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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[UPDATE] Perplex City Stories delayed until June
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AtionSong
Unfettered


Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 352

 		[UPDATE] Perplex City Stories delayed until June
Okay, I'll just cut right to the point.

I subscribe to Mind Candy's videos on YouTube, and I noticed that the PXC Stories intro vid had been reposted. I watched it to see if there were any changes. Alas there were. Watch for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmv1Dz7fqQ

In the end of the video, it said June 2007 instead of April...

Worried, I headed to http://www.perplexcitystories.com/, but to my horror, it also announced a June 2007 release.

The one piece of good news: We now have a blog of MC developers to read as the date approaches. (Read it here: http://blog.perplexcitystories.com/)

Adrian has the first post:
Adrian Hon wrote:

Yes, it's June
Unfortunately the first post on this blog will be a disappointing one: Yes, we are delaying the launch of Perplex City Stories to June.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, as often happens with developing brand new bits of technology, unforeseen problems crop up. Creating an engine that will run a replayable ARG for tens of thousands of people in parallel is quite tricky, and we want to spend the time to get it right.

Secondly, we want to build in plenty of time for testing. That includes load-testing (because we don't want our servers to crash or even slow down if ten thousand people begin playing simultaneously) and playtesting (because the gameplay is a little different from what's been done before, and we want to see how players cope with it). Testing has traditionally been a foreign concept to ARGs, and we want to bring it back.

All of this means that we'll be spending a couple more months to make sure everything works fine. The good news is that we're making steady progress - the websites are looking great, the interface is exceptionally slick and writing is tight. Perplex City Stories is really shaping up to be a unique experience that really kicks things up a notch - it's just going to take a little more time getting to you.


In conclusion:
Cursing Shocked Silly Bang Head Censored

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:18 pm
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poozle
Entrenched

Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 1090

 		This might be bad news but...... YAY I'll be able to pass my exams before it starts now Laughing

Anyway, thanks for letting us know, I wouldn't have noticed that until someone told me.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:24 pm
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Balinor
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Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 10
Quote:
Creating an engine that will run a replayable ARG for tens of thousands of people in parallel is quite tricky


Creating an engine for an ARG? I am interested in seeing what that means. When I think of gaming engines, I think of creating a environment in which characters can explore and run around (and shoot things). What does that mean for an ARG? Will the "environment" be limited by the engine? Does that mean the scripts are already in place, which might imply a much more linear story than S1?

I am still optimistic about S2 and can't wait. However, non-linear or even quasi-linear story lines coupled with live action video makes me think of the old Clue VHS game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3022

*Balinor shudders uncontrollablly.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:53 pm
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cmlobue
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Joined: 06 Sep 2006
Posts: 112

 		Maybe it's because I write video game reviews on the side, but when I hear about engine and replayable, I think of something like Receda's Revenge 3: The Revenge of the Revenge. Get your own convoluted death anytime you want!

I'm disappointed by this, but I would much, much rather have the ARG working and late than buggy and on time.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:21 pm
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Balinor
Boot

Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 10

 		For those are interested in hearing Adrian's comments on the delay, check out Perplexorum.

http://perplexorum.com/showthread.php?t=1466

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:22 pm
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Guin
Unfettered


Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 400
Location: Antartica

 		It sounds quite a departure from the typically bandied concept of an ARG - almost like the A and R have been dropped and we will simply have a Game.

It is a shame we will have to wait so long to see the story unfold - in the meantime someones been murdered and we theres a new sign on the door saying "URGENT HELP NEEDED TO SOLVE A MURDER - oh but not just yet please come back in a few months (when the murderer has skipped the country and set up home in some offshore safehaven!)"

perhaps harsh but tis a shame
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:52 pm
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foxie123
Kilroy

Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Posts: 1
Location: London, UK

 		'Tis a shame indeed.... I feel very disappointed and I could go on for hours about the ins and outs of it, but, I intend to hang on in there and see what the future holds....

For now........


Sad

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:58 pm
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GasparLewis
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Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 474
Location: vicinty of NYC

 		I'm bummed about having to wait another 2 months, but I do have a reasonable qualm:

Why hype it so early if you're not going to be ready? Honestly, I'd prefer it if the whole season was sprung on us; all quiet... intermittent calm... sporadic peacetime blog posts from the gang... then... BOOM! ACTION! GO!

And, clearly, the cards are not integral in any way this time around, or else the syncing would be stepped up, instead of shooting off the cards as a placation of our desire to get on with it.

I still love me some PXC, but this, combined with a fair deal of silly little glitches, typos and things on We Love Puzzles, I would've been more satisfied with a total drop than feeling like a guinea pig.

It's just... Confused ... you know?

PostPosted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:29 pm
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jonc
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Joined: 04 Jul 2006
Posts: 144

 		Why oh why did MC push so hard for S1 to finish if they hadn't even got S2 ready?

I'm thinking that all the things that made S1 exciting , always having in the back of your mind that you could find the cube, integration with the cards, will be missing from S2.

I wasn't happy about the way that MC pushed for the big finale in the first place, but presumed that they had another series ready to go. Instead, they just had more cards to sell....

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:18 am
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Sophiecat
Decorated

Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 171
Location: North East UK
jonc wrote:
Why oh why did MC push so hard for S1 to finish if they hadn't even got S2 ready?

I'm thinking that all the things that made S1 exciting , always having in the back of your mind that you could find the cube, integration with the cards, will be missing from S2.

I wasn't happy about the way that MC pushed for the big finale in the first place, but presumed that they had another series ready to go. Instead, they just had more cards to sell....


Agreed, I don't know how much longer I'll be around. This may just be the final straw. Sad
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:41 am
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Rotek
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Joined: 17 Feb 2007
Posts: 26
Location: Bournemouth, UK

 		It's indeed a shame, but when you consider the reasons for why they've delayed it...

Basically, I just think MC want to avoid the shambles that was the opening night of S2: server crashes, slow running, up and down like a yo-yo...

It'll be worth it. And like poozle, now it (hopefully) won't affect any of my exams!

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:52 am
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rdknight
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Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Petaluma, CA

 		For folks wondering what it means for an ARG to feature an 'engine', the old EA game Majestic comes to mind. It was basically a front-end interface that combined some of the engine-based activities in PXC (Receda's Revenge and the like) with a video player and other stuff. I don't think that kind of 'shell' was totally necessary, but it helped justify the $45 price tag, so that people didn't think they paid for a game and bought a web browser.

Another aspect of the engine could just be data maintenance and player tracking. For instance, say a player reaches a given point in the 'story' by finding the right spot on a website and clicking a button. The engine will then know to send an e-mail five minutes afterwards to that specific player in order to advance the story. If the player appears to be floundering, the engine might send a hint (Majestic did this to an insulting degree). There's also the prospect of playing a Receda's Revenge minigame halfway through and saving your progress if real life interrupts.

The biggest effect of a change like this, I'd say, is on the concept of TINAG. It's harder to feel that you're caught up in a narrative if the narrative is willing to wait for you. Nonetheless, receiving an e-mail, IM or phone call from Majestic was often an electrifying experience, knocking me out of TIAG more than once.

Adrian has stated that TINAG is overrated (and I'm inclined to agree, unless it's deliberately designed to interrupt real life, instead of sought out with a cup of tea after a day at work) so perhaps he's comfortable with the Majestic route.

But this is all speculation, honestly. I know nothing, except the fact that I'm excited and willing to dive in as soon as things start up.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:35 am
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Bigred0427
Greenhorn

Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 3
Location: Hamden CT, USA

 		Perplex City Season 2 has been delayed.
Shocked NOOOOO!

Ohh and your Grandma died.
Shocked NOOOOO!


((Shes not really dead))

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:48 pm
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rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 4117
Quote:
Why oh why did MC push so hard for S1 to finish if they hadn't even got S2 ready?


After two years of slogging through Season one to the finish (even though it was an enjoyable slog!) I was thrilled when I found out that the Cube had been found. I was more than ready for Season 1 to end. But I know that not everyone had the same feeling, maybe it depends on when you joined the game.

From Adrian's post on Perplexorum:
Quote:
Almost every ARG made to date is built on an ad-hoc, one-time infrastructure that has to be babysat pretty much every day. There's never enough time to test software, and even worse than that, once the ARG has finished, it's gone forever. It's a tremendous waste of effort and content.

We are building an engine that will let us roll out single-player replayable ARGs, and massively multiplayer ARGs simultaneously. It automates everything that we had to manually or semi-manually last time, from emails to texts to website updates. The game has *significantly* more interactivity than Season 1 - I would go so far as to say it packs several months worth of gameplay into several hours. And per word, the story has had many times more work and care put into it than anything we've done in the past.

We're doing this because we want to bring ARGs to everyone. We want it to be possible for you to tell your friends, check out Perplex City Stories, and thirty seconds later, they're engrossed. How did it work in S1, or for any other ARG? You tell you friends, check out Perplex City, and then what? They spend an hour catching up on the wiki, and then wait for two days for something to happen? That's not how it should be.

And lest you think that we are abandoning live, massively multiplayer ARGs, think again. We are doing a mixture of episodes and the new technology will let us do far cooler things than we've done in the past for live eps.


This seems to follow what he said in his talk to the Google people.

This new design seems like an interesting innovation. I personally like the one-off aspect of ARGs, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be replayable. One qualm I have had about an 'automated ARG' is that it might eliminate out the community play and the live events. I look forward to seeing how Mind Candy addresses those issues.

In the meantime, there are other games. Year Zero is a crazy, very dark world created by 42 entertainment with Trent Reznor for the upcoming Year Zero album release. BriEnigma has a guide to catching up. Although I don't recommend this game for the squeamish (like me) or for children because of its dark and violent nature, it is an option. The players just recently found the way to interact with the game. It doesn't seem to be too late to start. And then there is World Without Oil which will be starting at the end of April. Look around, there are other games to keep you going until June.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:16 am
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Darkflame
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 		maybe...
It is April1st.

Just saying Wink

PostPosted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 6:50 pm
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