I'm thinking of creating an ARG, or something similar

[Jisenku]

Obviously not super complex, I'm leaning towards things like LOCAL 58 (BTW, a bit graphic) that don't have extremely crazy and convoluted story-lines, just something to be extra creepy and ominous while not trying to look like a stupid kid trying to be edgy. I mean stuff that is borderline psychological horror type stuff. Does anybody have some tips, maybe some critic? Just thinking of something to do during COVID, and maybe something that will entertain some people.

My plan would be to do something that is generally creepy, not NSFW, or something gory, and really scary. More of something that is unnerving and will make you look behind your back to make sure something isn't stalking you sort of thing.

 

[Sunny_Meows]

I'm not very well-versed in the horror genre, but I think the best ones have VERY convlouted storylines because of the air of mystery behind them. So if you want to make an ARG (is that like a scavenger hunt?), make it seem like the player has to escape from something, but you they don't know what. Make it feel like a genuine threat or something. Maybe that's obvious i don't know

 

[Jisenku]

I'm not very well-versed in the horror genre, but I think the best ones have VERY convoluted storylines because of the air of mystery behind them. So if you want to make an ARG (is that like a scavenger hunt?), make it seem like the player has to escape from something, but you/they don't know what. Make it feel like a genuine threat or something. Maybe that's obvious I don't know

True, but it being my first one, I want to start simple before branching out into more... exciting territory. While I agree that the best ones have the most convoluted storyline, I'm just one person right now, trying to make a fun and simple puzzle adventure that's quite unnerving. Also, I want to make it seem realistic, but also something that you can look back on and say "Oh, this isn't real life!" but still be able to say that it was realistic.

I already have a base for my narrative, but it probably needs to be established first before I can start the ARG puzzle. It's basically a social media account called CRYPTICAL, a news outlet that talks about different sorts of crypto security, and will periodically post certain puzzles that are a recruitment tool for their religion Crypism (unbeknownst to the general public). Crypism is the belief in one god, but in order to find him, you have to solve different puzzles assigned by the church. Of course, to get people interested, I will have to do a stunt to get people to solve the puzzle.

Once solving the puzzles, you find that there is a lot of... dirt on some people (but don't worry, their all fake of course w/ random generated faces) then you go deeper and deeper into the religion, trying to uncover who this god is, and some secrets hidden in the church.

That's just a little rough draft, not too sure if it will work or not.

 

[28142]

BTW, local58 is not an ARG, it's a web series. It didn't have puzzles or player interactivity so it was just a story. Some ARGs are web series', not all web series' are ARGs.

You have a good base. The reason to why most stories are convoluted in ARGs is because it sort of needs to be? You need to have MANY paths planned that the players can go down otherwise the interactivity isn't going to be there, you also need mystery for retention. If everything is black and white then people aren't going to stick around for long.

Puzzles will have to be unique as well, to make something interesting to the wider crowd you'll have to look at many different ARGs, big and small, and look at the puzzles and what kind of stuff gets done, and what stuff is done most often. You'll want to avoid doing the common stuff (if you REALLY want to though, only do it at the very start mixed in with unique stuff in order to allow new ARG players to get in though you can still have easy puzzles with unique stuff).

Puzzles also need a lore reason, they can't just be "here's some puzzles because.... Sure?", they need to start somewhere and progress the story in a logical manner.

 

[Jisenku]

BTW, local58 is not an ARG, it's a web series. It didn't have puzzles or player interactivity so it was just a story. Some ARGs are web series', not all web series' are ARGs.

You have a good base. The reason to why most stories are convoluted in ARGs is because it sort of needs to be? You need to have MANY paths planned that the players can go down otherwise the interactivity isn't going to be there, you also need mystery for retention. If everything is black and white then people aren't going to stick around for long.

Puzzles will have to be unique as well, to make something interesting to the wider crowd you'll have to look at many different ARGs, big and small, and look at the puzzles and what kind of stuff gets done, and what stuff is done most often. You'll want to avoid doing the common stuff (if you REALLY want to though, only do it at the very start mixed in with unique stuff in order to allow new ARG players to get in though you can still have easy puzzles with unique stuff).

Puzzles also need a lore reason, they can't just be "here's some puzzles because.... Sure?", they need to start somewhere and progress the story in a logical manner.

Yeah, hopefully, I can think up of some lore to actually back up the ARG besides just a religion, maybe a recruitment process disguised as a personality test? Not 100% sure how I'm going to make it connect to the lore, but it just might work! (Of course I'm not going to be doing something like Kanye Quest, that was just weird... I'm thinking more towards fun cryptography)

 

[28142]

Yeah, hopefully, I can think up of some lore to actually back up the ARG besides just a religion, maybe a recruitment process disguised as a personality test? Not 100% sure how I'm going to make it connect to the lore, but it just might work! (Of course I'm not going to be doing something like Kanye Quest, that was just weird... I'm thinking more towards fun cryptography)

Maybe something a lil different. "recrutement test for a religion" has kinda been done... a million times before. Maybe try and go at that idea from a different angle?

 

[Jisenku]

Maybe something a lil different. "recrutement test for a religion" has kinda been done... a million times before. Maybe try and go at that idea from a different angle?

I still want the sort of hierarchy system, trying to reach the top of the pyramid in some form or fashion...

OMG, what about a corporate account that's secretly recruiting for something, but the plot twist is that at the top, it's actually just something that's really simple, and nothing bad whatsoever, it's just that getting there seems really bad.

 

[Jisenku]

I feel like this idea has been done way too many times (You've seen one you've seen them all)

I feel like forgetting about it and focus on my other ridiculous dreams