View topic - Chat Transcript: Adrian Hon 13/9/04

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Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: Project Syzygy Pre-Game

Chat Transcript: Adrian Hon 13/9/04

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Fi
Unfettered

Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 444
Location: London

Chat Transcript: Adrian Hon 13/9/04

As promised, here is the log of the chat with Adrian Hon, one of the PM's for Project Syzygy. Thanks to Jonathan for hosting this chat over at the MU chat room.

I've put line breaks in to try and make it as readable as possible.

=========================================

The Chat (irc.sorcery.net#metaunlimited, 13 Sep 2004, 8pm EDT)

[jonathanp] Hello, and welcome to Meta Unlimited. This is an honor for us to have the esteemed Adrian Hon here tonight. Many thanks for being here.
[jonathanp] Some questions tonight are from the audience, and some are from ARGInsider. If you wish to ask a question please post to this thread: http://www.forums.metaunlimited.com/viewtopic.php?t=510

[jonathanp] Please do not private message myself or Adrian to help us interact better with each other. From experience this is very stressful to handle when too many things are happening all at once.

[jonathanp] After the chat, if Adrian desires to stick around, you are more than welcome to chit-chat. I hope everyone finds this enjoyable, entertaining and informational.

[jonathanp] okay, lets begin.

[jonathanp] From Hojo: As we can already see, different time zones create a big obstacle for a lot of players to get the most out of a game. With the expectation of a large number of players, how do you plan on accommodating those on both sides of the pond?

[AdrianHon] We certainly intend to cater for people across the world

[jonathanp] Do you have any idea of what languages will be supported?

[AdrianHon] English will inevitably be the primary language

[AdrianHon] But speaking personally, I think that it's a good idea for ARGs to involve more than one language

[jonathanp] I agree, do you know if any others have been confirmed?

[AdrianHon] Although I can understand why PMs might not do it given the difficulty

[AdrianHon] I can't comment on confirmed languages, sorry

[jonathanp] okay, moving on to the second question...

[jonathanp] Since Immersion Unlimited was set up as a general in-game area for characters as well as players from any ARG to post, will it be incorporated into the game at all?

[AdrianHon] I honestly can't say... we're working with a very unusual partner to create this game and if everyone is happy with it, I'm sure we could do that

[jonathanp] That's good to know

[Hojo] tx Adrian

[jonathanp] Any details on the partner?

[AdrianHon] Not as yet, sorry Smile

[jonathanp] That's okay. The next question is from lBoomer/Nightmare Tony: With all the apparent interest in this game. Do you change the way you had planned it originally, like reworking puzzles and such to accommodate a larger player base, and is the interest more than you were expecting? Also, is this one of the reasons why the game was delayed?

[AdrianHon] We always planned that the game would have a very large player base, for various reasons

[AdrianHon] So the interest has nothing to do with the delay

[jonathanp] Any reasons why you want to target such a large player base?

[AdrianHon] Let's just say that we feel it's extremely important for us to reach as many people as possible

[jonathanp] Now, a question from Yliandra: Do you find, as a PM, that you prefer sticking to strictly game related talk when you're passing information to a player? Or do you 'chit chat' a bit with them on occasion?

[AdrianHon] I love the genre and I love chatting about it, but lately the game has become very important and I would prefer not to mix the two things up

[jonathanp] So any contact will thus, be strictly professional?

[AdrianHon] What we did with the recruitment ads in the newspaper was unusual, you shouldn't expect us to give you any more nudges or hints, ever

[AdrianHon] Professional, yes

[jonathanp] Will we see any more newspaper campaigns in the future?

[AdrianHon] I can't say

[jonathanp] ok, moving on,

[jonathanp] What process do you use when deciding if players need a little nudge on difficult puzzles? Do you set a time limit, does it vary by puzzles and their effect on the storyline timetable, or do you only help them when it's clear they are going in the completely wrong direction?

[AdrianHon] With regards to the puzzles, whether or not we give any help depends on our timetable and what our partners think

[jonathanp] So if the players are working at a slow pace, you would be prepared to give them a "nudge"?

[AdrianHon] It depends

[AdrianHon] We would rather not

[jonathanp] ahh, ok

[AdrianHon] Hopefully our puzzles are designed so that isn't a problem

[jonathanp] but in the event that there is, you would help? If so, how would this help be offered?

[AdrianHon] Sorry, can't say

[jonathanp] ok,

[jonathanp] Where would you like to see the genre go? Do you favor opening it up and trying to make ARGs part of mainstream gaming knowledge, or do you prefer the smaller base of players it has maintained?

[AdrianHon] Everyone who I've talked to, whether or not they've played ARGs before, thinks the genre is a great idea

[AdrianHon] So I would hope that it becomes part of the mainstream

[AdrianHon] At the same time I think it's important to preserve the feeling and traditions of the small base that has already been established

[jonathanp] Myself included, are there any new ways you have in mind that would appeal to a wider fanbase?

[AdrianHon] Yes, we do have some new ways in mind

[AdrianHon] And no, I cannot talk about them Wink

[jonathanp] care to... ok,lol

[AdrianHon] Suffice to say that we have all spent all the years since the Beast thinking about this

[jonathanp] Really?

[AdrianHon] Sure

[AdrianHon] A big part of my job is coming up with weird ideas

[jonathanp] speaking of that, what is your main role in the team?

[AdrianHon] I do a bit of everything, as you might expect

[jonathanp] What do you most enjoy working on?

[AdrianHon] Well, I find our interactions with our partners to be fascinating, as well as creating the puzzles

[AdrianHon] It's a great job

[jonathanp] Can't even give us a hint as to who these partners are? Wink

[AdrianHon] Nope

[jonathanp] ok,

[AdrianHon] Hopefully there will be more jobs like it in the future

[jonathanp] For all those of us who applied to be BTS, will we be hearing anything soon?

[AdrianHon] We intend to do something with all those people who've
emailed us

[AdrianHon] And we've read every single email

[jonathanp] that's good to know!

[AdrianHon] Believe me, it took a long time

[jonathanp] How effective was the cryptographic job advert in recruiting the type How effective was the cryptographic job advert in recruiting the type of talent you were looking for? Did you have any problems with it? Are you reading the over-analysis people are conducting on Unfiction, and secretly laughing?

[AdrianHon] The job advert attracted a huge amount of attention

[AdrianHon] Especially in the UK

[jonathanp] Any particular reason why "The Guardian" was picked? Are they one of your partners?

[AdrianHon] The problem is that there's just no such position as 'PM' in job terms, so it was hard to attract the right people

[AdrianHon] The Guardian is read by a lot of media and IT professionals, plus we all enjoy reading it

[AdrianHon] As I have said repeated on IRC and in Unfiction, there is nothing left to solve with the job ads

[jonathanp] Why not, perhaps PC Gaming magazines?

[AdrianHon] We aren't looking for quite that type

[AdrianHon] We aren't making a normal computer game

[jonathanp] of course, but a lot of Pc Gamers became interested in Majestic, many of whom have heard nothing about ARG's since...

[AdrianHon] No doubt they will hear about them soon again

[jonathanp] What are you most excited about (concerning Project Syzygy, if you can answer that, and if not, then concerning anything)?

[AdrianHon] I think ARGs have the potential (as yet unrealised) to transform the way in which we perceive games

[AdrianHon] I also am quite keen - as all the people at Syzygy are - at celebrating intelligence, rather than other attributes

[AdrianHon] Coming from a scientific background, I hope that I can carry that over in some small way

[jonathanp] I agree with you

[jonathanp] Adrian, in your opinion, what defines a "successful game", in terms of the experience on both sides of the curtain

[AdrianHon] Something that makes the players happy

[AdrianHon] And makes them forget they are playing a game

[AdrianHon] And just maybe, something that changes the way they look
at the world, and the way they think

[jonathanp] but every player has a different liking, how do you plan on catering for everyone?

[AdrianHon] We plan to work very hard Smile

[jonathanp] What would you like to see in this genre change, if anything.

[AdrianHon] More games!

[jonathanp] lol

[jonathanp] Another question from Yliandra: Do you think shows like The Mole, and Push, NV are helping bring ARGs more interest, or are the influx of reality shows in general, and the resulting backlash making anything regarding 'alternate reality' look bad?

[AdrianHon] Personally, I was disappointed by Push Nevada

[AdrianHon] I don't know much about the Mole

[AdrianHon] I think they are lowering expectations of the genre, which is unfortunate

[AdrianHon] I haven't seen any shows that have had *real* ARGs attached to them

[jonathanp] So true...

[jonathanp] well, Alias had a mini-arg attached to it.

[jonathanp] But I can see where you are coming from.

[jonathanp] What do you think of I Love Bees so far? What have they done right/wrong?

[jonathanp] Ditto for AWARE.

[AdrianHon] I haven't been following AWARE much

[AdrianHon] I think I Love Bees has a good concept, but it's constrained by its source material

[AdrianHon] I remember when I heard about the payphones stunt, I thought, 'holy shit'

[jonathanp] In what way?

[AdrianHon] It was a great idea

[jonathanp] sure was

[AdrianHon] But I think they've let it go on for too long

[AdrianHon] The game doesn't have the same depth and variety as the Beast did

[AdrianHon] And consequently, it isn't as good

[jonathanp] Will there be anymore preview material for Syzygy? A trailer? A little tid-bit of something?

[jonathanp] I personally, am dying for something new.

[AdrianHon] All I can say is, you may not have to wait until early 2005 before you see something

[jonathanp] Does that mean a pre-game? You dont need to say yes- just...cough lol

[AdrianHon] Again, can't say

[jonathanp] just that "there will be something before 2005"

[AdrianHon] Like I said, there *may* be something before early 2005

[jonathanp] If there is, will we look for it, or will it find us..

[AdrianHon] You'll just have to wait and see

[jonathanp] ok

[jonathanp] a question from Sin: Will those that weren't around or didn't play the pre-game be at any disadvantage for the actual game (i.e. they'll need to play catch-up) or are they mutually exclusive

[AdrianHon] If any catch up is required, then it shouldn't be too difficult

[AdrianHon] We want to make the game as accessible as possible

[jonathanp] Thanks, Now, a question from me Smile

: Some of Aware's innovation was very controversial and spawned many meta threads, do you see part of Syzygy having similar aspects?

[AdrianHon] We don't want to confuse people

[AdrianHon] Which is I think what happened with AWARE

[AdrianHon] That's about it, really

[jonathanp] Do you like the idea of two separate forums, one where people can talk OOG and the other In-game?

[AdrianHon] I'm not sure

[AdrianHon] I'd have to think about that

[jonathanp] ok, you can get back to me on that Wink

[jonathanp] At this time, is there anything you would like to say before you step back behind that curtain, is there anything you would like to add...

[AdrianHon] I was asked one question by someone not here: Whereabouts in the current 'scape' of ARG and related massively-multi-user entertainment do you see Syzygy sitting? Is ARG the central concept behind the game, or are there different 'paradigms' which will also come into play? Can you elaborate on these at all?

[AdrianHon] And I would have to say, I can't really elaborate Smile

[AdrianHon] We hope to do something new, that's all

[jonathanp] On the scale of "The Beast"?

[AdrianHon] I would be disappointed that after all these years, we couldn't exceed the Beast

[AdrianHon] From the work we've done so far and the input we've had from our partners, I think you will all be pleased with Syzygy

[jonathanp] cant even give me a hint on the partners???

[AdrianHon] No can do

[AdrianHon] I'm sure you will find out in time

[jonathanp] ok, it's cool

[jonathanp] Might I take this time to thank Adrian for providing us with this interview, and visit www.arginsider.com for any information. Thank You.

[AdrianHon] Thank you for hosting me!

[jonathanp] It's been a pleasure

[jonathanp] Adrian would be happy to hang around for a couple of minutes for an unmoderated chat.

[Amend] If you are hoping for a large scale player base how likely is it for a player to expect to real interactions?

[AdrianHon] What do you mean by 'real interactions'?

[Amend] phone calls, emails, faxes that sort of thing

[AdrianHon] I think that any new ARG would include those sorts of interactions

[Xweapon] My question: What are you currently looking for BTS? I would love to work on this, but I don't have much expierence BTS... I worked on AWARE for a bit, but that was it.

[AdrianHon] We just look for people who understand the genre fully and have exceptional skills

[AdrianHon] Living in the UK is a plus

[jonathanp] woohoo

[Guest459] Question: will there be any cost? I ask noticing the mention of Majestic on the site

[AdrianHon] The mention of Majestic is really just to let people know roughly what we're trying to do

[Yliandra] I have a question, Do you think multiple games running concurrently just puts a drain on the player base, or that it helps rejuvenate the genre to have multiple options for players?

[AdrianHon] I think the more options, the better

[AdrianHon] What we all need to be concentrating on is not increasing our own slice of the pie, but making the pie bigger

[AdrianHon] ARGs are still a relatively minor pursuit

[Yliandra] I'm glad to hear you say that, I think that should be the ultimate goal of everyone who truly loves the genre, to expand it as far as it can go.

[AdrianHon] One last question, then I have to get some sleep Smile

[Guest459] I have one but i'll let someone else ask if they have one

[Yliandra] I'd say you should go ahead Guest Smile

[AdrianHon] I think you should go ahead

[Guest459] what was it about Footage Fetish Forum that warented its credit next to pattern recognition

[AdrianHon] Hmm, I can't really answer that, I wasn't the guy who wrote that ad

[Guest459] ah ok thanks for answering both my questions

[AdrianHon] Anyway, thank you all for coming here

[jonathanp] Many thanks again for being here Adrian.

[AdrianHon] I hope that Syzygy will live up to all your expectations Wink

[Myssfitz] Thank you very much Adrian.

[jonathanp] No doubt it will Smile

[AdrianHon] Bye!

[jonathanp] Bye Adrian

* AdrianHon has left IRC

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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:46 am

hermione
Greenhorn

Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Posts: 5
Location: UK

Wow, thanks for posting that Fi. Sounds very exciting I must say Very Happy

Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:07 am

Nightmare Tony
Entrenched

Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 824
Location: Meadowbrook

Thanks Fi for posting it! Smile

Am still excited on tihs one. As an aside to the guest with the last question, the footage fetish forum is a direct lift from Pattern Recognition.

my only worry for it is for us 56k users who dont get dsl in the countryside....

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Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:13 pm

Orphevs
Boot

Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 30
Location: in the dark

PARTNERS! BUMBUMBUM

Heh. I like how Adrian keeps referring to these mysterious partners all the time, yet can't say a thing about them. Creepy!

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What would you give
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:45 am

Jhas777
Greenhorn

Joined: 09 Oct 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Mexico City

Neat. I like where this is going...

Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2004 2:00 am

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