Author Topic: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG  (Read 7080 times)

Licawolf

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Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« on: April 22, 2011, 02:56:23 pm »
I have no idea in which forum this thread is supposed to go  :o

This is just an idea for a game I’m sharing here acompanied with pretty fake screenshots, I don’t actually intend to make it real :) Think of this as a fanart-fanfic of sorts.

This idea was born some days ago in the middle of a creative block. I decided to play around with some web design ideas to see if I could get my creative juices flowing again. I started adding some Chrono flavored ideas to get me entertained, the result was a layout (and logo) design for a fictional “Chronopolis” website. I started thinking in which kind of game this could be actually used, which kind of game uses a fake website design?

After thinking a little about it the idea hit: an ARG!

From the wikipedia article:
Quote
An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions.

The form is defined by intense player involvement with a story that takes place in real-time and evolves according to participants' responses, and characters that are actively controlled by the game's designers, as opposed to being controlled by artificial intelligence as in a computer or console video game. Players interact directly with characters in the game, solve plot-based challenges and puzzles, and often work together with a community to analyze the story and coordinate real-life and online activities. ARGs generally use multimedia, such as telephones, email and mail but rely on the Internet as the central binding medium.

(If that didn’t make any sense, check the ARG quickstart guide.)

Based on the Chronopolis website design, I came up with a simple idea for a Chrono ARG. ( heavily inspired by the LOST ARGs, particularly Dharma Wants You, and the fake Hanso Foundation websites from the LOST Experience)


The game

The game follows Chronopolis pre-Time Crash, the people that worked there and the implementation of Project Kid. More especifically, a group of Chronopolis agents (the players) who were selected for missions related with Project Kid, but they slowly discover there is much more to the Project than what have been revealed to them.

The “rabbit hole”( the very first clue that brings people into the ARG) are these Chronopolis ID cards.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Let’s say, you are sent this mysterious card to your mail or given to you in a videogame store, it has the url of a website and a password printed in the back, without revealing anything else.

You enter the url, the Chronopolis website looks just like a regular corporate website, nothing odd except for the dates (copyright 2400, etc...).


Uploaded with ImageShack.us



(The "Join us" button is an alternative way to get a password, if couldn't get a card IRL)

The website is fully functional, with all the subpages working, all of them with simple and not too revealing content, the typical information that is to be expected in a corporate website(Mission, vision, values...), just a bunch of ambigous information (to keep up appearances)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us



If you enter the password from the ID card in the Chronopolis website, you get access to the  “real” game website...


Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

By registering on the Project Kid website, you can enroll as an agent of Chronopolis, and participate in weekly missions, with each succesful mission a new piece of the story behind the game will be revealed to you.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Missions are a mix of internet treasure-hunting and plot-based puzzles.... as an example: The Chief Director of Chronopolis send you an email containing a document, an essay of a paleontologist about hypothesis of the extinction of the Reptites. The essay doesn’t actually say anything relevant, the true clue is the name of the author of the essay, if you google it you’ll find a blog, allegedy created by this fictional author. A code may be hidden in one of its posts. If you enter the code in the “Mission code” field of the website you unlock a little puzzle or a minigame to be solved.

Another example, you are sent another email, it’s a long block of text, but you notice the words “Porrean” and “Hero” are marked. If you google them you’ll find a youtube channel called PorreanHero, despite the name, at first glance there’s nothing related to Chrono in the account. It only has one video, a home-made documentary about some paranormal theories proposing that there are real Time Travelers and that have affected real-world history. Maybe at one part of the video there is an odd date thrown in, and that’s the code.

It may sound too complicated, but the idea is that the missions should be solved as a  community, not individually...and if players ever get stuck, there are always ways of helping them get back in track, anyway.

I had some other ideas like having some “spies” from the Central Regime posing as agents (acting as players) in the community, but I did not planned further than that...

(As a note, the NEWS text used in the Chronopolis homepage was taken from one of Crimson Echoes Memorial videos, from the Chronopolis’ News uplinks)

For the curious, here are the logos used in the website, and an alternative version of Project Kid’s logo with Frozen Flame instead of the Chrono Cross.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us



I hope this idea is not too confusing, I was just looking for an excuse to share my screenshots  :picardno




Mr Bekkler

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2011, 04:06:26 pm »
Wow that's incredible!

Ema

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2011, 04:26:14 pm »
Lica you are so awesome. :D

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2011, 06:50:07 pm »
Lica,

That's a GREAT game! I was an active participant in the Lost ARG's and have been fascinated by the concept. This is such a great idea, you have no idea!

FaustWolf

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2011, 11:25:11 pm »
Shit, Lica, if you get some web programming training - or even partner with someone who already has it - I bet you could score a fairly comfortable future in web design. If this were the 1990s I would have used the word "lucrative," but, yeah.

Licawolf

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2011, 02:54:43 am »
Thanks everybody! Boo, that's awesome, I wish I could have participated myself, I got into LOST too late for that

Thanks Faustwolf, actually I'm a web designer... I do the graphic stuff and layouts, and I work with a team of excellent programmers and animators who do all the magic......  :wink: shameless self-promotion time!
« Last Edit: April 23, 2011, 03:04:57 am by Licawolf »

FaustWolf

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2011, 03:58:25 am »
Cool stuff Lica, thanks for sharing. Rosvel looks quite busy -- a good thing for sure!

tushantin

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2011, 06:01:24 am »
Man, that's the first I've heard about ARGs. Certainly interesting. XD If that really were a website people woulda been like, "HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! WEBSITE FROM THE FUTURE!! HOLY CRAP, CHRONOPOLIS!! TIME AND SPACE RESEARCH!!" I love the design!

I reckon BBC also made a mini Sherlock ARG while the episodes were airing. Yes, the blog that Dr. Watson wrote at the episodes REALLY exists. Yes, that Science of Deduction website that Sherlock interacts with his fans REALLY exists. Hell, in the airing of the third episode, The Great Game, on the website he even asked his fans to decipher some codes that Moriarty sent him. My friend and I did. xDDD We actually felt like detective apprentices!


Kodokami

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2011, 12:17:50 pm »
Damn, this is amazing! I'll be waiting for my Chronopolis ID card in the mail. :P

Also, I find it funny that the Central Regime's logo, despite being a military state, is "May our prayers for peace ring on for eternity."

tushantin

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2011, 08:03:20 pm »
Also, I find it funny that the Central Regime's logo, despite being a military state, is "May our prayers for peace ring on for eternity."
That's because, "May our lust for screams of war be quenched till the end of time" wouldn't really get much support from the public.  :lol:

Manly Man

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2011, 08:33:33 pm »
You know, I'm planning on getting a job at a local GameStop here in Vegas,and I bet they would totally endorse the idea if I presented it to them. You really should go through with this, even if it would take forever and a half to get it all fine-tuned and well-polished.

hiddensquire

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2011, 10:08:29 pm »
Holy crap.  This website needs to happen.  No joke.  You have the people with the skills.  And if they don't wanna, there are enough people in the Compendium who can do the coding bits.  Heck, even I could do it if I wanted to brush off my HTML/CSS from 9 years ago and put the hours into it.  If someone pings Zeality to this topic, I can see him becoming very interested in organizing some people around it, if not taking an active role in it himself.

Manly, I've never heard of GameStop supporting an altered reality game.  Do they do that kind of thing?

Licawolf

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2011, 03:50:28 am »
Oh, Thanks everybody for your interest! I thought people would think the idea was too complicated  :P  

If this idea actually comes to life that would be really cool. I don't think my co-workers would help on this though, since the studio is always too busy to work on personal projects(and non of them is a Chrono fan, I know because I play CT DS at lunchtime, and nobody seems to know the game :') ). ARG's are a pain in the ass to organize, but it's not impossible to do as a community effort, I think. I remember a Zelda community doing something like this as a forum contest/activity. There are many people who create their own ARG's, on a small scale, without the sponsor of big companies, so maybe?

Also, I find it funny that the Central Regime's logo, despite being a military state, is "May our prayers for peace ring on for eternity."
That's because, "May our lust for screams of war be quenched till the end of time" wouldn't really get much support from the public.  :lol:

 :lol: I was trying to imagine the Central Regime using that phrase as a way to promote a public friendly and pacific face, especially with that phrase that is a call back to the more peaceful days of Guardia... Also the irony   :P
« Last Edit: April 24, 2011, 04:26:46 am by Licawolf »

Sajainta

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2011, 04:09:13 am »
Wow.  This is fantastic, Lica.  You are so creative!

Manly Man

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Re: Chronopolis: the Chrono ARG
« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2011, 05:20:06 am »
Manly, I've never heard of GameStop supporting an altered reality game.  Do they do that kind of thing?

Maybe. They've done a lot in support of games as a whole, and if it was learned that a certain something was happening and you could find your way in at the GameStop, it would bring in more customers. Perhaps they could put it in the bags of so many random people who buy. It's an idea that I came up with in about twenty seconds, so it's something that would have a few issues with the likelihood of it happening. But still, it's possible. When I get hired, I'll ask.