Mystery Play was a week long Alternate Reality Game that I ran twice as my thesis project at UCSC.
In the tradition of MFA projects, it was a woolly, wild experience, where I learned a lot in a short time. The story asked players to interact with twelve mysterious entities through twitter, SMS, and email. My student aide and I built a system that let us queue messages through a single system and send them out through all of our different avenues, sorted by character and time. The story was player-driven, with players deciding which of the NPCs they wanted to interact with and when. Ultimately, the players were asked to see their world through new eyes, to experience the mundane as if it was wondrous. It was gratifying to hear players report that they felt more excited and creative after the game, and a couple of players noted that the game had impacted their post-college choices.
Want to know more? See me interviewed about this project!
Role: Lead Designer, Producer
