Deus Ex Machinatio

Booked Solid -- How About You?

Thanks, everybody, it looks like I'm booked through about the end of the year. I'm still getting inquiries, though, so if you're an ARG writer or designer -- particularly in New York -- and you're looking for projects, go ahead and leave me a comment. I'd be happy to pass along names. 

For that matter, if you're an ARG freelancer, be you a designer, programmer, artist, or video producer, drop me a line to get added onto the list over at ARGology. I'm traveling for the next few days so I can't promise I'll hop on it with record speed, but I'll definitely get to it!

Tribute to Dave Szulborski

A moment of silence to mourn the passing of Dave S., game designer, author, and all-around warm, wonderful human being. 

We'll all miss you. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's more information here.)

Happy Ada Lovelace Day

Today, March 24, is Ava Lovelace Day, "an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology." I'm thrilled to see the day getting lots of publicity. If you've been following along here at DeusXM, you know that issues of gender equality are near and dear to my heart.

I signed the pledge weeks ago, intending to write about Roberta Williams, pioneering game designer and co-founder of Sierra On-Line. When you wax nostalgic for the halcyon days of King's Quest, you should take a second to think of Roberta and be grateful for her contributions to the canon of modern computer gaming.

But one of the things I absolutely love about the ARG community is the way it has historically attracted girls and women, both as players and as developers. So let me shout out to some of the women working in our cutting-edge, innovative field, who are excelling in technology and showing little girls that yes, they can come to the party, too. In no particular order, I give you:

• Jan Libby
• Maureen McHugh 
• Naomi Alderman 
• Krystyn Wells 
• Marie Lamb 
• Wendy Despain 
• Dee Cook 
• Brooke Thompson 
• Geneviève Cardin  
• Michelle Senderhauf 
• and (of course) Jane McGonigal 

Every one of these women has done something amazing, and I expect further amazement as the days go by.

If you're a woman who makes ARGs and I've left you off the list, I'm so sorry! I mean no disrespect; this is just the few I thought of on the spur of the moment -- and the fact that the list is as long as it is is a massive credit to us all, don't you think? But consider this an open thread to talk up the women in tech you admire -- particularly the women in games in general and ARGs in specific -- even if that woman is yourself.

Updated to add: So of course I leave off Kim Plowright, who has been my link to sanity lo these many months during the Routes development cycle and run. Sorry, Kim! You know I loves you!

Update 2: And of course Catherine Herdlick, too. Sheesh!

Binary Thinking

Y'all should hop on over to see what Christ Dena has to say about the pervasive binary thinking we're seeing online with increasing frequency of late. 

It's an excellent point. I know everything I've ever done, no matter how good or how bad, is an aggregate of much smaller successes and failures. But the problem is even bigger than just assessing creative work; it's endemic to political discourse, too, to the detriment of... well... pretty much everybody. 

Anyway, click on over and give Christy some love. She's earned it.

Link Me, Link You -- Link Us Together

Say, you there! The attractive one with the keyboard -- yes, you! Do you like ARGs, gaming, or digital culture? Do you like to talk about them and write about them? I just bet you do, a clever sort like you. I can tell by the bright gleam of intellect in your eyes. Have I got a deal for you, and only you!

Over the next few weeks I'd like to dust off my links list to include a more complete set of friends, colleagues, and other sites that I should be linking to because... well... I just should. But I need your help! If you'd like me to add you to my links list, or if you know somebody who should be on the list, go on and leave me a comment. My only requirement is that the site be at least somewhat topical, and isn't part of an ongoing game.

And if in return you are moved to link to me in return? There's no requirement; I'm not a tit-for-tat kind of linker. But hey, if you'd like to bump up my meager Technorati score, I certainly won't complain!

ARGology! It Lives!

And now that I'm a solid three weeks behind the news, I'd like to officially announce ARGology! This site is a volunteer effort by members of the IGDA's ARG SIG to create some much-needed resources for people who are trying to learn about the genre, or trying to tell others about the genre.

The ARGology effort has been spearheaded by the priceless-beyond-rubies Christy Dena with hosting and technical matters generously taken care of by the equally irreplaceable John Evans. This is in no way meant to minimize the contributions of the other volunteers who made ARGology a reality, name-checked along with their contributions in our announcement notice.

One thing about ARGology you may not know without poking around a bit: There's a listing for developers, including both studios and freelancers in the field. If you're interested in being listed here, drop me a line and I'll add you in.

Xenophile & Stitch up for Banff Awards

I'd like to offer my congratulations to my colleagues in Canada who have received Banff World Television Award nominations.

Stitch Media is nominated in the category of mobile program enhancement forThe Border: Interactive, and Xenophile Media is nominated in the category of interactive program enhancement for "Total Drama Island."

Great work, guys. Here's hoping for big wins!

The Good Captain in Review

A few weeks ago, The Good Captain, an adaptation of a Herman Melville story for Twitter, finally wrapped up. This story was written by Jay Bushman of The Loose-Fish Project.

The surprising thing about the Good Captain was how quickly it became a thread positively thrumming with tension. At first, it was admittedly a little difficult to follow the story, and I found myself tracking back frequently to make sure I really understood what was going on. But after the first several updates, as the scene was set and the story proper got underway, I began to learn some valuable lessons about tension and pacing.

The lesson is this: Giving your audience only the sparest taste at once with long pauses in between amps up the tension in a story like nobody's business. I should've known this from my Cloudmakers days, of course. That game primarily updated on Tuesdays, and the community would whip itself into a frenzy with anticipation of new content each week. But as it turns out, this effect works with more modest amounts of content, as well, and maybe even better.

That's because the anticipation gives each tiny piece a disproportionate significance. If I had been able to read this story straight through, I would have breezed through sentences like "Now I feel silly and I chuckle at myself. Dziga’s jumpiness must be getting to me." But when it's all I had to add to the story at once, I would find myself sifting through the story in my head word by word, trying to work out where it was all going. Was it foreshadowing? Was it a sign that something was about to happen? Could I take it at face value? What the heck was going on, here?!

And so this medium, tiny bites of story delivered intermittently, provided a fantastic vehicle for delivering incrementally more and more tense bits of story, and then, at the end, unwinding it all in a few short days with the final explanation.

Good work, guys. Can't wait to see your next one.

More on Majestic

I'm pleased to see that my drive-by commenter, Greg, has reposted some of his thoughts about Majestic at his own site. Go, Greg!

The Loose-Fish Project

I am absolutely thrilled to tell you about the Loose-Fish Project, an artistic effort brought to life by Cloudmakers alumni Jay Bushman and Bronwen Liggitt. The Loose-Fish Project is a work attempting to break down the boundaries of old-media storytelling and move the narrative form boldly into the future. The first project is The Good Captain, and you can follow along via the Twitter feed that appears to be its primary medium.

Go, sign up. Do it now. This is going to be one helluva ride, I promise.

I love the future, don't you? Now I just need to work out a way to get my greasy little paws involved in the project somehow...