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OOG Trailheads and Puzzles...
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thegreatpablo
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Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Posts: 62

 		OOG Trailheads and Puzzles...
It's possible, and even likely that this issue has been beat to death. It was touched on slightly during the first puzzle test that Omega ran, but it's something that's been bothering me a great deal.

I see a lot of games that use OOG elements to deliver the trailhead, puzzles, and such. As an aspiring and new PM, I look at a lot of these and wonder why something more creative isn't devised for them.

Let me give some examples. I see a lot of trailheads that start with a forum PM, a random IM, or random e-mail to someone with the obligatory request for help. These can be cool, especially to the recipient. However, without a reasonable in game explanation of how the character obtained the player's contact information, I find it a bit contrived, and kind of starts the game off on the wrong foot for me.

Second example: Puzzles for puzzle's sake. Often times I see puzzles built in to games via e-mail or video primarily that don't really fit the context of what is going. I think that, in general, players tend to ignore them because once it's solved they have no content to gobble up and the puzzle is water under the bridge.

Perhaps my team and I are going about this the wrong way...however when developing the trailhead and the puzzles for our game we stop and we ask ourselves "How does this fit into the game contextually? Does it make sense that this puzzle would be sent to the players at this point? Does the puzzle seem like something that would be sent by this character?"

I guess my problem is that the puzzles and such end up feeling more like minigames that are roadblocks in the story rather than being part of the game.

Do you guys have any thoughts on this matter? Does it bother you? If not, why doesn't it bother you? If it does, are we doing anything to consider changing this habit in the community? Right now, the best I think I can do is to lead by example.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:56 pm
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rowan
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Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 1966

 		Re: OOG Trailheads and Puzzles...
thegreatpablo wrote:
Do you guys have any thoughts on this matter? Does it bother you? If not, why doesn't it bother you? If it does, are we doing anything to consider changing this habit in the community? Right now, the best I think I can do is to lead by example.

It does bother me. A lot. I've gotten to the point where if the trailhead doesn't at least pretend to follow normal behavior, I just skip it. And by normal I mean not putting in binary or ROT or backward urls, or having a some cryptic video playing whose only purpose is to get players to say 'wow, that's creepy and I have no idea what's going on so I have to keep playing if I want to know.' I really think subtlety is a lost art. I'd rather 'waste' my time watching sorta non-games play out believably rather than endure one more IM conversation where I have to decode binary/hex/rot/french/german/apache just to communicate with some random 'stranger' who I'm supposed to care about right off the bat (but really I don't.)

Of course, I often find my opinion to be on the minority side. Or at least of those that are most vocal. But I do applaud your efforts to trying to remain true to the idea of story cohesion rather than going for what is basically just eye candy.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:57 pm
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natas
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 		I must agree with Rowan. I just don't understand the reasoning why I would receive a coded email from someone whom I don't know for no apparent reason other than because that's what the last ARG they saw did. Please take the time to be original and creative. It will pay off in the long run.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:15 pm
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thegreatpablo
Boot

Joined: 11 Jul 2007
Posts: 62

 		I won't lie, while working on my ARG, I struggled a lot on how I'm going to deploy my trailhead. Unfortunately, even the solution I have now doesn't make me all that excited, however, if a player were to ask, I could provide a logical explanation of how I got their information and started the game.

So, part of it might just be that it's hard to think of something that makes sense in the story as well as something they can pull off.

I consulted with a few people regarding my trailhead and everyone had some good ideas, however even then, I came up with my own ideas in the end. That said, I think it'd be nice to see PMs consult the community first and getting help with their trailhead or puzzles rather than default to the cryptic e-mail or IM.

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 12:04 am
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth

 		I'm actually having a hard time trying to avoid using ROT, Vigenere or anything like that, but I guess it's unavoidable in the end. But I will definitely not use them in a trailhead; I consider that too "gimicky".

I personally liked my LGL trailhead: sending an email to everybody congratulating them for signing up as a Beta tester ("but wait! I didn't sign up for anything!"). I also sent a flyer to UF and ARGn (which they must have thrown out... GRR!) that was simply a shameless advertisement. No "help me!" or "I'm trapped!" wrapped in a Morse Code MP3 or a single frame in a YouTube video. Nothing hidden, nothing fancy. Actually believable in the real world (I had at least one true-to-life company on Texas think I *was* real).

For that matter, there weren't even any real puzzles for the first three or four days (which was, in essence, half the ARG's duration). Of course, I hit them with the "puzzle freight train" shortly thereafter, but still. Smile

Thing is, for some people it's a lot easier. Some people just want to get the ball rolling quickly, and aren't as crazy as I am when it comes to trailheads, and as such don't give it much thought.
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PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 1:19 am
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Rogi Ocnorb
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
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Nighthawk wrote:
I'm actually having a hard time trying to avoid using ROT, Vigenere or anything like that, but I guess it's unavoidable in the end.


One of the biggest mistakes I see PMs making is thinking that puzzles have to use a familiar methodology in order to be good or (If I'm reading you correctly) at least be "solvable" by a a decent number of folks within the playerbase.).

Puzzle fodder is all around you. Use it. Most any object you can touch has elements of structure, composition, history, definition, classification, taxonomy, codification, relativity or other properties which can be leveraged in those cases where you need to create a puzzle that overtly presents game-progression content.

Then there is the "whoops" type of puzzle that helps preserve the realism of the game. The things that are the staple of the TV murder mystery. The clue that breaks the case. The sticky note that has damning information available with a gentle rubbing of the pencil. The most common style we see for that around here is when players find random bits of unpurged memory or some other electronic equivalent of taping shredded documents back together.

And, as many have said before, the story, itself is (or can be) a puzzle. Think, "Who owns the fish?" turned into a game.

Players (both new and long-of-tooth) enjoy these kinds of discoverables much more than the SOS.
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PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 4:48 am
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jlr1001
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Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 210
Rogi Ocnorb wrote:
And, as many have said before, the story, itself is (or can be) a puzzle.


I think this is the very point that many people, in their maddening search for expediency, lose. The best games are often great stories and when they're recounted that's what we tend to focus on. The puzzles, unless they were particularly creative or vexing, are usually glossed over when a game is recounted.

Also, most of the games out there are independently developed. I would venture that for 99% of them there isn't any time constraint that they need to be played within... So why must their trailheads overtly rush players into the game?

Rogi used the word "discoverables". While that is a good word to describe how IG puzzles could be structured, I think it should apply for the entire game itself.

Why couldn't an indy PM create a game, have its pieces in place, and then develop a trailhead that lies dormant until it's discovered? Given the way that many games are introduced today, a "let's wait until they find it" approach would be refreshing.



-jlr1001

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:06 am
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Agent Lex
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Joined: 11 May 2006
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Location: No longer London, still in England

 		On trailheads: I think we're going to see a growing trend of pre-game signup forms, such as this one for the as-yet-unnamed Bringer of Light/Shadow in Darkness game. I think, as ARGs become more "mainstream," it's going to solve a few problems:

1) It lets people know, from the start, that it's an ARG. Now that the announcement's over, the ingame sites can go straight to TINAG, but that disclaimer is there. This avoids troubles such as those that Save My Husband had.
2) It lets people get in early on the game. People tend to believe that catching up on a game in progress, especially a large-scale one that's been going for some time, is a lot of work. And generally, I tend to agree. I certainly couldn't catch up with, for example, TDK or FTLR right now.
3) It lets the PM know the expected audience size before the game starts, so they can tailor their content toward that audience. And if the PM is trusted and the players give their approximate location, it can really help in terms of live events or deaddrops, knowing where your players are.

I'm sure there are other benefits, and of course there are downsides such as losing the feel of a normal trailhead. But I'd rather sign up through that form than have another rot-13'd AIM message or email saying "my best friend was kidnapped go to www.kidnapcorp.com to find them plz!"

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:18 am
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
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Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth

 		/runs to GoDaddy to buy "kidnapcorp.com"

...What'd I do?
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PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:56 am
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thegreatpablo
Boot

Joined: 11 Jul 2007
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Agent Lex wrote:
On trailheads: I think we're going to see a growing trend of pre-game signup forms, such as this one for the as-yet-unnamed Bringer of Light/Shadow in Darkness game. I think, as ARGs become more "mainstream," it's going to solve a few problems:


I definitely agree that this is a good method of launching a game, but there are a few things to consider. Primarily, BoL/SoD is being developed by a PM that has already gained trust in the community, so people really don't mind waiting. However, if the PM wasn't known or if it were a first time PM, I think that player expectations need to be set. Perhaps give a solid date of when the game will launch so players know when to check back in, otherwise they'll likely forget and move on.

Now, that's not to say that a normal trailhead can't be integrated. My game will launch with a signup site as well, but while people are signing some of the pre-game storyline is going to be playing out and players will get to see that unfold as it leads up to the launch of the game.

jlr1001 wrote:
Why couldn't an indy PM create a game, have its pieces in place, and then develop a trailhead that lies dormant until it's discovered? Given the way that many games are introduced today, a "let's wait until they find it" approach would be refreshing.


I don't necessarily think this is a bad idea, but how would players end up stumbling into it without planting clues (read: trailhead) leading players to it? Otherwise, it could lay dormant for months. And even then, those people who did stumble on it might be confused by what they see and move on without a second thought because they weren't ARGers or weren't on the lookout at the time.

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 12:40 pm
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
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 		The purpose of a trailhead is to bring people in "en masse", all at once. If you have one person chance across the site every now and then, it'll hardly get noticed or remembered.
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PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:08 pm
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rowan
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Joined: 12 Apr 2004
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Nighthawk wrote:
The purpose of a trailhead is to bring people in "en masse", all at once. If you have one person chance across the site every now and then, it'll hardly get noticed or remembered.


But then again, one snowflake can start an avalanche. You don't have to have X amount of people finding a trailhead at the exact same time (like sticking it in a movie trailer, tv commercial, or mass email). It can work just as well by having few people finding usb drives in a bathroom stall and uploading the contents to a web community with rabid members. The important thing about the trailhead is that it should be memorable and interesting enough that the person (or persons) who originally find it want to tell others about it.
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PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:43 pm
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jlr1001
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Joined: 06 Jun 2006
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 		Rowan beat me to the punch, but I'll post this anyway...

Nighhawk wrote:
The purpose of a trailhead is to bring people in "en masse", all at once.


The purpose of the trailhead is to be the entry into your game. Whether or not it's a cattle call is a design decision. But needing a bulk of players to start the game at the same time--preferably right now--isn't written into the definition of a trailhead, but more so describes how most people have approached them.

thegreatpablo wrote:
how would players end up stumbling into it without planting clues (read: trailhead) leading players to it? Otherwise, it could lay dormant for months.


That's the challenge isn't it?

Consider a game whose trailhead starts with an online video. Without explicitly pointing people to it, that first bread crumb could lie quiet until someone picks it up.

Or, to go back to the roots of the genre, if a game starts with a clue in a movie trailer, it is possible that the majority of audiences might miss it at first.

But these are perfectly valid ways to start a game.

Also, if you try to figure out more subtle ways to start a game you run the risk of some people missing it. So you design for that possibility by creating a trailhead that helps to coalesce your audience into a community of players.



-jlr1001

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:48 pm
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Agent Lex
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Joined: 11 May 2006
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Location: No longer London, still in England

 		Of course, one way to get a dormant trailhead noticed is paid advertisement. One of the trailheads that always sticks out in my mind, whenever trailheads are discussed, is MetaCortechs (but then that's because there's brilliant documentation on what happened, so I've read about it). The trailhead proper was basically a paid google ad to the site, and that was it. No mass emails or ARGN tips (did ARGN exist back then?). All it takes is one or two people to find it and tell others.

As above, it's making the trailhead stand out enough to get noticed and passed on that's the tricky part. Yes I know this contradicts what I said earlier, but I'm only saying that both methods have their own benefits/styles/whatever.

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2008 4:40 pm
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buff
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Joined: 23 Sep 2003
Posts: 106

 		However, back then, there weren't a dozen games running at the same time - so the chance of someone picking up on the clue and hold it in the air, running screaming back to uF and post it was slightly higher.

Slightly as in infinite.

If you doubt me, just check the all posts in "News & Rumors" whose title in some way implies "Possible Game"
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PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:57 pm
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