[arg_discuss] Tools for ARG developers

[Christy Dena]

I find a mix of different documentation works well because they have
different functions. The Excel approach (media & time) is great for spotting
holes and general overview, but a chart approach can also illuminate the
traversal design: how players get from media to media (with a strong
call-to-action or not, with a hard puzzle or not); and what players do what
actions (tiering the player types); managing point-of-entry (what parts of
freely accessible or conditional on another path)...etc. I think the chart
can really show the rhythms and complexity of an ARG in a way an excel doc
cannot.

We've all got our own methods but it is really fascinating and helpful to
see what other people do. I've found publicly available charts from only 3
ARGs: The Beast, Perplex City and Metacortechs. I've plopped them online
here: http://www.christydena.com/online-essays/arg-design-charts/ . If
anyone knows of others that are online please let me know. 

As for the wiki problem. There is an Australian company, Atlassian, that has
developed a commercial wiki for projects: Confluence. It is used by Disney,
Pixar, BBC, Turner Broadcasting and many others. It may solve some problems:
http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/ . But Brooke, you're talking
about the updating more than the technology I think. I found it funny how in
Perplex City they gave up and used the player bible wiki rather than their
own. Why not eh?! 

Best, Christy :)



-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Brooke Thompson
Sent: Thursday, 29 November 2007 10:38
To: 'Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG'
Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] Tools for ARG developers

Michael Monello

> I always start with a written narrative document, a "script" if you

> will, that basically tells the story. It details the characters, the

> relationships, and all the events. That 6-20 page document is then

> distilled into a chart that is organized by time and media. 



I do the exact same thing but also include characters & organizations (which
might be utilizing different media). The one thing that is nice is that you
can see at a glance where there are holes - whether one character or site is
inactive for a long time (is that a bad thing? Do we really need that
site/character?), if there isn't enough player activity, how the media is
being utilized, etc etc.

As for wikis - I have a love/hate with them. The quick linking back and
forth between ideas and elements is great, but only if they're used and
they're only used if they're being maintained and they're only maintained if
they're set up well from the get go and if you have the time and resources
(people willing) to maintain them. When those ifs aren't met, the wiki
quickly becomes more of a liability (in my experience) than an asset. I've
learned that there are just too many ifs there to make them reliable. Or,
perhaps, it's just that I've never been able to figure out the best way to
organize them :)

I also keep a massive master excel file which is a habit I picked up in my
very first game (lockjaw). It houses just about everything from key dates
and milestones to character sheets & story arcs to master asset lists to...
- really anything and everything that happens in the development and run is
documented there in some form (and is easy to pull out when needed for
something else). It's a bit of a pain because of revision control on the
editing and, perhaps, google docs would be better for it, but I've not yet
given that a try and it's usually just me playing around with it. And not
having this master file on projects where I'm not in a position to be
keeping such a thing is a strange source of frustration - it's not so much
that I don't trust someone else to have all of this stuff in some form
somewhere, but Wanna see! Wanna edit! Wanna document! 

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