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[Lilith]

Making an ARG \o/

[kolixela]

Wow Lilith, sounds like a cool teacher ^_^

Honestly tho I'd say you have found yourself up a creek without a paddle.

The standard ARG takes months to prepare, covers multiple websites or other media and usually has a fairly user interactive story to it. Not really something you can whip up in a week

There are a few Puppet Masters here that play as well, hopefully one of them can give you a little guidance!

[thebruce]

ooo... creating an ARG in a week. Methinks this would be to ARGs what short stories are to novels.

To be very brief, I'd recommend perhaps coming up with a relatively simple story around a mystery, but plan for a couple of different outcomes. See if you can develop/include a couple of a different characters, build in some form of live event (perhaps a chat, or a maybe local deaddrop, allowing a player to pick up a letter from a character or a package of some sort), a blog or two, some puzzles (like a solvable mystery or a code, that makes sense in the story) and allow the players room to interact (personalize the experience) and help determine what the character(s) decide to do in the story.

That's very very brief, and certainly not a certified ruleset for execution of an ARG, but that should perhaps get you started on creating some elements that a generic ARG may incorporate.
A week is a pretty tight schedule! I almost think the teacher isn't looking for a high-quality result, insomuch how well you use the time and kind of thought you put into it.

Heck, when the project's done, who knows, you could revisit it and actually execute your ARG for fun bonus marks? hehe


Also, I've moved the post to the more appropriate Puppetmaster Help forum - might get some other relevant responses here.

[MageSteff]

Hiya Lilith!

A week is a very short time to produce an ARG. but the basis of the game is that it uses more than one outlet for information. Video (like here on youtube), newsprint, face to face meetings, telephone calls, emails, snail mail, all are open to use (provided you have the players agreement to use their information).

You can also look through the rest of the puppetmaster help forum to see if any of those ideas will work for you.

For a class, you might start with a note left in the classroom on a desk that leads to clues around campus i.e maybe get the people in the Administration building to help give out further clues, or have someone call your classmates, or send emails to your classmates with riddles that lead to clues.

For a short ARG, maybe just have it be a request to help find a missing notebook or pet, or a missing professor (i.e. lost camping ).

[cyng]

as everybody suggested

KEEP IT SIMPLE

think of a simple storyline or task, Magesteff gave excellent suggestions

try to approach the narrative in a few ways

first ask:

what is the basic plot line of the story? what is each character in the story doing (my suggestion is you really cap characters to 3....even 2)

flesh out the narrative arc on paper: it can be really simple like Magesteff suggested: A student needs help finding his professor. And then bullet point the plot points.

then look at your story: what is the player supposed to be doing/how are they supposed to be engaged...how do you get them involved at the outset...walk through your story through the players eyes (many PM'S ignore this step and it is CRUCIAL)

and then think in terms of: what platforms am I using: emails, letters, posters, twitter, etc.

And don't neglect to ask yourself: CAN I DO THIS? Keep the goals of the story attainable for yourself, something you can personally pull off. Walk through your story and imagine what work needs to be done for each plot point, and can you invest the time/money/energy getting that aspect done.

what I think is handy at this point is to create a spreadsheet to organize all your information

now, I think if your teacher hasn't done a disclaimer, perhaps it is good repeating now:

Stay away from plots that would get you in real hot water in a school setting. Don't do a bomb scare plot at your school or a Columbine story. Kidnappings can be fun...but you also have to be really really careful how it is interpreted by the school admin who are most not likely aware of the fictional aspect. So keep it to safe plots would be my advice.

Oh, and MAKE SURE YOU LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES!!!

[Undertheark]

Re: Making an ARG \o/

[GoldwinterRING]

To be very brief, I'd recommend perhaps coming up with a relatively simple story around a mystery, but plan for a couple of different outcomes. See if you can develop/include a couple of a different characters, build in some form of live event (perhaps a chat, or a maybe local deaddrop, allowing a player to pick up a letter from a character or a package of some sort), a blog or two, some puzzles (like a solvable mystery or a code, that makes sense in the story) and allow the players room to interact (personalize the experience) and help determine what the character(s) decide to do in the story.

That's very very brief, and certainly not a certified ruleset for execution of an ARG, but that should perhaps get you started on creating some elements that a generic ARG may incorporate.
A week is a pretty tight schedule! I almost think the teacher isn't looking for a high-quality result, insomuch how well you use the time and kind of thought you put into it.
what is the basic plot line of the story? what is each character in the story doing (my suggestion is you really cap characters to 3....even 2)

flesh out the narrative arc on paper: it can be really simple like Magesteff suggested: A student needs help finding his professor. And then bullet point the plot points.

then look at your story: what is the player supposed to be doing/how are they supposed to be engaged...how do you get them involved at the outset...walk through your story through the players eyes (many PM'S ignore this step and it is CRUCIAL)


and then think in terms of: what platforms am I using: emails, letters, posters, twitter, etc.




Edit: Removed spam links. -SpaceBass