Taniith’s Relto

Well this is exciting. I finally have an excuse to set up a discussion board: we needed a place for the ARG production team. I’ve always wanted to setup a forum…

In other news, I found out yesterday that I was chosen for the IQP team I requested for next year. If you don’t know, at WPI each student has to do 3 projects: an IQP (interactive qualifying project), and MQP (major qualifying project - like a senior thesis but real-world applications), and a humanities sufficiency. Of course, if you are like me, you do two MQPs instead of the sufficiency. An IQP is supposed to be something that might not be in your major, but that in some way discusses how technology effects the world and the IQP helps to effect the world. People go to Venice and help with engineering of the canals, or to London for global warming things, or whatever.

My IQP is an interactive installation piece on campus. There really isn’t much more to it than that, as I haven’t even met the group yet, but it should be a lot of fun. The nice thing about this project is that I can draw on all of my skills, from art to programming to lighting and construction. There may even be drafting involved, unless our adviser managed to find an ME major to join.

Well, back to the grind.. I mean ARG.

-K

No, that actually means something. Its called an Alternate Reality Game, and my storytelling class is making one. Without going into crazy amounts of detail, and ARG is essentially an experience where the characters and story exist in the real world. This guy has a facebook account, and this one likes to post videos on YouTube… the only difference is that they are fictional. Of course, one of the challenges is to make people think they aren’t fictional.

Now, we choose duties in class yesterday. You know, producers, writers, artists, etc. Guess what I volunteered for. I’ll give you a hint, its not an artist. No, I volunteered for Lead Producer. I wanted to be a producer, and I had said to some people how I might take lead if no one else did. So they ask who wants lead, and no one raised a hand… so the TA started saying to Dean (professor) how it was it hadn’t happened before that no one volunteers right away; I knew this meant that a quip about how maybe our class isn’t as good as the other section (making their own ARG that we have to play). Not to mention, my friend Andrew was kicking my foot… so I raised my hand.

What does this mean? It means that I’m in charge of everything, and everyone. Can I pull this off? I hope so.

No, off to finish a paper before my next production meeting.

-K

And just like that, it is gone again. I decided not to stay until the end; I spent the last few days collecting photos of most of the new places that may never be seen again. Then I went through a few ages, shutting down power, closing doors, etc… and I ended it by sitting on the bench on my Relto, looking out at the clouds.

Then I had to come back to the surface and deal with schoolwork: draft analysis paper of Homeworld due Friday, DnD campaign also due Friday, and I need to play LotR Online so I can write a paper about that. Then I need to read a whole book about creating Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) by sometime next week.

*sigh* fun, right?

-K

I know I haven’t written in a while, but I wanted to say something here. In less than 12 hours, Myst Online will shut down (again)… 12:01 EST tomorrow morning. So of course, the authentication server is dead and no one can get on at the moment. Gee, its just like the last time they shut down the game.

Meanwhile, I’m installing Lord of the Rings Online, which I am required to play for a class… yeah I know, crazy game development major, right?

Well, I’ll probably be back to report on anything that happens regarding MOUL in the next 12 hours.

-K