110821 Game Flow/Script Overview Working Session

Allen, Erik, and Wei-Hwa reviewed the script and game flow to identify remaining issues:

GENERAL NOTES

• It might be best to start the game at 9 AM rather than 10 AM so as to have more daylight. We could start at 8 AM, but that might be difficult for teams traveling in from out of town.
• "Midi ether co-keypad ring" name isn't up to the quality of "chronomentometer"; if we can come up with an alternate we should.
• If we're going to get teams to sign up in the roles of "scientists, journalists, investors, and government officials" we need to build more into the game to make use of that. (Ideas: 1) application process (apply as role); 2) order of some optional puzzles; 3) Act II registration challenge/maze; 4) Easter egg? (TBD).)
• At some points in the script, important information (about relationships, etc.) is communicated by the characters' expressions. These may not communicate well in live action. So we should reinforce these subtle cues with additional lines in the script where possible and also have the actors "act big."
• For each activity we must very clearly communicate to the teams how they should check in with their solution.
• We must make it difficult for teams to accidentally overhear other teams when the other teams are communicating their solutions to GC.
• We must tell the teams that they must bring a digital camera with them and a way to email in solutions to GC (such as for the ring puzzles of Act I). (In general, we need to think about what to advise teams to bring, and if any of the items suggested - e.g., a tape player w/ "cue" capability - should be in pre-clues.)
• Some of the communications to the teams must be done by the principal actors. With 20 teams it will be easy for this to cause a bottleneck of communications. We must be careful to limit the number of such key interactions and spread them out in the game flow to prevent bottlenecks.
• When the teams have phone calls with the primary actors we should make sure they're doing it on speaker phone so all the teammates can hear. The actors might have to start the conversation with "are you all on your speakerphone?"
• In this vein, communications for optional puzzles should be performed by "lab assistants" and other GC members; email or chat might also be an effective mode of communications since one person can probably handle multiple email threads simultaneously.
• The hint manual entry for each activity/puzzle must clearly describe who should respond to a correct answer and what the response should be.
• We might want to hand out a list of suggested local food locations at the end of each act (or have a page on one of our web sites)

APPLICATION

• Should we ask teams to bring *two* signed copies of their waivers to save time in Act III sign in...they won't have to fill out second copies on the spot. [Allen prefers not to for verisimilitude...filling out form doesn't take very long.]

ACT I

• Need to flesh out what happens when teams check in. (Probably simple: waivers, badges, esp. since we have to do this twice.)
• Sign in process should be fast
• Teams won't automatically "hush" when Doctor When first enters (as indicated in an earlier version of the script)...so we'll have Prof. Chronos act as M.C. and introduce him .
• Perhaps a funny line would be, "introducing the man of the hour" or "a man ahead of his time."
• We don't particularly like the "It's just very expensive" joke.
• Erik doesn't like the line "Ha again!"; Allen thinks it's fabulous; we'll try it out at the table read.
• All actors, inc. extras, should make the "panic" clear as the machine breaks down.
• When Prof. Chronos introduces the core dump 1 puzzle, we should add some "I wish there was a much faster way to solve this, but I think you're going to have to systematically decode it" verbiage. This won't help in Act I...in fact, we hope that most players ignore it. But when she repeats it in Act III it should help goad the teams into shouting out the answer they came up with in Act I.
• Make sure teams know to come to a lab assistant when they answer the puzzle (e.g., core dump)
• Core Dump 1: Do we need to collect the cores back from the teams so that we don't have to make extras for Act III?
• Dwight must make sure that the teams notice the empty picture frame when they visit Wesley's childhood bedroom. (Noticing the frame may be the cue to give them to puzzle, but if teams start thinking other environmental stuff is a clue and ignore the picture, Dwight has to steer them.)
• Dwight must hint to the teams that once they receive the CYOA book they may leave and solve anywhere they want...even at a café or restaurant on nearby Haight Street.
• Even though we're going to have fun set decorations to look at in Wesley's childhood bedroom, Dwight must steer the teams away from wasting too much time on red herrings.
• All teams must be out of the lab by the time the first team finishes CYOA (so Chronos can answer their call).
• Prof. Chronos's instructions for the Password #1 puzzle must clearly direct them to call her when done since her surprise about the password mentioning Buffy is a key plot point.
• "hand off instructions for calibration to assistant" - i.e., once she gives the answer to the mixtape (BUFFYROCKS) and Chronos shows her dismay, she should hand the phone to a lab assistant, who should introduce the calibration puzzle.
• We don't make particularly good use of the Longnow Foundation location, such as with an environmental puzzle. Right now, it seems like they'll simply pick up a CD/DVD of the calibration puzzle there.
• After they solve Calibration at the Longnow Foundation, we can motivate teams to go to another location by claiming that's where they'll pick up the "technology" for a live feed from the View-O-Scope. Remember: for Calibration we're just handing them a CD "recording" of the history of where Doctor When has bounced through time.
• The whole big bang scene is still a bit problematic. We settled on changing the action so that Doctor When causes the big bang by lighting a match. He then notices that something bad has happened as a result...so he has to give the next information ("Send Me Back") in a hurry before he's destroyed.
• The Send Me Back puzzle is still problematic. We're not sure what this puzzle is. Plus we probably want them to solve it someplace other than Ft. Mason (they've already been there for a while solving Calibration). Perhaps we could communicate some mock-science reason why they can only receive the puzzle at an alternate location (probably somewhere between Ft. Mason and Ft. Point). (Note that we can send them somewhere else between calibration and Send Me Back, saying that they must pick up the special view-o-scope connection device (i.e., the flash drive containing the videos) at that location - perhaps in the Presidio?)
• Concerning the Retrieve The Letter:

- Need to design this activity - Need to communicate to teams precisely where in Ft. Point they should go - Need a stronger call to action to find where the letter is, retrieve it, hand it to a local lab assistant (to be sent to Doctor When in 1986) - Need to construct letters so there's no way the teams won't look inside (and Tiresias may need to steer them to do so)

• We want the Consolidation 1 puzzle to be after Retrieve The Letter (perhaps at the Sundial); some concern re: daylight for teams to be working in proximity. Idea: have "progress bar" on the projection screen (see below).
• We can tell the teams that whatever they did by sending the letter back caused some ripple in time (or other techno babble) that now requires them to do one more repair--hence the Consolidation 1 puzzle
• Then we could project the final video at that location and the teams could all watch the "payoff" together - need to make sure that projection onto a screen/sheet/etc. is visible, and that we have speakers

ACT II

• We need to plan out what will happen during the sign in process. (Idea: role-based interactive registration maze/challenge - each role has to get some thing(s) from each other role, perhaps more than once.)
• Sign in process should be some fun activity, perhaps 30 minutes in length. The activity should make some use of the teams' role identities (scientist, journalist, investor, government employee), perhaps like a murder mystery game and/or a bureaucratic maze. (Wei-Hwa has an idea and will make a prototype.)
• The sign in process could include handing the teams a flyer about the celebratory reception at the San Mateo International Museum of Pretentious Art; this is both foreshadowing and gives them the address (street and web!).
• Doctor When should act as M.C. to introduce Prof. Chronos, just as she did for him in Act I.
• The script needs more lines to illustrate the friction between Buffy and Doctor When; some can be included during the introduction of Prof. Chronos
• Need to think through what Buffy does after the time machine breaks down. Right now...she has nothing to do.
• We could have her "hijack" some of the phone calls to Doctor When, adding her own acerbic commentary. (In fact, she should handle some specific points, to make sure When isn't overtaxed answering puzzles.)
• We must ensure that the players know that the result of the Art History puzzle is where Prof. Chronos wants to be sent.
• The some of the images of Prof. Chronos in the Art History puzzle should show her with the bolt cutters (e.g., American Gothic) ...and some without.
• When Buffy learns that Prof. Chronos is being sent back to 1986, she might comment, "at least her clothes will be in fashion then."
• When the teams are searching for the locker combination, we need to find ways to make sure the teams go to the teacher's lounge first for Overheard Conversations, rather than straight to the Principal's office.
• If teams solving Overheard Conversations notice lots of other teams in the Principal's office, they may just back solve Overheard Conversations
• Perhaps instead the teams already know that the info is in the Principal's office, but they discover they need a key to get into that room or a file cabinet within the room. There could be a sign in the Principal's office, "for afterhours access to records see _______ in the teachers' lounge."
• We should include a compression puzzle after locker combo, just as in Act I.
• Where should this puzzle take place? Perhaps we can use the same location as where we'll have the 1986 science fair in Act III...but only if there's enough time to move things around in between acts. We could even decorate the room in Act II with signs touting the upcoming 2012 science fair as foreshadowing for the event in Act III.

ACT III

• Sign in process should be fast, exactly the same as in Act I.
• However, teams may need to fill out another copy of the liability waiver (or hand in a second copy if we ask them to bring two)
• During the beginning of this Act, everything before Jiffy Pop 1, Prof. Chronos will do her lines with all the players simultaneously. She will have to improvise to make sure everyone hears that each answer from Act I seems to work.
• We might have Prof. Chronos hypothesize that there are psychics in the audience...or make up some pseudo science/time particle radiation explanations.
• Core Dump Redux: do we have to create a second copy of this puzzle for each team? [We hope not--these are expensive.]
• During this Act, the View-O-Scope can be on one or more of the lab assistants' computers. (This is the only video in Act III so we can do it this way instead of handing out a CD).
• During Calibration Redux we can just hand them another CD with the video on it...since CDs are cheap.
• The "So You're Going To Be A Time Traveler" pamphlet will be re-written to say it's from an old government agency ("we've had these things lying around since the 50s"), not a Trenchwood Institute publication.
• Once a team completes Jiffy Pop 2 it must be given a visible token to display so as to make it easy for Tiresias to quickly distinguish what "state" a team is in as it approaches the return portal arch.