unforum

[punxtr]

Dead?

[duke9509]

No, I think we're just waiting for someone to put the clues together. This PM makes rather tricky puzzles. I, myself, am stumped, though. And I take it you don't have any more ideas, either. Ugh.

[punxtr]

Well, if the PM doesn't do anything soon, I'm going to stop following this.

[duke9509]

the same.

[duke9509]

Whoa! Ok, we just got a new blog post!

[iamthor]

Using the first letter of each word - and breaking arte/science onto two lines - I entered that as the code for Module 9 and got:

[iamthor]

The title of the module was "Backwards" and I noticed in Edward Page Mitchell's bibliography a work called "The Clock That Went Backwards". Using the number of characters specified in the clue, I tried

[punxtr]

Damn, moved so fast it exploded! ARG over.

[duke9509]

Now that it's over, can we hear from the PMs?
Like, inspiration, backstory on how the game was concieved, etc?

Sorry, I'm still relatively new to this forum and this is the first ARG ending I've seen, so I don't know if this is the norm or not. Do PMs normally talk to the players after the game?

[Lane]

It's the Writing on the Moon PM here, slinking in to say a sheepish hello. In answer to your question, PMs do not always come out from behind the curtain, but sometimes they give a "debriefing." As far as I'm concerned, this was a failed ARG, for a variety of reasons, but I was really, really touched by the dogged determination of the few players who kept after it. For that, I want to say, I'm sorry I let you down. Players like you deserve a better game.

The good news is that I am putting together a new ARG that I'm really looking forward to launching in a few weeks. It's completely different from this one, and much better conceived, so I think it will go more smoothly.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have about Writing on the Moon.

[duke9509]

Well, thanks. I guess you could say that I just really didn't want to give up on my first ARG, even though I've now joined in on a few more. I really liked the somewhat higher difficulty of the puzzles in this one, they really made you think in new ways, even if they stumped us all for long periods sometimes.

I guess my only real question about the game is what I put down in my last post: What was your inspiration for all this? You might not have been able to tell it the way you would have liked, but it was a really neat concept. Of course, "it just came to me" would be an acceptable answer, because sometimes good story ideas just do.

Also, I look forward to seeing your next game now that you've learned a thing or two from this one. I know you won't break the curtain to drop us a hint that it's yours, so I hope I'll be able to tell which it is. I think you're really good at making creative puzzles.

[Lane]

Thanks Duke! Well, I really enjoy the ARGs that have a kind of creepy loneliness to them, like Hatshoe, FFEYT, The Abandoned Windmill, etc. Not true horror (I've never been into Slenderman stuff), but just an underlying sadness and mystery. The idea of people trapped in a space station really appealed to me, although strangely I did not see Moon until another player emailed me and asked if it was an inspiration. I can see some similarities. Anyway, I knew that if it was a space station, it was going to have to be an alternate timeline, and that's when I started thinking about what the world would be like if time movedbackwards.

There you have it! No, I will not tell you the name of my next ARG, but I will send you an email invite (among others), which will probably be all the clue you need. All that I ask is that if you figure out it's me, not to mention it in the forums. I don't want people who didn't like that game to be put off of the new game, which will be a bit different. If you decide you want to know for sure (if breaking immersion doesn't bother you), you can always email me at the writingonthemoon gmail and I'm happy to talk with you in more length about this ARG, the next ARG, or ARGs in general.