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Help us make history
Anashel
Member UncommonPosts: 200
Agents -
Majestik attempted a semi-permanent ARG back in 2001. Since then, the genre has been limited to being a viral gimmick, either for a product or a movie.
You have the power to make history, to push ARGs forward as a legitimate genre: PARG.
We're still very much open to suggestions. Our community has already proposed new pledges, and they have been supplied. If you feel there's a particular kind of pledge that we're missing, here is your opportunity to suggest it--we promise, we're listening.
As you know, our core offering is a permanent ARG, with 12 months of gameplay broken down into three-month-long periods of game experience that we call generations (making four generations in a year). Each generation represents about 20 to 50 hours of gameplay in our hubs, similar to The GATE or The Situation Room. For $30 to $50, you get from anywhere between 80 to 200 hours of gameplay, depending on how kind the missions are to you.
- You can go wild and solve missions with real-life interactions that span from a simple phone call with an NPC to full real-life encounters in a city or other public location.
- You can work as a hacker: breaking codes, entering servers, and being the leader who opens the door for the rest of the players to follow.
- You can be an investigator: getting into the mind of the enemy you track down, looking into a small town’s history to discover links that were lost years ago, and helping your team stop a demented, ritualistic serial killer who is trying to bring a long-lost evil to life.
- You can hone your skill as a sniper: deploying behind enemy lines as a covert ops shock trooper and using your Action Per Minute skills to bring down building security or wreak havoc with your remote-controlled attack drone.
At the end of the day, whatever path you choose, we will push you out of your comfort zone. You will experience something that you will never forget for the rest of your life, a thrill that games stopped giving us a long time ago. Experience the feeling of the community, the excitement of the chase, and the euphoria of winning and breaking down some of the most wicked puzzles ever created that NO ONE could have solved alone.
Help us by inviting your friends join the Church of the Black Watchmen. A new pledge is aimed at the people who are not in this for the in-game items, but are ready to see change and to create a new genre altogether.
So pretty please, with sugar on top: Pledge NOW!
Or tell us: What is the number-one feature that we can add to get you to pledge? (Please limit it to your top one, if you can.)
Comments
It's an amazing thing to be a part of, not just the launch of a new game, but essentially a whole new genre. The opportunities here to get a personalized experience, that can only advance over the years is mind boggling, and when you equate that to the cost, even going for a dedicated mission, it's still cheaper than most subscription games (not to mention how expensive some "free" games are).
The community is great, at least those who have come out f the woodwork and socialized, I'm sure the rest are too. Join us! Be a part of something great!
When I was 14, I played this crazy game called Majestic. It was unlike any other game I had ever played before, and it changed how I saw game interaction. I was too young, so I had to lie just to play, and I even bought my first cell phone (which weighed about a pound) just to get those crazy calls in the middle of the night. To me, THAT has always been the definition of a true ARG.
And no one has ever come close to that experience, but now you're stepping up to the plate and offering something following in those footsteps. That's why I have pledged, and repledged, at least 4 times now. I want a game that will take me back to those days of Majestic, and I truly hope that you get funded and rise to the occasion.
Asking nicely. With sugar on top.
See, wasn't that easy?
I've actually been just about to pull the trigger on an advanced sub for the past week anyhow... and then keep getting hung up on whether to go dedicated, or throw money at add-ons (since, well, stuff!)... and now you offer me a curious new option with a faint whiff of obscure rites and ritual about it. What's a bat to do?
Seriously, though, I'm a little fuzzy on precisely what precisely (or even vaguely) this new Believer pledge is. A new subscription level between normal and advanced? A mysterious grab bag of esoteric wonder? A chance to become a living (err, well, briefly) sacrifice to those strange squamous shapes I saw moving down the river last night? A "just take my money, dammit!" option for the faithful who've already joined up but realized they could still redeem all those bottles in the kitchen for a little more cash? If I'm not going to be eating this month, I need to at least know that I'm not eating for the right pledges.
Also, is there any mechanism in place for getting gift subs for people? Or do we need to just hand them the cash with dire threats of brutal and violent retribution if they decide instead to blow it on something frivolous like food?
-Bats
(still alive, after going unavoidably dark for a time)
^..^
Well, if people are not convinced by the wolf, that's the next step ...
As for your question, I'm not sure I understand. Yes this new pledge is a pure 'mystery gift' that we control on our side. But for the other pledge / rewards, they are all described in details and will be given before the launch of the beta in September.
Ok, I'm convinced! I'm convinced! A subscription is a small price to pay for keeping my ears intact.
Is possible to buy a gift subscription for other people who may also want to keep their ears?
Fair enough. I can work with 'deliberately mysterious'. Much more fun than 'just generally vague'.
But wouldn't that make more sense to list it with the stretch pledges than the subscriptions? Or would answering that be giving away too much?
Yep, the others I'm clear on. There are just too many that I want, and too little money to get everything...
Unless...
Anyone want to buy a slightly used kidney?
-Bats
(how about a matched pair? act now, and maybe I can even throw in a third. Hold still, dammit! I'm typing!)
^..^
There was actually a brief moment last night, where one could glimpse the beauty of ARGs in action;
We were all working on the same google document, corrections, rewordings, what have you. It was mesmerising to watch, to say the least, even for such a relatively mundane task. Multiple people working together; the little anonymous zoo-creature tabs darting about the document, correcting and rewriting alongside each other, without anyone ever bumping into the other, or mistakenly changing something back.
Indeed, when I first came to help with the work, I was worried if it would turn into a case of "too many cooks spoil the broth", but it didn't, far from it.
I think a large part of that ballet was made possible by the participants willingness to co-operative, which sprung naturally from the work laid out before them. The same kind of necessity and co-operation that springs from ARGs.
Yet that was working on a simple, mundane document. Now imagine being part of something much larger, working on something many times more intricate, and imagine how beautiful of a machine such level of co-operation must be.
Doing so, I can't help but ask why someone would not want to join in, and be a cog in such an awe-inspiring machine.
This...ok...I wasn't 14. I was considerably older than that. Still I played Majestic and I have also been looking for something to mirror that experience since. I am also hoping that this will fill that void and then some. I have pledged and once I sort some things, will pledge again.
Hi there!
I have posted in several communities on g+ about the crowd funding campaign, and shared it with several of my internal circles as well as friends on FB.
*fingers crossed*
I think part of the problem is that MMORPG isn't a location most people would go to look for crowdfunding. I really believe if this were on Kickstarter it would do a lot better. More exposure imo. But that's water under the bridge at this point.
Additionally, while it's nice to get things for free, I think that giving TSW subscribers a freebie wasn't a good choice. I know why it was done, and it's a good gesture. I just don't see this as being any more or less expensive than a lot of the projects I've backed on Kickstarter.
I'm hoping to have finances in order here soon and be able to pledge some more, but I've tapped out all my friends and annoyed a few of my friends on Facebook with it. All to no avail. We might need more exposure in different areas. Not just MMO sites. Links on Funcom or TSW are good for those that play the games, but maybe IGN or (though I loathe to say it) Gamestop to get the random gamers that may/may not be aware of it.
Just my two cents.
Why dont you help us make a decision about wtf your game is by uploading some real info and gameplay footage, instead of this insulting carrot stick routine you think is working for you now.
Until then your just another mindless ad campaign for a game that probably will never exist in its promised form.
There is what technically amounts to a demo of what the game is all about found here. It's also linked on the front page of the games section, i.e. the "Play Now" two times over to the left from the "Forums" button, at the bottom of the page.
The reason there is no gameplay footage, is it would have to be real-world footage of you playing a mission - perchance sitting and thinking quite hard at your computer - which sounds a lot less exciting than it actually is - my experiences with ARGs have been many times more thrilling than any FPS I've played in recent times, only on par with my time playing Tribes 2 competitively.
Beyond the in-game HUB, there is no virtual world ala. most other games. The game, for all intents and purposes, is played in the real world; while some missions may involve solving puzzles online, other online missions might demand good reflexes and dexterity, akin to Effective APM in RTS games. There is, also, a focus on physical missions; missions that require you to go out into the real world, and investigate an area or site, in order to find the relevant piece of information. These may also take the form of something akin to "Ingress", where you use the "Companion App", as TBW's App is called, to perform various virtual tasks at a specific physical location.
If you do not wish to experience the games "Pre-launch ARG" in order to find out what the game is all about, you can read the sections about "What is an ARG?", and "About the universe", also found on the games front page, at the top.
If you find you get stuck on the missions in the pre-launch ARG, feel free to join us on IRC and ask for advice, hints, or even solutions - there is also walkthroughs on "crygaia" (just do a google search for "Division 66 Crygaia", it should be the first hit you get.). I would, however, strongly encourage you to first try it on your own, then asking on IRC when you inevitably get stuck, and only resort to the walkthrough as a final measure, seeing as a large part of ARGs is the community it builds. I have yet to see a single puzzle that was solved solely by one individual, without the help of the community - and I have yet to see a more awesome community than I've seen in ARGs.
Additionally, you can read up on the previous ARGs made by Human Equation, helpfully linked in the OP. (The GATE & The Situation Room).
Hope this clarified things a bit for you.
Edit: Thought I should include this bit:
ARGs is as much a genre where "the game plays you", as it is one where "you play the game". It's not just you interacting with the game, the game also interacts with you - whereas most other games are one-way streets in these respects.
To what degree the game interacts with you, is something you decide (your "Clearence Level" when you sign up).
Clearence Level is based on the visible spectrum of light, starting at Red and, for now, going up to Yellow - possibly Green.
Red: The game interacts very little, if at all, with you - but you can freely play the game.
Orange: The game interacts more with you; you might receive texts, emails, a phone-call by someone out of breath, begging for their lives.
Yellow: Is the current highest readily available level of game to player interaction; here the game-world will also interact with you in the physical world. Meaning, you might find a black van parked outside your house, be approached by, or asked to meet up with, a fellow agent. This level is not recommended for the faint of heart, nor those that do not wish to be unannouncedly interrupted in their daily life.
Green: This is not readily available, the method to achieving it is unkown, and what it entails is also anyones guess. Safe to say, the above trend is likely to continue - the same goes for subsequent levels above Green.
Why don't you take the time to read what's up there? You obviously haven't don't your homework.
1- Game Demo you can actually play with real working game components: http://www.division-66.com/terminal/bw01/
2- Full article about the game Here and Here.
3- 3 hours of AMA with tons of questions from players:
1st: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1085/view/forums/thread/410780/AMA-Recap-21st-of-April.html
2nd: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1085/view/forums/thread/411596/AMA-Recap-27th-of-April.html
4- And if you had actually pledge for the game, access to:
-- Full profile of Soldier Class
-- Full profile of Sniper Class
-- Full profile of Scientist Class
-- Full profile of Cybertech Class
-- Full details of User Triggered Mission with Companion app.
-- Full details of Game Triggered Mission.
Add to this all content linked by Santiak already. Mindless Campaign? Yeah we just had beta player flown to another city and escorted by military personnel, raid of 100 players to preview working game mechanics... Did i need to go on... did I dream the last 6 weeks?
Hi Everyone!
I have been posting and sharing like crazy today the Crowd Funding campaign .... Seems like it is helping!
I see we have picked up a few more backers and funds are currently at $36,737 as I post this.
[quote]Originally posted by Anashel
Help us by inviting your friends join the Church of the Black Watchmen. A new pledge is aimed at the people who are not in this for the in-game items, but are ready to see change and to create a new genre altogether.
....
[/b][/quote]
so in this Church, who do you worship?
Well, for starters
A4!
A.K.A. nikel
Have I told you lately that I love you?
I hope not. Those "it was all just a dream" endings are such a cop-out. I'd be disappointed if you couldn't write a better script for yourself than that.
-Bats
^..^
I love you too very much Bats! We all do!
As for who we worship, we are all children of the paper god... A4!
*nods solemnly* A4!
I already pledged and then re-pledged and then found a couple of smaller items to pick up. The only significant kind of offering I do not see that I would still be interested in is the ability to help to design a mission, not necessarily an entire mission but at least a part in designing one of the puzzles for a mission. Even if you do not make that a pledge offering, once the game launches I think allowing player participation in planning new missions would be a cool feature.
That's a super awesome idea, and I second it!
A.K.A. nikel
Just pledged for the $30 so i can have access to the app and I am also going to pledge for the $125 tier!
Really excited for this!
@mrshom3rsimpson on twitter
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. So said by the idiot who can't understand it."
Awesome! Good to have you aboard!
But, just so you know, the $30 pledge is redundant with the $125 pledge. You get access to the companion app with the higher pledge ^^ Maybe you can email support and move that money to one of the physical pledges, if you're interested?
A.K.A. nikel
That's easy. Man Ghosthack is our man.