unforum

[bill]

Postgame Chat

[bill]

Well, it seems that freenode.net is dedicated to those that foster the development of free/open source software and the staff would rather we hold the chat elsewhere.

I'm moving it over to irc.chat-solutions.org where we host a lot of ARG-related channels without problems. Sorry for the mixup.

New instructions:
If you don't have an IRC client on your computer, you can use http://www.polarhome.com/cgi-bin/chat/irc.cgi through the web. Enter anything for your nick, irc.chat-solutions.org for the server, and #omnifam for the channel.

[catherwood]

omnifam chat

[QBKooky]

Can somebody post the transcript of this chat? I couldn't make it but would love to read what went down.

[Kender]

[22:34] *** nawoR changes topic to "Moderated chat - please /msg nawoR if you wish to ask a question | Omnifam concludes | Chat with the PMs on Thursday 4:30 PM EST | game credits http://www.followersoframbaldi.com/credits.php"
[22:34] <prelude_23> thanks
[22:35] <Bill> she'll make it so you can talk when it is your turn to ask your questions
[22:36] <Bill> Let me just start by saying how much fun I had and how much I appreciate the support everyone gave us throughout the game
[22:36] <Bill> I want to especially thank everyone who helped out behind the scenes and the entire PM team
[22:36] <Bill> they really did a phenomenal job
[22:36] * Kender bows
[22:36] * Toenolla twirls.
[22:37] * varin waves
[22:37] * Gupfee particles
[22:37] * Addlepated climbs back under a rock.
[22:37] <creepo> honk
[22:37] <ScrappyDoo> and stuff.
[22:37] <Bill> I first got into the original Alias webgame when I decided to google Rambaldi to see if he was real. I found the orignal followers site and creditdauphine and got hooked
[22:38] <Toenolla> And this game has haunted his dreams ever since.
[22:38] <Bill> When I originally came up with this particular webgame, I decided to do it a bit differently
[22:38] <Addlepated> I hadn't even watched Alias when Bill asked me to join the team
[22:38] <Bill> I wanted to design a game that was open to players even if they start late
[22:39] <Bill> I also wanted it to be open ended using episodes like the show
[22:39] <Bill> When we're done with the chat, I plan to open up the forums the puppetmasters used and the wiki we had to keep track of everything. You'll get to see what went into making the game
[22:40] <Bill> i think i've stalled enough for the latecomers
[22:40] <Bill> lets go ahead with the Q&A
[22:40] <Toenolla> The method behind our madness, or vice versa.
[22:40] <Bill> unless anyone else wants to talk
[22:41] <nawoR> Well, in that case
[22:41] <nawoR> harleykins has the first question
[22:41] <harleykins> woohoo!
[22:42] <harleykins> My question is: How far inadavance were these puzzles developed? Did you get any ideas from lurking in the forums or was everything planned in advance?
[22:43] <Bill> we planned a lot of it in advance
[22:43] <Toenolla> Most of the puzzles were developed long before they went live, but it was an ongoing process.
[22:43] <Bill> the general idea for most puzzles predated launch with one huge exception
[22:43] <Kender> Arcanum-ultor was a bit different
[22:44] <Kender> we basically needed a bit more time to do some stuff so I decided to make a little something to 'waste' your time
[22:44] <Kender> That whole site was created in a few days.
[22:44] <Bill> kender is the god of puzzles imho
[22:44] <Toenolla> And we had lots of puzzles that didn't fit in other places, that we liked and wanted to use.
[22:44] * varin nods in agreement
[22:45] <Toenolla> Kender is puzzlicious!
[22:45] <Bill> we really didn't want to include puzzles just to have puzzles, so we were pretty fussy about making them fit the story whenever we could
[22:46] * Kender loves puzzles. Hope you liked some of them too..
[22:46] <Bill> follow up?
[22:46] <harleykins> did you guys get really frustrated with us at any time?
[22:46] <Bill> haha never! :p
[22:47] * Gupfee faceplants
[22:47] * Addlepated whistles.
[22:47] <Bill> we love you guys!
[22:47] * varin hides
[22:47] <harleykins> lol! be honest!
[22:47] <Bill> the rock thing was a bit trying
[22:47] <Toenolla> I think we learned a lot about puzzle design from interacting with you guys.
[22:47] <Kender> nah, some of those puzzles were meant to be hard.
[22:47] <Gupfee> we felt your pain
[22:47] <Addlepated> If y'all had solved the location/time puzzle, you would have gotten a real life dead drop =)
[22:48] <Kender> that was a shame yeah.
[22:48] <harleykins> ah man... that was a shame.
[22:48] <Kender> Didn;t think the eyes and audio would be that hard to break
[22:48] <Bill> When gupfee found that rock, we figured it was a local landmark and we tried to get something johnahue could bicycle to if he didn't know what it was
[22:48] <Toenolla> Yeah...Kender had to explain some of his puzzles to the rest of us.
[22:48] <harleykins> can we get an explanation of the puzzles? especially the ones we didn't get
[22:49] <Bill> they're in the wiki
[22:49] <Kender> they should all be on the wiki
[22:49] <Gupfee> yay!
[22:49] <Bill> krystyn!
[22:49] <harleykins> cool. thanks for everything and letting me ask first.
[22:50] <Toenolla> thanks for playing, harleykins!
[22:50] <nawoR> Next up is miss_caro
[22:50] <miss_caro> First of all I want to say thanks for a great game, even though I didn't play right through. I love Alias and had been amping for an Alias ARG or similar. Question: Did ABC ever find out about the game, and if so, what was their reaction?
[22:51] <Bill> we got some traffic from abc.com, but they pretty much left us alone
[22:51] <Addlepated> We did send the spiral and coin package to JJ Abrahams, I think
[22:51] <Bill> yes we did
[22:51] <Addlepated> I'm sure I misspelled that
[22:51] <miss_caro> lol
[22:51] <Gupfee> Abrams I think
[22:51] <Bill> yah
[22:51] <ScrappyDoo> JJ Abraham wrote part of the bible
[22:51] <ScrappyDoo> the JJ got left off though
[22:52] <Gupfee> lol
[22:52] <Kender> actually they were a bit miffed at us, because people started playing the game in stead of watching Alias
[22:52] <Toenolla> Also, I hear he had many sons.
[22:52] <Bill> We decided to treat this as fan fiction and tried not to get too close to the plot of the show
[22:52] <Bill> our only real overlap was Omnifam itself that they seemed done with and we sent Arvin packing before we launched
[22:52] <Addlepated> Also, if we got too close to the plot, we were bound to get snake-bitten by one of the patented Alias Twists(tm)
[22:52] <ScrappyDoo> because really, we like Vaughn and had no interest in killing off the hot guy
[22:53] <Toenolla> Yeah...we really tried to make it run parallel to the story. We filled in the gaps where ABC left questions open.
[22:53] <Gupfee> In the Alias ARG in my mind, Vaughn is naked all the time
[22:53] <miss_caro> hear hear!
[22:53] <ScrappyDoo> damn skippy, gup, damn skippy
[22:53] <nawoR> Followup miss caro?
[22:53] <Addlepated> There were weeks where we watched the new episodes and wondered if the writers had access to our notes though
[22:53] <miss_caro> no followup thanks
[22:53] <Bill> thanks caro!
[22:53] <ScrappyDoo> all games need more hot naked men
[22:53] <nawoR> Now we have prelude_23
[22:53] * Toenolla makes a note for future ARGs
[22:53] <prelude_23> ok, wow!!
[22:54] <Bill> um, you're welcome
[22:54] <Toenolla> Hi prelude
[22:54] <ScrappyDoo> damn good question! I wow you back!
[22:54] <varin>
[22:54] <ScrappyDoo>
[22:54] * Kender answers yes
[22:54] <prelude_23> Basically, the question I was gonna ask is I think gonna be on the wiki, so, instead; how many people do you think were playing, and from where - I think a lot of us here tonight are from sd-1, and I was just wondering how many other groups were playing
[22:54] <Gupfee> ok, wow!! is the name of my next band
[22:55] <Bill> hehe
[22:55] <Bill> SD-1 was our most active player group
[22:55] <Addlepated> I think SD-1 was the biggest group
[22:55] <Kender> yeah, we had to keep a close eye on those forums
[22:55] <Toenolla> sd-1 was the hotbed of all things Omnifam.
[22:55] <Gupfee> they were also the group we monitored the closest
[22:55] <nawoR> <Gupfee> ok, wow!! is the name of my next band
[22:55] <Addlepated> that 200+ page thread killed me
[22:55] <nawoR> oops
[22:55] <nawoR> sorry
[22:56] <Bill> we had over 1200 people sign up through the volunteer form
[22:56] <Bill> about 700 still have active emails
[22:56] <varin> and I was totally caught early on as a PM
[22:56] <varin> someone directed a question at "leiaorgana" and I completely went into panic mode
[22:56] <Bill> the count on the crossword page is just the number of people who actually finished the crossword in under 20 minutes
[22:57] <Gupfee> we had a few people who posted updates on Unfiction
[22:57] <Bill> yeah
[22:57] <Gupfee> but most of the gameplay was on sd-1
[22:57] <Toenolla> I think we had 300-400 active players at any particular time?
[22:57] <Bill> I found about a dozen other forums with Omnifam chatter, but SD-1 was far and above #1
[22:57] <Toenolla> Somewhere around there?
[22:58] <Kender> It sure felt like a lot when I was doing the Cinderella and de.Archivaris emails
[22:58] <varin> haha
[22:58] <nawoR> Do you have a follow up prelude?
[22:58] <prelude_23> uh, yeah
[22:59] <prelude_23> on a more random level, what did you guys think of the creation your webhunt spawned: the WAP, and then The Wappers - our 'show'?
[22:59] <Bill> hehe. that's the kind of involvement I loved seeing
[22:59] <Addlepated> We love that stuff =)
[22:59] <Bill> can't wait to see how the wappers ends (as long as no one is naked in the shower)
[22:59] <Kender> had some good laughs there
[22:59] <Gupfee> as long as it doesn't include hurting us
[23:00] <ScrappyDoo> vaughn can be naked in the shower, actually. or really any hot male.
[23:00] <ScrappyDoo> bill disagrees, but tra la
[23:00] <prelude_23> lol
[23:00] <ScrappyDoo> the females predominate ;D
[23:00] * varin stays quiet since her husband is here
[23:00] <Addlepated> just not naked Sloane, please.
[23:00] <Gupfee> but not Marshall
[23:00] <ScrappyDoo> ooo right. okay ALMOST any
[23:00] <Addlepated> I'd take naked Marshall over naked Sloane.
[23:00] <Toenolla> :/ naked sloane....
[23:00] <Gupfee> Weiss would be ok
[23:00] <ScrappyDoo> WEiss would work.
[23:01] * Toenolla shivers.
[23:01] <ScrappyDoo> I also miss WIll
[23:01] <prelude_23> can't we just stick with vaughn? please?
[23:01] <Addlepated> Maybe not naked Jack either...
[23:01] <Addlepated> this might take some thought.
[23:01] <Gupfee> oh god no
[23:01] <Gupfee> yeah, prelude_23's right, we should stick w/Vaughn
[23:01] <Toenolla> Taaaangent!
[23:02] <nawoR> Btw, to make things go a little quicker: please make sure you have your question typed out ahead of time - and just hit enter when you are voiced.
[23:02] <nawoR> Thanks
[23:02] <nawoR> Vaughslove was supposed to be next, but they aren't here
[23:02] <nawoR> so we have JDonahue
[23:02] <JDonahue> Hey I just want to slip something in about the rock...haha next time try to do directions without using a cemetery if there are two on the street =P
[23:02] <Gupfee> Dude, I am taking you to that rock
[23:02] <Bill> haha
[23:02] <Toenolla> Heh. :/
[23:03] <JDonahue> haha are you from a-town?
[23:03] <Gupfee> nope, MA
[23:03] <Gupfee> but very close
[23:03] <JDonahue> oh ok...lol I've never heard of that town landmark though =P
[23:03] <Kender> yeah, shame you didn't make it there JDonahue
[23:03] <Toenolla> Like I said, we learned a lot about designing puzzles from this game.
[23:03] <Toenolla> I think the rock was our most "instructive" moment.
[23:03] <Bill> that rock is where three towns meet
[23:03] <Gupfee> we tried to give you hints
[23:03] <Bill> each initial is for one town
[23:03] <Gupfee> and direct you away from the big cemetery
[23:03] <varin> and the fact that none of you believed that we would have any real world interaction
[23:04] <Bill> that cracked me up
[23:04] <JDonahue> anyways my question.....is about the datacard. was the file on the card supposed to be opened and deciphered or was it jsut something to make it seem like a big deal?
[23:04] <Bill> one of our design goals was a realworld event in every episode
[23:04] <Gupfee> Kender and I worked so effing hard trying to come up with hints, lol
[23:04] <JDonahue> lol i never found that out
[23:04] <Bill> the datacard didn't have a file that we expected you to unlock
[23:04] <Toenolla> Well, I can tell you that there is definitely something on the datacard.
[23:05] <Toenolla> But yeah, you didn't have to unlock it to continue the game.
[23:05] <Bill> we had a nifty <o> picture encrypted just in case tho
[23:05] <JDonahue> nice
[23:05] <JDonahue> i bet you all saw our theories on that it was a formula for rambaldi green goo =P
[23:05] <Toenolla> We also tossed around the idea of giving you the key at endgame.
[23:05] <nawoR> Followup?
[23:06] <varin> the datacard served its purpose :evilgrin:
[23:06] <JDonahue> yes please
[23:06] <JDonahue> since the datacard came from denmark (i think it was there) and many characters in the beginning were from there, did one of the PMs live there?
[23:06] * Toenolla points to Kender.
[23:06] <varin> drumroll.....
[23:07] <Bill> The Netherlands actually
[23:07] <Kender> Yup. I'm from The Netherlands, or Holland, or whatever.
[23:07] <Addlepated> not exactly Denmark
[23:07] <Kender> nope, not exactly
[23:07] <JDonahue> sorry, i knew it was over there somewhere =D
[23:07] <Gupfee> which is why Henk was Dutch, as well
[23:07] <Kender> way over in the civilized part of the world yes.
[23:08] <nawoR> And now: its krys!
[23:08] <Bill> yay krystyn!
[23:08] <krystyn_w> I definitely believed in the real world interactions. I don't have a standard-type question, unless ... OK: Could you just sort of tell stories about The Clown Incident?
[23:08] <varin> lol
[23:08] <Kender> we have it all on video
[23:08] <creepo> honk honk
[23:08] <krystyn_w> GAH
[23:08] <Bill> take it away creepo..
[23:08] * Addlepated points at creepo.
[23:08] <creepo> indeed
[23:08] <varin> bwahahahaha
[23:08] <creepo> yes, well...
[23:08] <creepo> um
[23:09] <creepo> i was the clown
[23:09] <Gupfee> tell her WHY you were a clown
[23:09] <krystyn_w> (still dying over that, Jim)
[23:09] <varin> The original plan didn't involve a clown
[23:09] <creepo> and that all developed because i was gonna be the mark
[23:09] <creepo> but i knew krysten..
[23:09] <creepo> tyn
[23:09] <creepo> and varin gets this great idea... you could be disguised!
[23:09] <creepo> hehe
[23:09] <varin>
[23:09] <krystyn_w> so. evil.
[23:09] <Addlepated> and pop lots of balloons
[23:10] <creepo> so, secretly dying to whip out my retired clown suit..
[23:10] <creepo> it was really hot
[23:10] <creepo> and that is bad for balloons
[23:10] <Gupfee> and not in a naked Vaughn way
[23:10] <creepo> and clowns with grease on their faces
[23:10] <creepo> right
[23:10] <varin> (I also have behind the scenes shots we can show at the end of the chat)
[23:10] <Gupfee> woo
[23:10] <krystyn_w> oh god
[23:10] <creepo> hehe
[23:10] <varin> did we forget to mention that our car overheated on the way there?
[23:10] <creepo> i thought it was great fun - i got some kids to come around to look legit
[23:11] <creepo> the guy actually paid me - the gpa of the kids
[23:11] <Toenolla> Yeah, we all got to spy on you, Krystyn.
[23:11] <Bill> for my part, I made all the phone calls
[23:11] <Gupfee> varin was hiding in the bushes w/a camera
[23:11] <krystyn_w> I was wondering if that was you!
[23:11] <creepo> so i was perhaps the only one to make any money on this game
[23:11] <Bill> i was on vacation in virginia at the time touring wineries
[23:11] <varin> lol
[23:11] * Kender was glad you guys finally beleived in real-world live events
[23:11] <creepo> $10.00
[23:11] <varin> woo!
[23:11] <creepo> i will split it with all of you
[23:11] <Bill> i had to drive 30 minutes down a mountain to get cell service
[23:11] <Gupfee> worth every penny, too
[23:12] <creepo> hehe
[23:12] <krystyn_w> Those poor balloons.
[23:12] <krystyn_w> I kept thinking you were doing that on purpose.
[23:12] <creepo> krystyn - you had an inkling it was me?
[23:12] <krystyn_w> Nope.
[23:12] <creepo> ah
[23:12] <krystyn_w> I had NO idea.
[23:12] <creepo> whew
[23:12] <creepo> sweet
[23:12] <varin> oh, and just in case you wondered... creepo practiced doing <o> and 47 balloons the night before
[23:12] <Gupfee> krystyn, we were so psyched when you said you would go to the drop--for a while we were afraid no one would come!
[23:12] <creepo> yes i did
[23:12] <varin> we had a whole room full of balloons (that didn't pop)
[23:12] <krystyn_w> Dude, all I could keep thinking was, "I am in a big, empty park with a CLOWN that works for RAMBALDI"
[23:13] <creepo> the weather thwarted my craft
[23:13] <nawoR> krys gets all the fun stuff
[23:13] <nawoR> zombies mimes - clowns
[23:13] <varin> next time we'll make sure and get you on a boat with the clown
[23:13] <krystyn_w> lol
[23:13] <creepo> ok my boss is coming around.. so if i duck out you know why
[23:13] <nawoR> Followup krys?
[23:13] <creepo> when he wants balloons - it means now
[23:13] <varin> lol
[23:13] <krystyn_w> Yes.
[23:13] <krystyn_w> That was you, right, on the phone, Varin?
[23:14] <varin> talking to Jim? yes...
[23:14] <krystyn_w> What were you talking about?
[23:14] <varin> he positioned himself right behind a tree so I couldn't videotape what was going on
[23:14] <Gupfee> drycleaning!
[23:14] <varin> I had to tell him to move over!
[23:14] <krystyn_w> Hahahaha!
[23:14] <krystyn_w> Thanks so much guys. I had a lot of fun doing that drop.
[23:14] <Bill> varin was all covert with the camera too
[23:14] <Gupfee> we should dig up the irc log for that, it was amusing as well
[23:14] <krystyn_w> never. release. the. videotape.
[23:15] <varin> pay.us.lots.of.money
[23:15] <krystyn_w> SIGH
[23:15] <varin>
[23:15] <creepo> the video will be on argwidow.com eventually
[23:15] <nawoR> And now we have Karl
[23:15] <Karl> First of all, thanks for a great game, it was my first ARG, and got me interested in Alias. I think back to Henk and trying to get the data card, and I am filled with nostalgia.
[23:15] <Karl> My question is this: Was there anytime in which you felt you were going to need to push us towards the solution of a puzzle?
[23:15] <Bill> hmm, every time?
[23:16] <Kender> well, we did kinda drop a few small hints here and there.
[23:16] <Gupfee> *cough*rock*cough
[23:16] <Kender> but the puzzles that were *needed* to go forward were not the hardest
[23:17] <Toenolla> And then there was the "other" cindy smith.
[23:17] <Addlepated> that was odd.
[23:17] <Kender> that was fun too yeah. Free content for the game!
[23:17] <Bill> i almost drove down to Bradenton just to mess with her
[23:17] <Karl> You should have
[23:18] <Karl> Only a small follow up
[23:18] * Kender knows who it was and where he works..
[23:18] <Karl> I would really love it if the next time there would be some real-world event that could occur in Japan!
[23:18] <Kender> okay Bill, sign up Karl on the next PM team!
[23:18] <Bill> hehe
[23:18] <varin> hahah
[23:18] <Toenolla> I wanna go to Japan!
[23:19] <Bill> we used the mailouts to try to include people that didn't live near PMs
[23:19] <varin> me too!
[23:19] <Bill> tough to do a live event without someone on the ground
[23:19] <Gupfee> it was nice having an international audience for this--it really made us think globally
[23:19] <Kender> and worry about timezones
[23:19] <Bill> a significant percentage of players were not in the US
[23:19] <nawoR> Since cather is working, I'll ask her question for her:
[23:19] <nawoR> <catherwork> so, question: who first found the rabbithole, what was it, and how was it found?
[23:20] <Bill> a year ago October, I stealthily uploaded the omnifam logo to one of the Yahoo alias groups
[23:21] <Bill> that was the only trailhead we really had
[23:21] <Bill> from there, people found omnifam.org and things took off from there
[23:21] <ScrappyDoo> omnifam and the trailhead pretty much went up on the same night.
[23:21] <Kender> they had the omnifam.org site in their scopes waaaay before we were ready to launch
[23:21] <ScrappyDoo> Bill and i were coding the crossword and fixing the menu buttons
[23:21] <Bill> hehe
[23:22] <ScrappyDoo> and then he says "Look what i did!" and then i cried.
[23:22] * Bill had an itchy trigger finger
[23:22] <ScrappyDoo> because we were so nowhere near ready for that trailhead
[23:22] <Bill> i figured it would build anticipation
[23:22] <Toenolla> Yeah...I came into the game with the trailhead already established. :/
[23:23] <varin> me too, I joined the team much later.
[23:23] <Bill> the best part was finding out someone one SD-1 made t-shirts!
[23:23] <Addlepated> me too =)
[23:23] * varin wants one
[23:23] <Toenolla> Oh man...I want one of those shirts.
[23:24] <Bill> the link is in the first 20 pages :p
[23:24] <varin> gah!
[23:24] <Gupfee> of the 200+ page thread? eeek
[23:24] <Bill> making the logo was my first and last foray into Photoshop
[23:24] <Bill> i spent three days on that thing
[23:24] <Addlepated> heh
[23:25] <nawoR> Question from whatyourname on sd-1 : what the heck were we supposed to do for the trial volunteer thing at methusalabs?
[23:26] <Kender> toe?
[23:26] <Toenolla> That was sort of an experiment. We wanted to see how far people would go to impersonate a fictional character.
[23:27] <Toenolla> I had some "trial" mailers that would have gone out to people who actually forged all the documents we were asking for,
[23:27] <Toenolla> But it wasn't part of the main plot.
[23:27] <Gupfee> busywork, pretty much
[23:27] <varin> which if funny, considering a ton of people had no problem impersonating someone who could meet h.meier in Chicago on the first Saturday.
[23:27] <Bill> a few people REALLY got into i
[23:27] <varin>
[23:27] <Bill> t
[23:27] <Bill> haha
[23:28] <Bill> 25 people gave me phone numbers for the h.meier meet
[23:28] <Kender> and only 1 showed..
[23:28] <Bill> and only two talked to me
[23:28] <Toenolla> We also had some kickass plans for the "essay question" on the Methusalabs site, but that was for later.
[23:28] <Kender> I told you they wouldn't believe we'd do a real live event
[23:28] <Addlepated> heheh
[23:28] <varin>
[23:29] <Toenolla> At launch we were just trying to gauge how far down the rabbithole people would go.
[23:29] <nawoR> nanamiice has the next question
[23:29] <Toenolla> It turns out, not that far.
[23:29] <varin> I was so hoping one of you would show up in a nice disguise
[23:30] <nawoR> well...I do know nanamiice question
[23:30] <Bill> gfi
[23:30] <nanamiice> hey, I was wondering if I could ask what the good ending was to the game?
[23:30] <nawoR> [17:25] <nanamiice> Can you ask what the good ending was?
[23:30] <varin> haha
[23:30] <Gupfee> heh
[23:30] <nawoR> hehe
[23:30] <Kender> Lucian goes free and the rest explode!!!!!
[23:30] <varin> rofl
[23:30] <Gupfee> well, we had this whole endgame story that we didn't get to put in play
[23:30] <Addlepated> Kender really really wanted a boom.
[23:30] <Bill> first off... hylie was a goner no matter what!
[23:31] <nanamiice> no way!
[23:31] <Toenolla> Yeah...Bill wanted to kill Hylie from the beginning.
[23:31] <Kender> no, it was the data on the datacard that killed her!
[23:31] <Toenolla> He was gunning for her.
[23:31] <varin> it was all the fault of that datacard
[23:31] <Gupfee> Merritt and Wyeth were going to kidnap another kid in the experiment named Lucian and take him to Siena
[23:31] <nanamiice> i thought that was Lucian that Merritt was talking about...
[23:31] <Gupfee> and WARN was going to be tasked with rescuing him
[23:31] <Toenolla> Where there was a secret Rambaldi lab that would transform Lucian into RambaldiBoy!
[23:32] * nanamiice envisages a superhero
[23:32] <Kender> But Conrad would show up and blow eveything to smithereens!
[23:32] <Toenolla> Yup.
[23:32] <Gupfee> including himself!
[23:32] <varin> BOOM!
[23:32] <Kender> that was the good ending
[23:32] <varin> but somehow Lucian would escape?!
[23:32] <Gupfee> Lucian was the sole survivor
[23:32] <varin> of course, because he was rambaldiboy!
[23:32] <Toenolla> The tribe has spoken.
[23:32] <varin> lol
[23:32] <nanamiice> when you say WARN would be tasked with rescuing Lucian, would there have actually been another mission?
[23:33] <Bill> But he would disappear leaving the ending a bit open
[23:33] <Gupfee> oh yes
[23:33] <Gupfee> but you guys didn't solve the FOR puzzles!
[23:33] <Kender> there were 3 more missions planned..
[23:33] <nanamiice> 3?! aww, maaaan!
[23:34] <varin> the FOR puzzles would have given you the exact locations for the drops, btw
[23:34] <Kender> there is some stuff about them on the wiki and forum
[23:34] <Toenolla> Yah
[23:34] <Gupfee> with some cool swag
[23:34] <Addlepated> We'd originally planned on an episode every couple of weeks, but that didn't happen due to a lot of real-life intrusions.. if we'd done 3 more episodes, it would have taken a lot of time.
[23:34] <Kender> too long
[23:34] <Kender> even PMs need to do other stuff in live too
[23:35] <varin> wait, I was allowed to have a life too?
[23:35] <Bill> you moved!
[23:35] <varin> oh yeah, that's right
[23:35] <Addlepated> Most everyone had a major real-life issue during the game, from surgery to hurricanes!
[23:35] <Gupfee> not that we didn't love writing for the players, but we were getting burnt
[23:35] <varin> I bought a house, went on vacation and then moved.
[23:35] <nanamiice> i suppose that goes some way toward explaining the lack of reply-ness
[23:35] <Kender> I got divorced and moved
[23:36] <Bill> there were a lot of emails that were basically fishing expeditions
[23:36] <Gupfee> I had emergency gallbladder surgery
[23:36] <Bill> those were purposely not answered
[23:36] <Gupfee> we answered emails that we felt would help the story develop
[23:36] <nanamiice> "Operative Smyth, I'd have replied sooner but I've had the week ever."
[23:36] <Gupfee> heh
[23:36] <varin> haha
[23:36] <Bill> a number of emails could be summarized as "Please give us the answer to this puzzle."
[23:36] <Bill> those didn't get answered either
[23:36] <Gupfee> btw, so many of you wrote great emails
[23:36] <nanamiice> *worst week ever
[23:37] <varin> oh yeah, amazing emails
[23:37] <Gupfee> but I have to give a shoutout to Charlene
[23:37] <Kender> she rocks!
[23:37] <Bill> Charlene is the bomb!
[23:37] <Gupfee> she wrote the BEST emails
[23:37] <varin> Hylie had fun answering them
[23:37] * Kender thinks he's in love
[23:37] <Gupfee> MP loved getting Charlene mail
[23:37] <nanamiice> you gotta admire that girl's persistence
[23:37] <Addlepated> Charlene really kept us going, gave us a lot of motivation as a PM team.
[23:37] <Kender> sure did
[23:37] <Gupfee> she was totally in character all the time too
[23:37] <nawoR> Followup nanamiice?
[23:38] <Toenolla> I know. It was really inspiring to see someone react to our characters that way.
[23:38] <nanamiice> do you guys envisage a sequel at any point?
[23:38] <Bill> there were a lot of others who stood out too, but she really was exceptional
[23:38] <Kender> nah, Alias is gone isn't it
[23:38] <Bill> a sequel?
[23:38] <Bill> no plans
[23:38] <Gupfee> Maybe when Jen's baby grows up
[23:39] <Gupfee> we'll have Alias the Next Generation
[23:39] <Toenolla> And becomes a secret agent.
[23:39] <Bill> the door is never completely shut, but I suspect we're all ready to do other stuff
[23:39] <Gupfee> but if you guys are looking for another game, I highly recommend you come visit the Unfiction.com forum
[23:39] <Toenolla> You'll probably see us all in other ARG-related things.
[23:39] <Gupfee> there are ARGs going on all the time
[23:39] <Toenolla> Although you won't know it. *cackle*
[23:40] <nawoR> I belive the last question is gonna come from caro, unless anyone else jumps in
[23:40] <miss_caro> Thanks Rowan - in the world of ARG'ing as we know it did you expect such a huge 'non arger' player base?
[23:40] <Bill> we purposely went for the non-ARGer player base
[23:40] <Kender> I did not. And that caused some worries over the harder puzzles.
[23:41] <Bill> oh, um, except kender :p
[23:41] <Gupfee> heh
[23:41] <Addlepated> I was really impressed by the number of signups we had.. in that way it's nice to have a built-in large audience.
[23:41] <Gupfee> well, I was hoping that more ARG-familiar people would play
[23:41] <varin> it was great to see everyone at sd-1 soooo excited that we actually mailed stuff, or had a live event.
[23:41] <varin> ARGers are used to that
[23:41] <Gupfee> but the group we got was great
[23:41] <Addlepated> But in another way they were unfamiliar with what some would consider "standard" ARG devices.
[23:41] <Kender> yeah, our audience was never like 'been there, seen that'
[23:41] <Toenolla> Yeah. It's definitely cool to be the team that introduces people to the genre.
[23:42] * varin nods
[23:42] <Gupfee> we hope more people will come check out other games too
[23:42] <Addlepated> Like having to solve puzzles to proceed.
[23:42] <miss_caro> wow you so just answered my flup aswell
[23:42] <Gupfee> we're good
[23:42] <miss_caro> lol
[23:42] <Addlepated> It was really fun to see the enthusiasm
[23:43] <Kender> For me it was the first time 'behind the curtain' and it's been an amazing experience!
[23:43] <miss_caro> ok then, for my flup: For the Girls: Did you lot cry, or at least feel really ripped off when Vaughn died?
[23:43] <varin> before this ends, I'd like to thank Bill and the others for bringing me on... it was great!
[23:43] <Gupfee> totally ripped off!
[23:43] <miss_caro> (and please, if he's still alive don't tell me, I haven't seen the most recent episodes)
[23:43] <Gupfee> they killed off the BEST CHARACTER
[23:44] <varin> I still refuse to believe it
[23:44] <Kender> nobody dies forever on Alias..
[23:44] <Bill> they took jump the shark to a whole new level
[23:44] <varin> <---- denial
[23:44] <Gupfee> indeed
[23:44] <miss_caro> well (totally off topic)
[23:44] <Addlepated> it kinda turned me off of the series :\
[23:44] <miss_caro> I saw in a magazine, a photo of a heavily preggers Jen kissing a hot lookin vaughn, while filming for the show right?
[23:44] * Kender admits that he has never ever watched a single complete episode of alias
[23:44] <miss_caro> Heavily preggers - so like, in the last two months
[23:44] <Toenolla> Yes, a big thank you to Bill for throwing me headfirst into this whole PM thing. It's been awesome.
[23:45] <Bill> glad I could be there for that
[23:45] <Kender> Indeed. Thank you for letting me on board bill!!!
[23:45] * varin just hopes deadVaughn wasn't a twin, because that would be way too Guiding Light
[23:45] <Gupfee> it was a great project--I learned a lot
[23:45] <nawoR> Okay, before we open up the room to the masses, any PMs have anything else to say?
[23:45] <Addlepated> Me too, many thanks to Bill and to everyone on the team for all your hard work.
[23:45] <Toenolla> Oh, I have an announcement.
[23:45] <Kender> THANK YOU ALL PLAYERS !!!! W0000T!!!!
[23:46] <varin> yes, thank you!
[23:46] <Gupfee> gfi toe
[23:46] <Toenolla> We still have many of the swag coins here. Some are going to the PMs, but I have about 25 to give away.
[23:47] <Toenolla> No! Exactly 25.
[23:47] <varin> doh!
[23:48] <Toe> owch!
[23:48] <creepo> honk
[23:48] <Toe> We'll have an address you can send a self-addressed envelope to and get a coin in return.
[23:49] <Toe> Look for it on the forums...I'm not sure if it will be my address, or a PO box.
[23:49] <Bill> I can't thank you guys enough for playing along. We had the best time watching
[23:49] <Toe> Yes! Thank you, everyone who played this game with us!
[23:49] <Bill> and to everyone on the PM team - you guys were the best. Thanks for sticking it out through everything!
[23:50] <Gupfee> Alias fans rock!
[23:50] <varin> woo!
[23:50] <Toe> woooo!
[23:50] <Kender> ARGers rock!
[23:50] * Toe headbangs.
[23:50] <varin> and my mailbox will be waiting for a picture from Ursos of that Rambaldi sketch framed and hanging on his wall
[23:50] <varin> it was very painful to not keep that for myself
[23:50] <Bill> yes, if ursos gets tired of that, he can send it to me
[23:51] <varin> yes, send it to Bill
[23:51] <pyro-spy> I would just like to thank the PMs for all thier hard work! We really appreciate it!!
[23:51] <prelude_23> Yeah, you guys were incredible!!
[23:51] <Gupfee> our pleasure
[23:51] <JDonahue> yes I agree! Even though we may have cursed you guys in the thread we were always grateful for all the work you did
[23:51] <varin> btw - one of the ideas that didn't quite make it was to do another sketch with a picture of one of the players drawn on it.
[23:51] <Bill> i'm having internet trouble, so it will be a couple of hours before I can unlock the forums
[23:51] <JDonahue> haha like the prophecy?
[23:51] <Kender> we had plenty of photo's
[23:51] <Karl> that would have been cool
[23:52] <varin> JDonahue: exactly
[23:52] <varin> oops
[23:52] <Bill> the wiki is at http://aawiki.addlepated.net
[23:52] <Kender> WIKI power!
[23:53] <JDonahue> oops sorry bout that....got a bit backspace happy and went back a page
[23:53] <varin> hehe
[23:53] <Kender> phew. It's really over now.. Feels weird
[23:54] <JDonahue> i have a quick question...well two...so CONRAD was the leader of the For? cuz I called that RIGHT after I translated that FoR letter =D and also, how deep were you guys planning on going with the rambaldi storylline?
[23:54] <Kender> after having lived with this game for so long
[23:54] <varin> he wasn't really the leader of the FOR
[23:54] <Kender> nope, he was a madman
[23:54] <Gupfee> he was a rogue agent
[23:54] <Kender> got his head scrambled a bit when he was ressurrected
[23:54] <JDonahue> well still, he was the guy who wrote that letter that I got?
[23:54] <JDonahue> hehe
[23:54] <Kender> yes, he was trying to influence FOR into doing his bidding
[23:55] <Bill> rambaldi was the core everything revolved around
[23:55] <JDonahue> yesssssssssss i knew it
[23:55] <Gupfee> MP was our FOR connection
[23:55] <Kender> yup, MP was the real FOR honcho
[23:55] <Gupfee> although he denied it vehemently
[23:55] <JDonahue> haha we figured it out with the "we are reasonable" thing
[23:55] <Kender> that's called 'undercover' gup
[23:55] <prelude_23> he was pretty subtle
[23:55] <Kender> MP is a born manipulator
[23:55] <JDonahue> yea he played it well
[23:56] <Gupfee> the story that he told to johnahue and charlene happened a wee bit differently than he explained
[23:56] <prelude_23> I wanna see him on Alias now!!
[23:56] <Gupfee> maybe some day I'll write up the real events
[23:56] <JDonahue> haha "real" events
[23:56] * Bill has a crabby child in need of sustenance
[23:56] <Gupfee> what she can't feed herself?
[23:56] <Toe> Aww...
[23:56] <varin> haha
[23:56] <Bill> i'll be online later if verizon doesn't cut another cable tonight
[23:56] <Toe> Baby Bills.
[23:56] <Addlepated> I have two of those, plus a crabby husband ;_
[23:56] <Toe> <3
[23:56] <Gupfee> teach her to microwave soup, like I did with my kid
[23:57] <Addlepated> er ;_
[23:57] <Addlepated> argh
[23:57] * varin would totally buy a book about the stories of MP
[23:57] *** Kender changes topic to "After PM-Chat party | game credits http://www.followersoframbaldi.com/credits.php | wiki: aawiki.addlepated.net"
[23:57] <Bill> i had to take her to work because verizon cut my internet cable last night while pulling fiber to my house
[23:57] <Bill> no microwave here :p
[23:57] <Gupfee> aw
[23:57] <JDonahue> hahathanks for the wiki!
[23:57] <Gupfee> MP stories...hm
[23:57] <Bill> someone log for me so I can read later
[23:58] <Gupfee> always
[23:58] <prelude_23> I'm doing a transcript for the sd-1 guys who can't be here, like Charlene
[23:58] <Kender> everything everywhere is logged
[23:58] <Toe> I'd buy an MP book!
[23:58] <Gupfee> thanks prelude_23
[23:58] <Gupfee> do you need a log?
[23:59] <prelude_23> me?
[23:59] <pyro-spy> Dinner time! I'll check back later to see if anything interseting happens!
[23:59] <Kender> pyro-spy: it's over, really..
[23:59] <varin> wb ScrappyDoo
[23:59] <creepo> i have a log... just for the record
[23:59] <Toe> Well, Kender will be coming out later tonight. :/
[23:59] <Kender> no more AliasARG
[23:59] <ScrappyDoo> thanks
[00:00] <Kender> hmm.. it's already tomorrow here
[00:00] <Gupfee> you guys need to finish the Wappers story
[00:00] <Karl> here too
[00:00] <prelude_23> we will do!!
[00:00] <Gupfee> it's your turn to entertain us
[00:00] <Kender> I'd better go walk the dog and get some sleep.
[00:00] <varin> haha
[00:00] <Toe>
[00:00] <Gupfee> good night Kender!!!!
[00:00] <Kender> Thank you everyone for everything!
[00:00] <creepo> ls -lsa
[00:00] <Karl> reading the wiki makes me wanna read a good book
[00:00] <JDonahue> haha do you guys (players) remember with the rock story that blair witch project parody we wanted to do? =P
[00:00] <varin> thanks!
[00:00] <creepo> oops
[00:00] <prelude_23> thanks!!
[00:00] <creepo> wrong window
[00:00] <creepo> night everyone
[00:00] <creepo> honk
[00:01] <creepo> honk
[00:01] <Gupfee> good night, clown
[00:01] <Toe> Good night Kender!
[00:01] <JDonahue> bye!
[00:01] <prelude_23> bye PMs!!
[00:02] <prelude_23> the blair witch thing was good
[00:02] <JDonahue> hehe
[00:02] <JDonahue> "i'm so scared =(" i think ill be re-reading that 200 page thread for nostalgia
[00:03] <Karl> wow, what am I gonna do with my life now
[00:03] <prelude_23> we need to collate the Wappers bits, and fill in all the gaps ("skipping ahead to episode 17/18 quickly...")
[00:03] <JDonahue> haha
[00:03] <JDonahue> or abc could cut down our episode number =( like they seem to enjoy
[00:03] <varin> you could always solve those FOR puzzles
[00:04] <prelude_23> nah, we'd be too popular - audiences would clammer for more
[00:05] <Karl> true, but I was usually only support, not much of the puzzle solver
[00:05] <Karl> I only solved the cookie puzzle
[00:05] <prelude_23> ok, can i stop copying and pasting now, do you think? - my arm hurts
[00:06] <JDonahue> i solved the uhhh the Message 47 puzzle and i did the vigenere on the for letter
[00:06] * JDonahue feels accomplished
[00:06] <prelude_23> and i only solved the one where the answer was 'apple' - no computer skills, only classics, apparently
[00:06] <JDonahue> haha we didnt even finish that one
[00:06] <prelude_23> i know!!
[00:06] <JDonahue> that cookie one was HARD guys
[00:06] <JDonahue> props karl
[00:07] <prelude_23> ok, I'm done transcribing now, unless anyone is desperate for everyone else to read this later?
[00:08] <Karl> Yeah you dont understand how difficult it is to try to explain half in bad Japanese and simple english
[00:08] <Karl> why I am screaming and running around the office to my japanese co-workers
[00:08] * catherwork missed most of the puzzles, lurking on the wrong forum
[00:09] <prelude_23> hee hee!!
[00:09] <JDonahue> hey pms did you guys ever say who the healthy girl MLabs wanted Sarah Ferguson to give the virus to?
[00:09] <varin> hmmmm, lemme see if I remember
[00:10] <varin> Toe? Do you recall?
[00:10] <Toe> *cough*Hylie*cough*
[00:10] <JDonahue> ahh ok
[00:10] <varin> hehehehe
[00:10] <varin> poor, poor Hylie
[00:10] <JDonahue> but wasnt sarah hylie's case officer anyway?
[00:11] <prelude_23> but she was so sweet and innocent, and had such a creepy favourite song!!
[00:11] <varin> nope, she only really knew of Hylie because she was somewhat of a celebrity
[00:11] <JDonahue> oh ok
[00:11] <Karl> I even put a for hylie sticker on my webpage, my mother was really sad when I told her she wasnt real
[00:11] <JDonahue> hey some of my emails are in the wiki. feels special
[00:11] <varin> Karl: awww
[00:11] <varin> I'm all excited that I can put a Hylie ribbon on my site now!
[00:12] <JDonahue> oh i have a big question
[00:12] <JDonahue> was "Fantome" way back in the beginning a red herring?
[00:12] <nanamiice> fantome?
[00:12] <varin> fantome?
[00:13] <JDonahue> someone at joeypizza said that they got an email from somename named fantome after they finished the crossword
[00:13] <Addlepated> ...?
[00:13] <JDonahue> saying that they had been deemed worthy
[00:13] <varin> I don't know anything about that.
[00:13] <Toenolla> hmm...I don't think that was us.
[00:13] <JDonahue> must be a red herring thne =)
[00:14] <JDonahue> they never heard from them again
[00:14] <JDonahue> so i thought it might have been an abandoned idea
[00:14] <varin> probably someone messing around
[00:14] <JDonahue> yea
[00:16] <harleykins> hey guys.. I just left myself in here before... had to go get babygirl after my questions
[00:16] <Karl> hey harley
[00:16] <JDonahue> hey
[00:16] <harleykins> is someone going to post the transcript on sd-1?
[00:16] <JDonahue> did she take a nap?
[00:16] <varin> I think someone just posted it
[00:16] <harleykins> for a little bit... right now she's crying up a storm 'cause I'm not there.
[00:16] <harleykins> cool
[00:17] <prelude_23> yeah, I'm posting as we speak
[00:17] <prelude_23> I'll tidy it up tomorrow, and re-post a more understandable version - it's kinda hard going at the moment, with all the names, and *x leaves* etc
[00:17] <nanamiice> ooh - ooh, what was the craic with Father Donato?
[00:18] <harleykins> ok cool... i gotta go again, but i'm just leaving myself signed in here for now.
[00:18] <Addlepated> Father Donato?
[00:18] <JDonahue> theguy in the letter on digital escrow
[00:19] <nanamiice> yeah
[00:19] <prelude_23> oh, yeah, near the beginning
[00:19] <Addlepated> oh, hm
[00:19] <varin> it was just extra background flavor if I recall correctly
[00:19] <Addlepated> http://aawiki.addlepated.net/index.php?title=Sidequests
[00:20] <nanamiice> was the 'faithinhim' message on forhylie.org from him?
[00:20] <varin> hehe, I was just looking for that
[00:20] <varin> haha, nope it wasn't
[00:20] <varin> that was a good idea though!
[00:21] <varin> I picked out those email names randomly
[00:21] <JDonahue> wow so all those little middle pages between puzzles (like the one with the iceman article) were supposed to convey what the followers had done?
[00:21] <nanamiice> i actually sent an email to one of those addresses - the jennibear one
[00:21] <nanamiice> no wonder they didn't reply
[00:21] <varin> haha
[00:22] <nanamiice> "I hear you sympathise with the plight of Hylie Atkins"
[00:22] <nanamiice> good god, chris
[00:22] <Karl> Chris you fell for everything didnt you
[00:22] <varin> yes, the middle pages were just some extra FOR/Rambaldi themed stuff for you to have some fun with
[00:23] <JDonahue> i killed my eyes trying to read the iceman article
[00:23] <Addlepated> hehehe
[00:23] <Addlepated> good
[00:23] <nanamiice> is Meier dead?
[00:24] <varin> he was "extracted"
[00:24] <varin> he was undercover at mlabs
[00:24] <nanamiice> from the land of the living...
[00:25] <JDonahue> merritt had skype?
[00:25] <varin> totally!
[00:25] <JDonahue> damn
[00:25] <varin> hehehehhe
[00:25] <JDonahue> i would have liked to talk to him
[00:25] <varin> that was creepo's voice on the voicemail - we've got some great outtakes
[00:25] <nanamiice> skype?
[00:25] <varin> it's an internet phone service
[00:26] <JDonahue> haha
[00:26] <JDonahue> i wanna see those videos
[00:26] <JDonahue> "the Arcanum Ultor site which is designed to slow our players down and kinda waste their time. Er, I mean 'stimulate the puzzle-mongers among them' " haha thanks guys
[00:27] <Karl> yeah those puzzles were hard, but maybe the most fun I had
[00:27] <nanamiice> well, i don't think there was ever a doubt that that was to slow us down
[00:28] <JDonahue> well
[00:28] <JDonahue> we all thought it would lead us somehwere
[00:29] <prelude_23> yeah - we spent so much time on some of those!!
[00:29] <varin> it would have eventually when conrad would have blown up everyone in the final scene
[00:30] <nanamiice> where'd you get all the photos for the people? ie. lucian, hylie, merritt, cindy, etc.
[00:31] <Gupfee> stock photos
[00:31] <varin> there are free (and cheap) photos sites out there.
[00:31] <varin> or what Gup said
[00:31] <JDonahue> What was "La pura vita.com" supposed to be?
[00:31] <varin> oh! I wish Bill were here to explain that one.
[00:32] <Gupfee> I believe that was going to be a mystical Italian village where everyone was using Rambaldi tech to live longer
[00:32] <varin> and I think at one point we were talking about having them have an online storefront where they sold rambaldi stuff
[00:32] <prelude_23> sweet!!
[00:33] <JDonahue> oh the village of longevity?
[00:33] <JDonahue> hehe a little corny name but cool idea
[00:34] <JDonahue> oh La Pura Vita *was* going to be the store, just saw that in the "Big Picture"
[00:39] <Karl> so is anybody playing any other ARG's or looking into one?
[00:39] <nanamiice> i took a look at the that lastcallpoker one
[00:39] <Gupfee> http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/
[00:39] <JDonahue> i thought AWARE 2 was supposed to start soon but I never got an email =\ and i dont check the forums lol
[00:40] <Gupfee> your source for all things ARG
[00:40] <Gupfee> also www.argn.com
[00:41] <varin> ok, dinnertime for me folks. It's been fun!
[00:43] <JDonahue> same for me varin
[00:43] <JDonahue> dinnnnner
[00:44] <Karl> Time for me to go to work
[00:47] <prelude_23> time for me to go to sleep!!
[00:53] <JDonahue> well im just gonna give my final goodbye lol....umm thanks so much everyone! it really was a great experience and you gave alias justice! thanks again!
[02:32] <Bill> http://deaddrop.us/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=26
[02:33] <Ross> hey bill, what was the shortest time to a puzzle solve?
[02:38] <Bill> shortest?
[02:39] <Bill> they had a couple of minor ones solved before the ink was dry
[02:39] <Bill> on arcanum, a couple of puzzles dropped in a single evening
[02:39] <Ross> heh
[02:39] <Ross> I think I have one of the shortest puzzle solves
[02:39] <Ross> 35min
[02:54] <Satyr> missed the party?
[02:54] <Addlepated> yep =)
[02:55] <Satyr> bugger.. *looks for wine bottles*
[02:55] <Satyr>
[02:56] <Satyr> I'll read the logs
[02:56] <Satyr> cya