[arg_discuss] Play Testing an ARG?

[Michael Monello]

You can test all your technology and your puzzles, but mechanics get  
to be tricky. Traditional games are essentially "locked" out of the  
box -- if there is a bug in the design, the console cannot correct for  
it. Traditional games are boxed in by their worlds -- once you get to  
the ocean in GTA, you aren't going any further no matter what your  
desires, while ARGs have no barriers to what choices people can make,  
so it's impossible to test certain aspects of your game.

With an ARG, the production team has to shift and move and address  
problems on the fly, often without the audience even knowing there was  
one.

Best,

Michael Monello
Campfire
62 White Street, 3W
New York, NY 10013
212-612-9600
http://www.campfirenyc.com




On Feb 12, 2008, at 12:12 PM, Jeff McNab wrote:


> Currently I'm working on developing my first ARG and have come  

> across issues that I'd like to get feedback about. Obviously, this  

> is what the mailing list is all about. The biggest thing pressing  

> down on my team and I at the moment is about play testing. Obviously  

> in a more traditional game model, play testing is easy to do behind  

> closed doors. Of course, we can check for technical issues on our  

> own, but there are always bugs and game play systems that need to be  

> tested by people unfamiliar with the project. How does one go about  

> this without spoiling the ARG? NDA testers? Or is the norm to  

> release and then revise, in a manner similar to MMOs?

>

> Jeff McNab

> jeff at tragicgeek.com

>

>

>

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