In the project “Who is prisoner 814” ARG game my job is mainly about designing game map including taking photographs around gaming place, building up the maze and draw the routes. I think my work has made a countribution to the project and our ARG game went well in test. Through this project I learned a lot from the class and my group members. Firstly I gained experience and improved my teamwork by working with people from different culture and background. Besides I also learned knowledge about ARG game which is a new concept in my country.

facebook page

the map

the poster

TIME LINE:

Week 8: As a team, roles will be assigned.
Week 9: All web sites including facebook group, blog and Vimeo will be created this week.

Week 10: This week, all print media including posters and maps will be created. The stories of “Amanda” and each “ghost” should be done.
Week 11: This week will see the finalisation of the script. All other materials will be assembled.
Week 12: 1^st play test, and any issues will be revised and fixed.
Week 13: Due date for ARG.

ROLES AND REPSONSIBILITIES:

1. One group member needs to act “Amanda”. She would be responsible for creating the false accounts (Facebook, Email, and Vimeo) and contact with players providing clues and releasing tasks.

2. One group member who is good at changing his/her voice needs to act different “ghosts”. He/she would be responsible for contact with players and send letters or props to the players.

3. One group member needs to prepare tools, materials and equipments.

4. One group member needs to create visual design such as videos posters and so on.

MATERIALS:

• SOFTWARE: Flash, Photoshop, After Effects, plus a web browser will be needed at minimum to create this ARG.
• HARDWARE: Two computers, two mobile phones and a printer will be needed at minimum to create this ARG.
• SERVICES: A telecommunications network service, an internet connection (broadband obviously) and server space (possibly on the QUT server) will be needed at minimum to create this ARG.
• MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS: Objects like paper, adhesive paper, pens, pencils, sticky tape or Blu-Tak, and props such as firework, flower seeds, bottle and so on will be needed at minimum to create this ARG.

Below is a list of all materials that will be required to run the game:

POSTER: Attract students in the campus to send email to “Amanda”.

EMAIL: George will need an email account, which can easily be generated via hotmail, Gmail, etc. This needs to appear on the above-mentioned poster.

BLOG: Amanda need a blog to share her experience of communicate with ghosts, give clues so that players can deduce, post new process and release tasks.

FACEBOOK: Same with blog, facebook is also a good platform for information exchange and communicating with fans.

VIMEO: The Vimeo account will be needed to upload the code video and the fake Matthew Reilly video to.

MAIL & POSTAL PARCEL: The “ghost” may send letters and props to players.

MOBILE PHONE: A mobile phone will be needed for both the player(s) and the game controllers to interact.

1. Poster

The player is first notified by a poster around the campus which gives directions to send “What can I do for you?” to an email address.

2. Email

When the player emails “Amanda”, “Amanda” replies detailing her ability and asks the player to help her to find the fact. The player will be invited to visit a blog website or join a Facebook group.   

3. Facebook and Blog

The player will get all the informations and background from the blog or facebook page. And then the player need to leave contact information including email address, phone number and home address. The player can investigate the case can discuss with other players in group.

4. Email & Phone Call

When the player seems show interest in a case or professes that he want to take over a task, “Amanda” and the “ghost” began to contact him. “Amanda” would provide every player same informations while “ghosts” will say different words to different players as a result of they call for help in their own ways. Players need to exchange information and finally find out the truth.

5. To Win: Find out the truth and keep the ghost resting in peace (some ghosts need players to fulfill their last wish, some don’t need).

TITLE:

Beyond The Grave

TAGLINE:

I see people. They don’t know they’re dead ……

CHARACTER:

Amanda — a psychic who can communicate with spirits and animals.

PLOT DISCRIPTION:

Amanda is a psychic. After a near-death experience she gained an ability to communicate with spirits and animals. Because Amanda have this special ability, she finds that there are many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! Amanda decided to tell those ghosts that they have already dead however this cruel fact is not easy to accept. Amanda has to convince them by finding out the cause of their death. And then Amanda helps those ghosts to fulfill their last wish in order to keep the dead resting in peace.

Players are asked to help Amanda to find clues from the ghosts’ memory and deduce the cause of their death. And then players may choose to fulfill ghosts’ last wish, or they may not. Every ghost has its own story and personality, some of the ghosts are pitiful, some are boring, and some are willful. Therefore they have different wish. For example, a girl who died from disease might send some flower seeds to a player and ask the player to grow flowers at the appointed place because she loved flowers in her lifetime. A suicide regrets taking those pills, so he hopes players can help him to stop other people from committing suicide and encourage those people to be alive. A soldier died in the war make telephone calls to players because he hopes someone could remember that he sacrificed for the people. A dead dog hope players can hold a birthday party for its lonely old owner.

 I developed this game to encourage players appreciate the time that they are alive. Though helping “ghosts” fulfill their last wish, the players will find the goodness of life. When players are searching for clues and trying to find out the truth, they also are learning knowledge about many subjects.

The Lost Ring was an alternate reality game (ARG) initiated by McDonald’s, as part of their marketing for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. A co-production between McDonald’s, AKQA, and Jane McGonigal, the game was notable for its global scope: taking place across six continents, in seven languages, and running for six months (29 February - 24 August 2008). It began with six amnesiac athletes with strange tattoos, and culminated in the “revivial” of a fictional Ancient Olympic sport - which the narrative described as having disappeared 2000 years ago before the events of the game.

In my opinion, The Lost Ring is a very successful ARG, there is a certain degree of fun, the idea and expression are amazing. This ARG has given me a lot of inspirations. It is a great idea to encourage people from different countries using different language to discuss and solve a riddle. An amnesiac person offers the players infinite room of imagination, players can guess who they are and what happened to them, and then they can looking for evidence to prove their guessing. Besides, mystical totems or strange tattoos can always arouse curiosity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Ring#References

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn’t believe she’s dead, despite the funeral director’s reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna’s grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Long) still can’t shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn’t what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side.

This Film reflect the thinking of the edge between alive and death. Anna gains an ability to communicate with spirits when she is dying and this has has given me a lot of inspirations. I begin to consider about how those dead people were eager to survive and what they occupies their mind most when they are dying. So I developed this game to encourage players appreciate the time that they are alive. Though helping “ghosts” fulfill their last wish, the players will find the goodness of life.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0838247/