作者：Jon Gill

我和搭档在今年年初发行了我们的桌面游戏《Skulldug！》。这是我们第一个基于商业目的发行的桌面项目，并且最终结果也和我们的预期一样。我们收到了一些积极的评价，并在BoardGameGeek.com上获得了不错的评分，现在世界上有超过1000个家庭拥有我们的游戏。当然了，如果可以的话我肯定会修改其中的一些内容，但不管怎样我们这一次的尝试还算成功。

Skulldug!(from gamasutra)

而就像大多数独立桌面游戏那样，《Skulldug！》也是在Kickstarter上进行融资。我们是在2015年5月开始Kickstarter上的活动，那时候我们是打算在1月发行这款游戏。我们非常努力去坚守这一发行日期（尽管因为芝加哥仓库的问题导致1周的延迟），我们也尽力在开发过程中每个月都发布内容去留住投资者的心。但不管怎样，要花8个月时间去等待一款游戏还是很漫长，所以我希望提供给支持者一些东西去感谢他们所投入的耐心。我希望这是一些与众不同的东西，一些能够在游戏发行前一周为其提高知名度的东西，同时也能够报答支持者的东西。

于是我便决定创造一款ARG（游戏邦注：“侵入式虚拟现实互动游戏”。它是一种以真实世界为平台、融合了各种虚拟的游戏元素、玩家可以亲自参与到角色扮演中的多媒体互动游戏）。

教训1：你可能不应该创造一款ARG

或许你和我一样，每次只要有一款全新ARG出现你便会想着如果能够设计一款自己的ARG该多有趣。但是千万不要误会我，这的确是很有趣的。我经常享受于设计谜题，创造小道具并留给玩家许多提示。但最终我还是不能说ARG是成功的，因为它将消耗你本来可以花费在其它地方的大量时间和努力，并且最终只有少数玩家会去玩这一内容，甚至它也未能有效提高《Skulldug！》的曝光率。

但如果你真的和我一样，那么所有的这一切都不能阻止你去创造属于自己的ARG。对此我想分享自己从运行《Skulldug！》ARG的过程中所或许的一些经验教训。

背景

《Skulldug！》是一款基于竞争的探索游戏（例如《夺宝奇兵》或《洞穴探险》），我们也希望我们的ARG能够呈现出这类型游戏的一些元素。我决定将其定位为寻宝游戏，即玩家将不断奔跑去追逐一个偷了邪恶男爵的古董的探险者。我们是通过在每个月的Kickstarter更新的最底端的补充说明中最初公开ARG。一个粉丝曾经找到我们让我们去帮助寻找他消失的朋友，而我们的回应是，他们能够获得的唯一线索是Vimeo.com上视频URL列表。

这些视频是需要密码才能打开的，这也是ARG的第一个目标。即为了打开视频玩家必须破译一系列通过手写信发送给他们吗的加密信息。这些信息都包含了演员的名字和时间戳，他们可以将其用于寻找来自著名冒险电影中的一些语录。

一旦玩家通过使用著名语录作为密码，他们便会发现一系列探险者穿越森林去寻找自己最终休息地的片段，并且每个片段都有一个奇怪的高音调。通过集合每个视频的音调，隐藏于图像帧中的标点符号以及视频片段标题的第一个字母，玩家便能够创造出一组GPS坐标。这些坐标将代表探险者的墓穴的位置，更重要的是，你可以在这里找到他所留下的珍宝。

很简单吧？

基于ARG标准，通常只有3个真正的谜题（游戏邦注：密码，电影语录，GPS坐标），而所有的这一切都不需要什么专业的技能（一些更大型ARG有时候所需要的）。这是我们有意设计的，因为我们希望那些支持我们Kickstarter的小规模桌面玩家能够解决这些内容，虽然许多更大型ARG是瞄准更多玩家。

而这便是我所犯的第一个错误。

教训1：将手伸向更多用户

ARG并不是面向所有人。如果你正在创造一个ARG去推广另一个项目，那么有可能你现有的用户并不喜欢或并不想尝试你的ARG。在我们6周的ARG运行过程中我们便只迎来了10个左右的玩家，即大概占我们支持者的1%。更糟糕的是有许多玩家在留下1,2次评论后便消失了。因为这些玩家的参与是贯穿这个ARG运行过程，所以通常我们只拥有1,2个真正活跃的玩家。而缺少持续的参与者便意味着整个发展过程非常缓慢，这也会导致现有的玩家失去参与兴致并会阻碍新玩家的积极参与。

如果你打算运行一款ARG，你便需要确保你能够接触到更多玩家，如此才能够创造足够的活动去留住他们自己的兴趣。你必须清楚只会有少部分你的玩家对你的ARG感兴趣，所以你需要跳脱现有的粉丝群体去吸引外部更多玩家的参与。像Unifiction.com等充满ARG粉丝的社区便是吸引新玩家的好地方，但你必须清楚真正的ARG玩家总是会比普通玩家更快速解决你所设置的谜题。

教训2：不要约束参与者，特别是在开始的时候

除了只拥有少部分潜在参与者外，我还犯了另一个错误，便是通过限制了少部分玩家最初的参与权限而损失了更多玩家。尽管最初的谜题对于所有玩家来说都是可解决的，但是只有60多个支持者会收到拥有能够解开谜题的代码的手写信。更糟糕的是这些玩家甚至不能自己完成谜题，因为总共有5封不同的信，玩家必须分享它们才有可能解密每封信的信息。

理论上来看这个理念是不错的。收到信的玩家会觉得很特别并想要参与其中，而不得不分享代码的设定会推动玩家去进行合作并鼓励他们在剩下的ARG内容中进行交流。

但实际上，只有少数玩家会愿意去分享自己所获得的信，我也不得不为了让所有玩家进行分享而直接去联系一些玩家。同时那些没有信的玩家将无所事事，并最终导致他们对更高级别的谜题失去兴趣。

尽管面向特定玩家限制一些信息是不错，但我还是建议你们在游戏较后面阶段再使用这种方法，即当你拥有时间去获取来自粉丝基础的参与度和兴趣的时候。除此之外，你应该确保能够提供给那些你知道已经在游戏中很活跃了的玩家，而不是因为希望玩家变得积极参与游戏而将信息提供给任意玩家。

教训3：计划难度曲线

从整体上看，我非常满意《Skulldug！》ARG的谜题难度。它们都需要各种不同的技能水平，但却不像大多数更大型ARG那样专门化。我知道我的许多用户之前都未参与过ARG，所以我便尝试着创造那些更大型更知名的游戏的入门级版本。对此我是希望能够创造一个既能考验新人，且当一群玩家真正用心参与其中时也不会完全攻克不了的内容。

尽管没有一个谜题比目标更困难，但是也没有一个谜题更轻松。谜题的难度是非常恒定的，这里并没有真正的难度曲线。相反地，当玩家在努力解读神秘的信时会发现自己突然撞上一堵砖墙。即比起为ARG提供平易近人的介绍，这反而会让我们的玩家觉得ARG太过困难并影响他们的参与兴致。

尽管你可能希望ARG谜题困难些，但是因为它们的设计目的是让整个社区的玩家花几天时间去解决，所以我建议你可以先从一些较简单的谜题开始。从整体上来看它们并不会代表社区挑战，同时它们也能够帮助全新玩家慢慢深入其中并推动他们去尝试更加复杂的谜题。

教训4：避免模糊的谜题解决方法

所有拥有内部机制的谜题都必须用拥有自己的解决方法。非公开的视频文件便是个典型例子。虽然只需要玩家花费较多时间，但是通过打开视频他们便清楚自己获得的是正确的密码。

模糊的解决方法总是非常危险。如果你的玩家正在解决一个能够提供给自己非常关键信息的谜题，但是之后却发现自己获得的是错误的信息，他们便会非常受挫，你也会因此失去他们。更糟糕的是这可能导致玩家在现实世界中做出一些激进且危险的行为。

我们便在《Skulldug！》的ARG最后谜题中遇到过这种情况，即游戏中的任务要求玩家根据非公开视频文件中的线索去重建最后的GPS坐标。因为我没有固定的方法去证实玩家是否获得了正确的解决方法，所以好胜心很强的玩家可能会盲目地冲进去并最终导致自己迷失在错误的谜题解决方法中。

我们的玩家便选定了一组错误的坐标。他们好像匹配了所有线索并且在谷歌地图上进行检测时位置也看起来非常合理。为此我们不得不中途打扰他们并进行纠正，即向他们指出一些他们误解了线索的地方。最终我们使用了Twitter去告诉玩家他们何时找到了最终解决方法。但是因为刷Twitter并不是游戏前进过程中的一部分，所以这只能作为补充内容。

而如果我们能够创造一个拥有明确解决方法的谜题，所有的麻烦也就不复存在了。举个例子来说吧，比起在视频中隐藏GPS坐标，我们可以设置一个能够适时呈现坐标的URL组件。这种清晰的解决方法能够让玩家更轻松地衡量自己的进程并避免出现一些安全问题。

结论

尽管我一开始所说的是你不应创造属于自己的ARG，但事实上《Skulldug！》ARG的创造却带给了我们许多乐趣。游戏设计师并不希望将玩家置于破解密码，寻找真相以及追寻现实世界珍宝的循环中。但是因为我在上述所列出的种种错误做法，运行这样的游戏就变得压力重重。说实话，我的确不会愿意驾驶3个小时的车道华盛顿的郊外去寻找我隐藏在那的珍宝。

我真心希望自己在上面所列出的种种经验教训能够帮助你们创造出比我成功的ARG。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Lessons from the Skulldug! ARG

by Jon Gill

My partner and I launched our board game Skulldug! earlier this year. It was our first tabletop project to hit commercial release, and it’s done about as well as could be expected. We received a smattering of generally positive reviews, we have a decent score on BoardGameGeek.com, and over a thousand households worldwide now have a copy of our game in them. There are things I’d change if I could, of course, but all in all, I’d call that a success.

Like most indie tabletop games, Skulldug! was funded on Kickstarter. We ran the campaign back in May 2015, and at the time we estimated that the game would be released by January. We actually managed to stick to that date (although a week’s delay in a Chicago warehouse nearly fouled that up), and we were posting monthly updates to keep our backers engaged throughout the development process. Still, eight months is a long time to wait for a game, and I wanted to give our backers something to thank them for their patience. Something special and different, something that would build hype for the game in the weeks before its release while rewarding the backers for their continued support.

I decided to make them an ARG.

Lesson 1: You probably shouldn’t make an ARG

If you’re anything like me, every time a new alternate reality game (ARG) appears, confounding the internet and teasing all kinds of dark and thrilling secrets with inscrutable puzzles, you think about how fun it would be to design one yourself. Don’t get me wrong, it is a lot of fun. I had a great time designing puzzles, creating props, and leaving hints for my players to discover. Ultimately, though, I can’t call the ARG a success — it took a lot of time and effort that could have been better spent elsewhere, only a small number of players engaged with it, and ultimately it didn’t manage to build any hype for Skulldug!.

However, if you really are like me, none of that will dissuade you from trying to create your own ARG. In that case, I’d like to share a few lessons that I took away from running the Skulldug! ARG to help ensure that you see more success than we did.

Background

Skulldug! is a competitive pulp exploration game — think Indiana Jones or Spelunky— and we wanted our ARG to reflect some of the drama inherent in the genre. I decided to frame it as a treasure hunt, with the players racing to track down a missing explorer who had stolen an ancient artifact from the villainous Baron. We announced the start of the ARG with a simple footnote at the bottom of one of our monthly Kickstarter updates. A fan had reached out to us for help looking for their missing friend, we said, but the only clue they had to go on was a list of URLs for videos hosted on Vimeo.com.

These videos were password protected, which presented the first goal of the ARG. To unlock the videos, the players had to decipher a series of coded messages sent in hand-typed letters to some of our higher-tier backers. Those messages each contained the name of an actor and a timestamp, which they could use to locate quotes from famous pulp adventure movies.

Once the players unlocked the videos by using the quotes as passwords, they discovered a series of choppy clips of the missing explorer staggering through a forest to his final resting place, each of which had a strange, high-pitched tone playing on top of it. By combining the pitch of each video’s tone, punctuation marks hidden within the image frames, and the first letter of the clip’s title, players were able to create a set of GPS coordinates. These coordinates marked the location of the explorer’s grave and, more importantly, the treasure he left there.

Simple, right?

By ARG standards, it kind of was — there were only three real puzzles (the letter cipher, the movie quotes, and the GPS coordinates), none of which required the kind of hyper-specialized technical skills that larger ARGs sometimes ask of their audience. This was intentional, since I wanted them to be solvable by the small community of board gamers that had supported our Kickstarter, whereas many larger ARGs target an audience of thousands of players or more.

This was my first mistake.

Lesson 1 (for real): Reach a large audience

ARGs aren’t for everyone. If you’re creating one to promote another project, it’s probable that the members of your existing audience are not all going to be comfortable or interested in participating in your ARG. We only had 10 or so players over the course of our ARG’s 6 week run, about 1% of our total backers. Worse, we had many players who would drop in briefly, comment once or twice, and then disappear. Since these players’ participation was spread across the entire run of the ARG, there were frequently only one or two players active at any one time. This lack of constant participation meant that progress was always slow, which made existing players lose interest and discouraged newcomers from taking part.

If you’re going to run an ARG, you need to make sure that you’re able to reach a critical mass of players that can create enough activity to sustain their own interest. Remember that only a small portion of your audience is likely to be interested in your ARG, and so you may need to open up participation to players outside of your existing fanbase. ARG-enthusiast communities such as Unfiction.com may be good places to recruit new players, but be aware that dedicated ARG players are likely to solve your puzzles much faster than your regular audience.

Lesson 2: Don’t limit participation, especially at the start

In addition to having a small overall pool of potential participants, I made the mistake of cutting those numbers even further by restricting the initial participation to a tiny subset of our total audience. Although the first puzzle (the locked video links) was technically available for everyone to solve, only the 60 or so backers who received handtyped letters had the codes required to unlock them. Worse, those players couldn’t even complete the puzzle on their own — there were five different letters, and the players had to share all of them in order to complete the key that decoded each letter’s message.

On paper, this was a great idea. The players who received the letters would feel special and compelled to participate (who isn’t excited about being sent a personal secret message?), and having to share the codes to proceed would foster a sense of collaboration and encourage the players to communicate throughout the remainder of the ARG.

In practice, though, only a couple players were interested in the ARG enough to share their letters of their own accord, and I was forced to reach out to other players directly in order to get the whole set shared. Meanwhile, all the players who didn’t have letters of their own were left with nothing to do, which caused them to lose interest at a higher rate than they might have otherwise.

While the idea of limiting information to certain players is a good one, I would recommend not using it until later in your game, when you’ve had time to build up a certain level of participation and interest from your playerbase. Additionally, you should make sure to provide that information to players you know are already active in the game, rather than giving it to random people in the hopes that they’ll become motivated to participate.

Lesson 3: Plan your difficulty curve

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the difficulty of the puzzles in the Skulldug! ARG. They were relatively tricky and required a varied skillset, but were not as hyper-specific as those in most larger ARGs. I knew that much of my audience would not have participated in an ARG before, and so I was essentially trying to create an entry-level version of those larger, better known games. The goal was to create puzzles that would tax a newcomer while not being completely insurmountable when a group of players put their minds to it.

Although none of the puzzles were significantly harder than that target, none of them were significantly easier, either. The difficulty of the puzzles was fairly constant throughout, and there was no real difficulty curve to speak of. Instead, players found themselves immediately slammed against a brick wall as they struggled to decode the cryptic letters (which, as mentioned above, was technically impossible until all the codes were shared more than 2 weeks later). Rather than providing an approachable introduction to ARGs, this made our players feel like ARGs are too hard for them and discouraged further participation.

Although generally you want ARG puzzles to be quite hard, since they are designed to take a whole community of people days or more to solve, I recommend starting your ARG with several simpler puzzles that a single person could solve in a sitting or two. While these won’t present a challenge for the community as a whole, they provide a comfortable on-ramp for new players who will hopefully then be more motivated to continue on and participate in the harder puzzles with the more experienced players.

Lesson 4: Avoid ambiguous puzzle solutions

It’s vitally important that all of your puzzles have a built-in mechanism to confirm their own solutions. The locked video files are a good example of this. While it took our players a long time (and some help from our in-universe Twitter account) to discover how to locate and format their passwords, they were able to confirm with 100% accuracy when they had it correct — either the video unlocked or it didn’t.

Ambiguous solutions are dangerous things. If your players are solving a puzzle that will give them critical information for use elsewhere, then getting that information wrong can send them on a wild goose chase that may frustrate them and lose you players. Worse, it could encourage your players to perform unintended and potentially dangerous behaviors in the real world.

We ran into this with the final puzzle of the Skulldug! ARG, which tasked the players to reconstruct the final GPS coordinates from clues embedded in the locked video files. With no built-in method to confirm whether or not the players had come to the right solution, it was entirely possible that an overeager player might head out into the wilderness and get themselves lost based on a misinterpreted puzzle solution.

Our players actually did settle on an inaccurate set of coordinates at one point. They seemed to match all the clues, and the location looked reasonable enough when checked on Google Maps. We had to directly intervene to correct them, pointing out several places where they had misinterpreted the clues to set them back on the right path. In the end, we were able to use the Twitter account to confirm when the final solution had been reached. Still, since checking the Twitter was not part of the required flow for progressing, this was a patch job at best.

We could have avoided all that trouble if we had just made the puzzle have an unambiguous solution. For instance, instead of hiding the GPS coordinates themselves in the video, we could have hidden pieces of a URL that would display the coordinates (or even a complete map) when visited. These kind of clear-cut solutions allow your players to more easily gauge their own progress and help avoid the potential safety issues that can occur when players go off the reservation (sometimes literally).

In Conclusion

Although I opened this post by saying that you should not make your own ARG, the truth is that the Skulldug! ARG was a lot of fun to create. What game designer doesn’t want to send their players on a code-cracking, truth-seeking, real-world treasure hunt? However, because of the mistakes I outlined above, the process of actually running the game was extremely stressful. I fretted constantly that people weren’t making progress fast enough and that the few players I did have would lose interest, leaving my work forever unsolved. If nothing else, I really didn’t want to drive 3 hours into the Washington wilderness to retrieve the treasure I’d hidden out there.

I hope that the lessons I’ve outlined above will help your own ARG efforts be more successful than mine were. If you’re interested in reading more about the art of ARG design, I highly recommend Adam Foster’s excellent article on running the (much larger) Portal 2 ARG. And if you have any questions, I’m always up to chat design on Twitter!

Until next time, fellow puzzle fans!（source：gamasutra）