unforum

[Lieoften]

The History of an ARG

[krystyn]

Depends on what you want the game to do: is the history part of the mystery of the narrative? Do the players need to figure out who certain people are, when something happened, or why?

Figure out what sort of journey you're laying out for the players, and you'll find cozy spots to tuck in some of the stuff you've created, leaving other spots tantalizingly free of detail in order to invite speculation over what *might* be happening in the game world.

Your design/goals should give you lots of organic information about where you need to pull back, and where you can go whole-hog on minutiae. I recommend drawing up some simple flowcharts (or complex ones, but start simple) to get an overview of the over-arcing narrative.

[Geppetto]

Our team has run into that sort of question as well, along with the closely-linked question of how much of a blog back-log is neccesary. At some point, the sheer infeasibility of getting as much as we had hoped for produced and published became apparent - or at least, it became clear that we'd have to choose between rounding our story out further and delaying our launch well beyond October of this year.

In the end, we've struck a balance that is still slightly heavy on the history/back story side - but our desire to have players dig through history to unravel current mysteries necessitates such an approach.

~Geppetto

[MotaHed]

I think TOO MUCH is only defined by your time/resources. The richer the world, the better. You should probably focus on areas that will touch directly on gameplay, but having it there as a cushion/backdrop will likely make the experience better and more immersive - as long as the volume of backstory doesn't crush the narrative.

Your STORY should be stronger than your BACKstory

I think that a well fleshed-out backstory will seep into the narrative in ways you wouldn't expect, for the benefit of all.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

As much as we seem to decry insufficient planning in a game, I do realize that for some creative types, too much planning messes with their mojo. Flying by the seat of his pants seems to work for JJ. Though I can't typically stand his stuff after it's first season because it no longer makes any sense in a big picture kinda way. Never answering anything and making everything a future "possibility" gets old fast. But, some folks just lurve that kinda mayhem.

[Lieoften]

[Geppetto]

I think for writers such as ourselves, if we had the time and resources to do so, we'd create a veritable alternate universe. But then again, I suppose that's a huge part of the root appeal of the genre?

[MotaHed]

And, if you generate enough content, perhaps you can stage more than one game in that world. If the groundwork is laid, and is robust enough, you can easily use it for a continuing/alternate saga.

Yep, an alternate Alternate Reality Game. You heard it here first.

[Daeld]

They players are often hungry for content in a game (after all the story is what makes it a game imho rather than a puzzle trail).

I found in my recent game, that if I didn't have a deep enough story behind what was happening, then pm-player interactions would have been difficult (ie PM Chats).

A solid background story allows you to maintain internal consistency.
At times it may be beneficial to work out the "rules" in advance. ie if set in the future, what is the mechanism that allows the players to access that point in the timeline. If there is an alternate world, then also the mechanism whereby the normal experience of NOT having access to that world is violated.

BTW:
@MotaHed, AARG