// Aporia News 2.5

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend ARGfest-o-con 2008 in Boston, and to meet many incredible people who work on these games and play them. I was excited to finally meet Brian Clark, Dave Szulborski, Jan Libby, Ken Ecklund, and many of the players which make developing the games so rewarding.

I had the opportunity to sit down with another developer and we discussed much of what the two of us were doing in our current projects. This discussion was very similar to the keynote Dave delivered to cap off the panels on Saturday. As as cross-media designer I am more of a story-teller than a game designer. A game for any purpose whether it is developed for brand awareness or solely for entertainment purposes needs to have a creative story attached to it.

Our current project is completely independent allowing us full creative control over everything that happens within the game and the attached story. As I had discussed with the other developer, the most entertaining part of the development process was sitting down and creating a universe for our story to exist in then designing the approach for allowing players to immerse themselves in this story.

The power of being able to create your own intellectual property and universe for your story is what draws many artists into what it is they love doing. For many artists the reward is in seeing the audience’s reaction to what you have created. Fortunately for those of us who create these cross-media experiences we get to experience the audience’s reaction (both good and bad) as they experience it live.

This project has allowed us to create a universe which we can expand upon through various mediums. Movies, novels, and even television shows can realistically exist within the universe while all remaining their own intellectual entity. It will be entertaining and rewarding if we are able to inspire any of our audience to create their own story within this universe.

On a side note, it appeared that quite a few people were slightly put off by the term “serious” when dealing with games that approached serious topics such as Ken Ecklund’s World Without Oil. With this current project we have incorporated an undertone to the game which is along those serious lines, but we wanted to ensure any of the critics of the term “serious” that we are focusing on the entertainment of the story. We feel this allows the audience to embrace the serious nature while not feeling as though the serious nature is being forced down their throat.

So, many of you may ask what this serious aspect to the game is. As I mentioned, it is a theme that is underlying the game. It is a simple passion of mine to allow people to be intrigued by the thought that they can look at the people around them for who they are rather than what they are. So as you enjoy our most recent development, keep the thought in the back of your mind that while you meet someone new whose appearance makes you apprehensive - it is not the what they are that counts, it is who we all are which makes our experiences with each other so enthralling.