of the ending be? Do you "save your best stuff" (in terms of interactive or immersive features) to build an experiential climax? Do you increase or decrease the sense of urgency in collaboration? Do you plan on having your biggest audience at the end of the story?

For the later, you've got about a decade of interactive work to draw inspiration from ... which means it is far more experimental, and each person's project and thinking adds alot more to the collective whole of learning about satisfying experience design

[Nightmare Tony]

End experience IMHO would definitely be more geared to closing the end of the story, IF the story was to close at that point, unless you leave it open for sequels. On the one I mentioned, there was a decision involved killing off the hero but that was changed and actually affected the writing for the main game brunt since the hero of the pregame was not supposed to be anywhere near the main game. what happened is the players identified with the hero much more than anticipated. And in a situation like in Colin's Synagoga, we simply couldnt find the heart to kill off someone who was cared for and friended by good people.

the bonus is that the players the first time round will have a special role when the main show begins which also affects the dynamics of the original storyline. It will make it that much more interesting and meaningful to all concerned when the time comes.

Storyline is really everything. And if the events of the past help write then ending, then it becomes a much better thing, a true interactive storytelling.

[AtionSong]

[Nightmare Tony]

The players may also go completely out into left field and do what you dont expect, so be ready for anything

[Jas0n]

HAHA - with Ny Takma we had quite a few options with the conclusion, and due to various time schedules - half of the PM staff didn't even know how exactly it was ending when it ended. We just went with the "natural" conclusion led by the players...

now I would say I wish we would have had the opportunity to develop something for the players to have a final puzzle - etc... but the ending was like I said, natural. My thing is just make sure everything, especially the conclusion fits into the story and is explainable

[JohnLockeGuy]

Also, I think it's important that the finale ties up any loose mysteries from the game.

For example, in F!PR the players had some information that was loosely connected to the story (ie Red24). In the finale, where the main character was going through the building, she went into the skyscraper's elevator and needed to know which button to push, because she was running out of time. Of course, she needed floor 24 whose button was red. Also it tied up a lot of mysteries and made the supernatural element of the game (most notably the silver garden) seem like it was fake-y.

Anyway, if the players are left with major questions, then the finale didn't do its job.

[Nightmare Tony]

Closure is needed. They will have some questions for the psot game chat, of course. So many details on things...

[krystyn]

Sometimes some story elements never get 'closure.' It's very possible (and, arguably, more immersive) to have loose ends the players will never get a concrete answer to, intensifying the idea that the alternate reality keeps spinning along like our own, even though the game has ended.

[AtionSong]

[sixsidedsquare]

One ARG that used the 'leaving loose ends to keep with the universe' thing really well was VaporLofts. Initially it did seem many of the players felt lost, unsure what had happened at the end and if it was indeed over, but I have to say it was one of the more interesting ARGs I've followed. I know I came to see the ending was perfect for how the ARG played out, but of course it only worked for that reason, most ARGs ending how it did wouldn't really work well at all.

I myself though, am much more a fan of the big blowout at the end, a huge (preferably player involved) climax that the whole game has been building to. Chasing the Wish 2 and Orbital Colony to name a few, did this well using live chats. Something else I think is good (that others may not) is there being some indication to players that the big climactic point is going to be coming at some specific time, no matter how that climax plays out.

A different kind of ending that I also liked was how Avelon concluded. Without going into specifics, one of the main characters had a week left to live (even with a countdown ) and we players had a final puzzle to solve relating to something from early in the game to save him. Earlier we did have a few 'climactic' points, which did involve live chats too (seems a common theme) such as an escape from the 'evil company' building and the ensuing chase, but the actual finale as it were was just everyone trying to solve this last thing with the impending doom that was looming if we didn't solve it.

So one thing I personally like with a finale is letting the players know that it is coming, as well as making players involved (or at least give them the illusion that they are ). Each specific games ending does depend on how the game itself has played out, but you can see common themes among how ARGs of the past have ended and how these endings were received by the players.

[konamouse]

Last Call Poker had a great ending. We were prepared with the grand finale poker table, the last movie with Lucy riding off into the sunset in her Mustang....but then to have her show up at the last live poker event with a final message from Lucky? Man, was that an ending!

[krystyn]

I wish I could read your spoiler, Ation. I've got the last book in my backpack, and so maybe I can take a crack at it today.

There can be a fine line between frustration and immersion, of course!

I'm just sayin' - sometimes there isn't an obvious sense of closure for every single thread because (if the ARG has done its job), the sense of this alternate universe continuing on should persevere even though we've stopped playing.

Of course, all bets are off if the endgame includes a complete and total destruction of each and every aspect of the alternate world.

Life itself is a pretty messy thing. IMO, it's actually a bit odd to demand that an ARG be the total opposite of that.