Picture the Impossible (Fall 2009)

This is a game I worked on in my Interactive Multimedia Project classes where we built the Alternate Reality Game (or Augmented Reality Game,) with/for the local Rochester newspaper, the Democrat & Chronicle. During the Spring ’09 class we designed the game, creating a design document, and also started to work on some of the basic content for the game once it started.

During this time I was working on a number of different aspects of the game including, but not limited to, writing of a hidden underlying narrative to the game, as well as designing some of the game systems and some of the web games. The game players were divided into three factions, each of which was assigned a charity based on their faction, and by playing games, or participating in various activities, players would earn points for their faction. Each week the faction’s charity would receive a donation, the largest donation going to the top scoring faction, the second most going to the second highest scoring, and the last place faction receiving the smallest donation amount.

During that Summer of '09 I continued to work on the game, and during this time the game was built. Then in the Fall of ’09 I took the Interactive Multimedia Project class again, during which the game was launched, and run. Running from Sept. 7 to Oct. 31. While the game was running I helped design some of the puzzles, mainly encryption puzzles for some of the hidden narrative aspects of the game. In the end the game had about 2,500 players; around 400 of which would be considered active players. For more information on the game you can visit the Picture the Impossible website.