[arg_discuss] "go look for easter eggs"

[jacobt at virtuquest.com]

IGDA ers;

This is my first response on this board so forgive me if I am not on
target or I am intruding.

    "you have missed x number of easter eggs so far...but I want
     to do it in the most elegant way possible."

I am not sure if you mean this Easter Egg as an important Step or Clue in
a series of event or if this is meant as an actual "just for fun" easter
egg in a larger puzzle or event?

I can say that our experiences at VQC have taught us that many things that
are obvious to us and even our beta groups can totally go un-noticed by
the public players. We have had several (...ok many) situations when our
game will be flowing along like the Mississippi River then all of a sudden
a new type of clue, egg or puzzle gets passed up.....In those cases we
have elected to either nudge several active players in the correct
direction via a personal communication (delivered within the context of
the game). This really makes those players feel that they are involved,
but can also lead other players wondering "Why didn't I get that message"
:-(.

Or we develop an on the fly "Re-Clue" that is a little more obvious to the
players.
For some of our puzzle elements player are given cues as to something
cannot happen until XYZ are complete.

We generally develop our games for novice players that are not familiar
with the world of ARGs, so many of our challenges involve getting a given
population group introduced to simple ciphers, codes, and other puzzle
elements utilized in ARGs. So situations like you are describing are
fairly common for us.

jacob t