ARG Academy

I often find that slides lack something without the presenter's commentary, but I really enjoyed this set. Good stuff!

Now - can we use to mindmap?

I think the experiment would be worth it on several levels. First, just to get experience exploring this notion of visualizing data in an immersive 3D VW space and what it would take to do this. Also, what we learn & produce might also be incorporated into the gameplay/plot of the storyline for this ARG. And what we learn & produce as far as useful knowledge & hopefully a useful mind-map tool (or tool building approach) could be used for future endeavors.

Is it for an ARG?

Borrowing from the concept framework provided by the Wikipedia entry for Immersion, I think an ARG must have at least the characteristics of emotional/narrative immersion and cognitive/strategic immersion; basically connecting to a participant's interest and level of focus/engagement. From my perspective, the emotional/narrative component is key, because I don't think the act of just tackling a series of puzzles makes something an ARG. And if we then add blended & augmented reality elements, then I think there's the opportunity to allow for sensory-motoric/tactical immersion as well as spatial immersion.

Wow, here's a gameplay clip that captures all three aspects of the immersion experience, sensory-motoric, cognitive & emotional; and it somehow even manages to throw in a bit of cognitive dissonance for extra measure... I think it's a great example of the impact creating these kinds of 'ah ha' moments can have and how these moments can distinguish an ARG as an engaging learning platform: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8AFiaWz7WI

The ARG SIG Wiki of the International Game Developers Association looks like it could be a rich source to mine for info, especially their white papers...

the inner workings of Google

an online Notice Board maker, build a wall and communicate

ARG example scheme event Edison blog

video game designer, story and character development, scripting and level designer

Augmented Reality Game

University of Waterloo

Can we take any tech tools from here?

An example of an ARG like game played out in a 1997 movie starring Mike Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, et al. Could be watched & studied for various examples of ARG game play & story elements. Along these lines, I think there are probably lots of movies & books from which inspiration could be drawn for an ARG, e.g. genre, storyline or plot development, setting, etc. For example, it occurs to me that another one of my favorite films, Dark City, could also be great inspiration for an ARG with a bit of sci fi noir flavor to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_City_(1998_film)

This behind the scenes retrospective look at Perplex City ARG shows some of the elements that went into that game and might offer some interesting ideas....

Here's the Wikipedia entry for Perplex City which provides a helpful overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perplex_City

Another example of an AR geolocation based game. Also a great deal of outdoorsy fun! :-)

Create Simple Diagrams Quickly - a free version

The Best Tools & Apps on the web, a catalogue/database of up and coming tools for you to use in the classroom or an ARG

Murku Second Life Comic Creator - make a screenshot that looks like page from a comic with text-filled call-outs and pop-ups