COURAN COVE CROSS REALITY GAME
Contents
Introduction
This is a development page for the Mixed-Media, Cross-Reality Game "Couran Cove Enigma" at the start of LAMP VII: Story of the Future Game on South Stradbroke Island Nov 6-12 2007. Written and created by Gary Hayes and Jackie Turnure .
Length of game
The structure of the first half a day on the Weds (first day of LAMP)
- 9.00 - Gary & Jackie final game prep
- 1.00 - CHECK-IN AND LUNCH: Quick lunch and check in at Couran Terminal for all teams and mentors
- 2.30 - ARRIVAL: All teams and other mentors arrive at Eco Resort. Brief island orientation
- 2.45 - INTRODUCTION & ORIENTATION: Gary, Therese, Peter - Formal introductions to the week. Folders, schedule, attitudinal, outcomes etc:
- 3.15 - PROJECTS AND TEAM INTRODUCTIONS: Mod GH
- Each team presents who they are, what they expect and their idea. Only 5 minutes each, including short intro to each team member.
- 4.00 - MENTOR WHATS COOL: Mod GH
- Each mentor has just 5 minutes to show or talk about their Case Study later OR something they find inspiring. This is to set a tone of innovation and also to introduce an aspect of each mentor.
- 4.45 - EXERCISE/GAME: Intro JT.
- To develop awareness of compelling game-play as Mixed-Media, Cross-Reality . Combined with a unique, distributed narrative quest and story creation.
- 6.30 - DINNER
- 7.15 - PRESENTATION: Mod JT. Before dessert presentations of game stories by each 'group' sitting in their random teams.
- 8.00 - Bar and free networking
- 11.00 - Sleep!
Purpose
To demonstrate by doing the following (slightly different goals to the last one):
- Freeform vs structured play design (eg: how teams may dissolve as tasks become more 'wisdom of the crowds'
- Game navigation and triggers as in or out of story
- Team bonding
- New form of mixed reality and locative play
- Collaboration play
- To introduce the story of a place through forensic game play
- Creative writing, ie constructing a story from fragments and game play itself
- Role play
Simple Step-through
Over arching story - a message from the future warning of our impending doom, floods, warming. Message from a girl originally kidnapped and taken forward in time by aliens.
(t) together (s) separate
- RW (t): The year 3000, the eco-catastrophe
- RW (s): Bike to location - redeem
- VW (s): Graveyard ancestor - redeem
- RW (s): Descendent actor - redeem
- VW (t): Specific team character, artefacts and other characters - redeem
- VW (t): Major flood (countdown to flood) - get into canoes, all head towards the 'large rune thing'
- VW (t): A large monolith - reveals something portentious and a cipher for the pyramid matrix
- RW (t): Back to matrix, use cipher to reveal a message from future leads them to time capsule
- RW (t): Time capsule contains photo and letter of "The One", instructions to show card to the barperson
- RW (t): Go to real barman for drinks and receive final instruction
- RW (s): Trade cards, create story and pres at dinner
Instructions
STEP 1: INTRODUCTION/TEAMS
Music plays as Jackie sets the scene:
"Welcome to the Hall of Revelations. It's exactly 1000 years in the future. Couran Cove lies completely under water and there isn't a single sign of life. An ancient stone tablet in the shape of a pyramid lies on the sea bed, engraved with 21 cryptic symbols. What do the symbols reveal about what happened here? And how were the people who lived here responsible for this devastating situation?"
Black screen fades up to pyramid on screen, with a countdown that starts from 60:00.
"We have been able to obtain this photograph of the tablet and have shown it to a leading archeologist. She has suggested to us that these symbols conceal a cryptic message about the people who lived here in the past. They hold the key to what happened here.
Luckily for us, today is a very special day. A wrinkle in time will allow us to explore Couran Cove during different times to talk to the inhabitants and uncover all 21 symbols. But we have to be quick, the time portal is only open for the next 60 minutes!
You will need to work together in teams to find the 21 symbols and their associated stories to solve the mystery of what happened here. To begin, please take a number and assemble outside"
Participants take a ticket that reads:
"Bike Number #"
STEP 2: ENVIRONMENT CARDS
Participants go outside to the bike area and find four numbered groups of six bikes. Attached to one of the bikes is the inventory bag with the following instructions:
"You are the XXX team. Each of you needs to choose one of the following roles, and wear the rrelevant role sticker: The Navigator - you are in charge of navigation, use the map and lead the way The Notary - you are responsible for logging all that you find, use the notepad and pen The Communciator - you are the voice of the team, you are responsible for any interactions The Collector - you are the keeper of the cards, a very important role The Archeologist - you are in charge of digging up treasures, use your torch if it gets dark The Treasurer - you are in charge of any gold coins you find, consider wisely how you spend them
Your first task is to make your way to the XXX area and look for an environment card. X marks the spot and remember - cryptic clue here ???
The teams make their way to the relevant area and find their environment card. On the back is a post it that reads:
"The time travel machine is ready to transport you. Return to the Hall of Revelations and look for the time travel machine marked XXX. And hurry! The portal is only open for a moment."
Alternative if can't be at the cliff in SL because of barriers:
"The time travel machine is ready to transport you. Return to the Hall of Revelations and look for the time travel machine marked XXX. There you will find a foggy cemetery. Find the name of the person on the back of your environment card and click on it. They have something for you. But hurry! The portal is only open for a moment."
STEP 3: SL ANCESTORS
Participants find their designated computers (time machines) where they are already logged in as one of GH's avatars. They start off on the cliff and clicking on a sentinel gives them the following notecard:
"Make your way along the cliff path to the cemetery where you will find the grave of the person mentioned on your environment card. He/she has something to tell you. But make haste. The ancient ones don't like to be kept waiting!"
The participants find the grave and once they click on the right one, receive the following notecard:
"I feel very connected to this place but my time here was difficult. But my efforts weren't in vain. I have a long lineage and one of my descendents works in the resort. His/her name is XXXX and you will find her/him in the XXX. Go now and ask him/her "relevant question TBD."
STEP 4: DESCENDENT ACTORS
Participants find the descendent and ask them a question about their ancestor. The actor gives them some information, a character card, and some gold coins.
For example: For Jess Noonuckle
“I come from a long line of Goenpul people. My grandmother tells the story that she was the first girl in our family to have all her fingers. My ancestors had the custom of removing two joints of the little fingers of the girls. But it was only the girls. I don’t know why.”
He/she instructs them to return to their time machines and look for XXX - he/she lives in the XXX hut, a post it note on the back of the card also reads:
"Return to your time machines and use the canoe to find XXX at the lagoon. His/her real name is XXX and you will find her/him in the XXX hut. Ask him/her about the "relevent question" TBD. But hurry, a storm is fast approaching"
STEP 5: SL AVATARS
Canoe sign reads:
"Right click and select ride"
Participants get into a canoe and paddle over to the huts where they find the relevant character. They chat with the character who tells something strange is happening, strange objects seem to be stripping the land of the stories. He/she tells them to find the nine symbols before all the stories are disappear! They will act as their "spirit guide" and accompany them. (Need to write this as bullet points for each mentor avatar) The real card is "manifested" and handed to the Collector by the mentor. NB Need to put character names in stories***
STEP 6: SL ARTEFACTS
Participants walk around looking for nine artefacts that produce notecards (character card text). In addition they might click on gold coins which the team mentors must take note of and redeem for real ones. Once all the artefacts have been found the land floods to knee level and the avatar guides tell the team to go to the lodge.
STEP 7: FLOOD/MONOLITH
Participants make their way to the Lodge guided by their mentor avatars. There they encounter a chatbot barman, who makes the following chitchat, referring to the monolith:
"Who put that bloody great thing there, that's what I want to know" "First it didn't rain for 20 years, not it hasn't stopped for 20" "A horse, an irish man and a duck walked into a bar and the barman said, what is this, some kind of joke?" "Someone tried to climb it once. Didn't get very far. Broke an arm and both legs in the process" "Lovely weather, innit" "Psst. You know what rain plus hot temps equals, don't ya? Yep, malaria" "Dunno what those lights are. Seems to be sucking stuff in. Maybe it's one of those black hole things."
Flood rises to the level of the canoe and the mentor avatars suggest they take the canoe (if they haven't thought of it themselves). They padde over to the monolith on which is revealed:
"She is The One. b:d is the key to finding her"
The countdown for the pyramid now is at 0 and the team must assemble in front of the pyramid.
STEP 8: PYRAMID UNLOCKING
Participants stand in front of the pyramid which now has an unlocking ritual written next to it which reads something along the lines of:
"In a circle 4 must stand
Men and women holding hands
Around them 8, on the ground
Chant this note RA!, in a round,
Of the remaining 4 place each card
On the reader, and concentrate hard
To see where the archeologists will go
All four to find what she did know
About the disaster that befell us here
Now begin at once, her message is near!
Participants chant etc and bring their cards up to the "card reader" and as they do each symbol unlocks to reveal a letter underneath. Music builds until all the letters are revealed, with an additional note:
"The monolith is the key. My message awaits you. Decipher this and send your four to find the time capsule and bring it back here!" Or is this better as a note inside the time capsule? Bring me back to the group etc - it is clear from the chant that the archeologists are supposed to go, not everyone, but we need them to come back. TBD
Here is the code for underneath the pyramid. The phrase is "find me inside the chapel" which skewed from b:d will read as "hkpf og kpukfg vjg ejcrgn".
The layout of the letter on the pyramid will be:
h kp fog kpuk fgvjg ejcrgn
The teams then crack the code and the archeologists go and look for the time capsule. They bring it back and, hand out the cards and then read out the following:
"Greetings, my fair friends. It has been many thousands of moons since I walked amongst you, but I have been watching. Please take heed - the storms are coming, and the blued eyed one are waiting for the right moment. There is one amongst you who can help. Take my card to the barperson and he/she has something for you. But hurry, time is running out!"
STEP 9: BARPERSON
Participants show their "one" cards to the barman and get a round of drinks that includes a kinder surprise instruction that reads:
"Congratulations, you have made it this far! Now you have one more task to do. Sit down with your team and write your story of the Couran Cove Enigma. It must be no more than 3 minutes long and should be in the form of a first person monologue. Use your character cards to help you, and use your gold coins to purchase cards from other teams or to buy props from the props vendor. The only rule - you must use "The One" somewhere in your story. Be creative - the best team wins a prize! You have until dessert to come up with your story and may the best story win!"
To Do
- Sign - Hall of Revelations (on maps as well?)
- Bike numbers (24)
- Instructions - Game inventory bags (need 4 maps from reception with X marks the spot for the first task)
- Assemble and place game inventory bags
- Set up bikes in 4 teams of six with group number signs
- Post it instructions for environment cards
- Place environment cards with instuctions on back
- Signs on computers (4 team names)
- Instructions on sentinel - SL starting point
- Notecards on graves
- X marks the spot for actors?
- Scripts for actors (x4)
- Post it notes on back of actor cards
- SL Avatar crib notes/scripts for chatting in world with teams
- SL notecards for artefacts
- SL chat bot text
- SL text on monolith
- Ritual for unlocking pyramid
- Music for pyramid ceremony
- Instruction in time capsule to return to Hall of Revelation
- Letter from "The One"
- Instructions in drinks to create stories
- Set up props table and prices
Walkthrough
1. Intro and group selection - RW (t): The year 3007, a world under-water, eco-investigation
1000 years in the future Couran Cove is under water. A tablet in the shape of a stone pyramid lies under the sea, engraved with 21 crytic symbols. What do the symbols say about what happened here? And how were the people who lived or visited here in the last 3000 years responsible for this transformation?
The pyramid matrix is revealed on the large screen in the main room - combination periodic table/advent calendar that has 21 squares with symbols. The participants are told that they need to find 21 character symbols/stories hidden in the real and virtual worlds to put together "The Couran Cove Enigma". But there's a catch. The time portal is open for 10 minutes and it's due to open in 45 minutes. The teams need to make haste!
First step, all participants are asked to choose an item (tba) from a box. This forms them into four random groups of six people. They then go outside to the bike area and find six bikes, one each, per group ready and waiting for them. Attached to one of the bikes in each group is a game inventory bag that includes a map, instructions to go to one of four '5 min distance' areas, museli bars, flashlights, colour coded glow tubes and a notepad and paper. Also included are six stickers/sashes detailing six roles - The Navigator, The Notary, The Communicator, The Collector, The Archeologist and The Treasurer. - each role dicates a specific function that is played out in each step, but at times is also lead by them.
2. Reality 1. The Environment - RW (s): Bike to location. Sense of urgency in instructions - get there within 5 minutes, go now!!
Each group uses the map to ride their bikes to their special area to look for their first character card. The Navigators uses the map, the Collector finds (or at least holds) the card, etc.
- Indigenous team - Tower (Rainforest card)
- Pioneer team - Dunes (Museum card)
- Couran team - Bush (Eco Lodges card)
- Tomorrow team - Boradwater (Helipad card)
Once they go to the area they have to find the card. In this case the card is a description of the environment, that gives them a) backstory for their story thread b) a name of a character who lived there, and on the back c) instructions to take advantage of a time portal opening that allows them to use Second Life to travel in time ("get a move on the portal is only open from 5.30-6.15!").
Nb. The cards they receive are similar to Pokemon or trading cards with an image, name and description underneath. Some of the names and dates match up across cards so links can be made between characters.
3. Virtual 1: Ancestors - VW (s): Graveyard ancestor
Participants follow instructions to find their designated computers (time machines) relating to their team (colour, name etc) with a computer set up with second life. They are already logged on as a pre-made character (avatar). They have inworld instructions (steps similar to the graveyard sequence of Freycinet) to find the graveyard and look for the character written on the environment card.
They also find gold coins scattered around in world that they click on. They are handed real gold coins to the amount they found in world.
Once they find the correct grave they click on it and an avatar appears (or potentially an NPC simple response/notecard as contingency), the ghost of their ancestor. They have a conversation and the ancestor tells them their descendent works at the resort and are told the location of one of four actors situated in the resort. The NPC or live avatar tells them things to ask their descendant.
4. Reality 2: The Actor - RW (s): Descendent actor
The team finds the actor who is playing their descendent in one of four locations in the resort. The actor tells them a story and gives them their character card and some gold coins. He/she tells them to return to the time travel portal (SL) to find a specific character in world and artefacts and other characters who can help fill in the story.
5. Virtual 2: Artefacts/Characters - VW (t): Lagoon and Lodge in SL
The teams return to Second Life and two avatars from each team take a canoe and paddle around the lagoon looking for their specific character, they must stay in the canoe until they have found their first character who will be close to the shore. They interview their one characters and receive more virtual cards (real ones to be redeemed in RL). Once they have found their correct character they are invited to walk on the land. The character travels with them acting as their guide/helper (but allowing them to do it). The character guides point them towards the monolith, but if they try to scale it, it's impossible. Each team explores the land and find other character cards attached to artefacts (tree, bone, machine, animal) and one other virtual character a barman in the lodge. For each character a real world character card is manifested and obtained through their mentor.
6. Virtual 3: Flood - VW (t): Announcement then flood
The land floods to waist height and their character guide tells them to hurry up, the land is flooding and they must find their way to the lodge.
7. Virtual 4: Lodge/Monolith - VW (t): They now have access to a Monolith Message
At the lodge they talk to the barperson then a few minutes later there is a siren/bell/announcement and the land floods. As the water rises they can now paddle over to the monolith (which they have been aware of since they arrived). This has a carving at the top and they can now paddle over and read "She is the One" carved into the rock. Underneath is "b:d is the key". Their character guides suggest they return to the pyramid matrix with the cypher. Time is running out.
8. Reality 3: Matrix - RW (t): Time Capsule Message all together in front of big screen pyramid again.
They return to the main room and place all the character cards and on the "card reader" and the symbols are removed. This will be a coordinated ceremony type affair with Indiana Jones type sound fx and music, and a chant they must do. The windows all open and reveal a code. When they apply the cypher on the monolith, the 21 letter message reads "She lies under the Chapel" plus some enigmatic statement to say possibly where under the chapel.
9. Reality 4: Chapel Treasure Hunt - RW (t): Time Capsule Revealed
The four Archeologists go to the Chapel as the rest of the participants stay in formation chanting. Once found a treasure chest is opened to reveal four character cards of "The One". The photo is of a young girl with piercing eyes and instructions to go to the bar and show the "The One" card to the barman and he/she will give the final instructions.
10. Reality 4: Bar - RW (t): Show Card for Drinks/Final Instructions
Teams proceed to the bar where they show the card and receive a round of drink with instructions in a capsule in one of the drinks. The instructions tell them to construct their 3 minute story of "The Couran Cove Catastrophe" using any/all of their character cards - but must include "The One". The story should be in first person and can include all the team or be just one person presenting. Teams can swap cards with other teams, or use their coins to buy cards or props from a props table.
11. Preparation and Presentation - RW (s): Trading and Story Creation
Teams then trade and write up their stories which continues over dinner. Each team presents before dessert and the best team wins a prize (to be announced in the morning).
Real Map of Eco Resort
22 CHARACTER CARDS
Each card has a large symbol on it, with the character name and age underneath. The text lies below that. There are no images of the character. Each card is colour coded as one of four time frames:
- Indigenous - Gold
- Pioneer - Red
- Present - Green
- Future - Blue
ENVIRONMENT CARDS (4) (with name of ancestor for next step italicised)
Card #1 - Indigenous Team sent to Rainforest
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Gold
Name: Rainforest
Ancient
“I am rich and plentiful, being home to the Cabbage Palm, Lillipilli, Tree Fern and the Golden Wallaby. My aboriginal friend, Oodgeroo Noonuckle told me that the local people ground fern root into a flour to make a type of damper. Bandicoots, lizards, and echidnas were also eaten by my indigenous friends who lived here in harmony with me.
Card #2 - Pioneer Team sent to Museum
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Red
Name: Dunes
Ancient
“I am fragile and ever changing, a victim of the salt-laden winds and the ocean. But the biggest impact has been the arrival of the white man. In 1892 the Cambus Wallace, piloted by Captain James Turner, shipwrecked and its load of dynamite exploded. It weakened my narrow spit and led to the devastating breakthrough which occurred four years later”.
Card #3 - Couran Team sent to Eco Lodges
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Green
Name: Bush
Ancient
“Life has been hard for those who try to live amongst me. Some say I am inhospitable but I like to think of myself as resilient. In 1948 after his crops failed for the fifth year in a row Bob Latter gave up 30 years of toil and left. You can see his crumbling house foundations and old Mango trees in the Couran Cove Chapel”.
Card #4 - Tomorrow Team sent to Helipad
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: Broadwater
Ancient
“My waters were once abundant in sea life. Eric Bone told us that dugongs, dolphins, loggerhead turtles and humpback whales were plentiful and the inhabitants fished for food. But those days are long gone. Ever since 2070 when They came and stripped us bare”.
ACTOR CARDS (4)
Card #5 - Indigenous Team sent to Female Worker
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Gold
Name: Jess Noonuckle
1981 -
“I come from a long line of Goenpul people. My grandmother tells the story that she was the first girl in our family to have all her fingers. My ancestors had the custom of removing two joints of the little fingers of the girls. But it was only the girls. I don’t know why.”
Card #6 - Pioneer Team sent to Male Worker
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Red
Name: David Turner
1977 -
“My Great Great Grandpa was one of four Roman Catholic missionaries who came in 1831 to convert the local aboriginees. He loved it here and stayed on after the others left but by 1847 he wrote to the police, desperate to get out. I don’t know what changed but he had to get out, he was terrified and in fear for his life.”
Card #7- Couran Team sent to Female Worker
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Green
Name: Sam Latter
1975 -
“I haven’t been working here that long but I do know there was a bit of a cover up. It was trapped in the lagoon, a big bloody brute of a thing, and they had to get it out by chasing it on jet skis. Of course no-one talks about it. We don’t want any JAWS type publicity, do we?”
Card #8 - Tomorrow Team sent to Male Worker
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: TJ Bone
1978 -
“It was only a simple procedure – day surgery and it really doesn’t bother me. The People communicate to me directly through the chip. I can't say too much other than we need to prepare. And soon, they’re going to be here in 2011.”
SL AVATAR CHARACTER CARDS (4)
Card #9 - Indigenous Team sent to The Mangrove Hut on the Lagoon Edge
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Gold
Name: Mannoo
40,000BC -
“I am Mannoo, the ancient protector of all the plants and animals of the Goombumerri tribe. Look for my face in the night sky. I am there watching over all living creatures. Let this be a warning to anyone who doesn’t respect the ways of the ancestors.”
Card #10 - Pioneer Team sent to Circle of Rocks Hut on the Lagoon Edge
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Red
Name: William Edwardson
1809 - 1872
“My name is William Edwardson. Oysters are so plentiful here we gather them by the schooner loads. We burn them for lime to make cement and mighty fine lime it is too. Some of our builders prefer live oysters as they claim to give the lime more body, but I’m not sure I agree. In any case there are enough oysters here for one man to make a small fortune".
Card #11 - Couran Team sent to Tropical Forest Hut on the Lagoon
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Green
Name: Athena Tolhurst
1895 - 1977
“My name is Athena Tollhurst and I purchased a small farm block here in Couran in 1924. People around here may know me by my stage name, Athena Palace. That's the name I use when I tour as a magician and healer. I’m famous now for curing people’s ills but the question is whether or not I can cure my own.”
Card #12 - Tomorrow Team sent to Coastal Hut on the Wild Sea
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: Miranda Spry
2020 - 2082
“Miranda Spry here. It's 2082 and the Avian Flu has now almost completely decimated the world. Couran Cove is one of the few places where people can live. Being an island helps and with the immense security system we have in place, it means we’ve been able to keep it at bay. But it’s only a matter of time before a carrier sneaks in.”
ADDITIONAL SL CHARACTER CARDS (9)
Card #13 - Located on a Tree in the Rainforest
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Gold
Name: Graham Dillon
1910 - 1983
“I am Graham Dillon, a local elder and I can tell you lots about this place. Many of the trees still show the marks of our people. There’s a forest red gum near Couran that bears the scar where a huge slab of wood was cut out to make one of our canoes”.
Card #14 - Located on Rocks at the Surf Beach
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Red
Name: Robert Longhurst
1857 - 1935
“My name is Robert Longhurst. The Mystery - now there was a tragedy. She was shipwrecked in 1897 right off the beach here. They had a lifeboat on board but it was locked and no-one had the key. Many lives were lost that night, there were tens of bodies washed up on the sand.”
Card #15 - Located on a Gondola Under the Lagoon
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Green
Name: Bruce Shaw
1951 -
“Bruce Shaw here. In 1980 I asked council for permission to run a funeral business here on Couran. I was proposing to build a vault under the sea and carry mourners across to the island by Gondola. For some reason council denied me permission. They don't appreciate big ideas, our council”.
Card #16 - Located on the Rocks at the Base of the Cliff
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: Janie Longhurst
2933 - 3005
“My name is Janie Longhurst. I’ve always been fascinated by rocks, and I guess it was the summer of 2963 when I found the remains. It certainly gave me my fifteen minutes of fame but in some ways I wished I’d never found them. They were obviously trying to protect themselves from some kind of attack. But from who, or what?”
Card #17 - Located somewhere on the beach
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Red
Name: Medou Tiki
1847 - 1929
"One day a group of black men arrived on the beach. They were Kanakas, Pacific Islanders kidnapped to work as slaves in the cane fields. They'd escaped and made their way here by canoe. A “nigger hunt” was launched and they put ‘em all in the Nerang Lock-Up. But one of 'em, Medou Tiki managed to get away. I dunno what happened to him”.
Card #18 - Located in one of the Huts
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: Madeline Martin
2058 - 3007
“My name is Madeline Martin and I'm Eloise's mother. We always knew Eloise was special. When she went missing we thought it must have been someone we knew. How else would they be able to break through our security system? But when I saw the NASA pictures I knew it was something entirely different. I wish they’d bring her back. We miss her so much.”
Card #19 - Located on the Water’s Edge Near the Crocodile
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Green
Name: Rodney Eaton
1925 - 2004
“My name's Rodney Eaton. It was 1963 and the place was over run with feral cattle. The local crocs loved it, they would feed on the calves and they were becoming a real problem as well, especially after they took the Hage boy. So I hunted down all the cattle and the crocs and made a killing selling them for pet food.”
Card #20 - Located On a Dolphin Swimming About
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Red
Name: Harold Hage
1889 - 1901
“I'm Harold Hage. Dad said there used to be heaps of fish. The old black fella says it’s cause we fish outside the bay. He says his people would wait until the fish were inside the bay so the young fish would learn the way. He also said they also used dolphins to herd the fish into shore. I would have liked to see that!”
Card #21 - Located Somewhere cool!
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: Jennifer Shaw
2080 - 3007
“My name is Jennifer Shaw. Last night I saw the lights again. They were flashing in a circle, about 30 metres above the trees. Dad thinks I’m seeing things, he reckons it’s the sickness making me see weird stuff. But I know it wasn’t a hallucination. I reckon it’s someone come to help.”
THE ONE CHARACTER CARD (1 x 4 copies)
Card #22 - Located in the Time Capsule in the Chapel
Symbol: TBD
Colour: Blue
Name: Eloise Martin
2088 -
“My name is Eloise Martin but they call me The One. I was taken from my family by the People in 2094. Though I have been treated well I find eternal life tiresome. But the things I have seen - planets born and die, species rise and fall. I have seen the devastating destruction of the human race and I beg you to do something before it is too late. Don’t trust those with Eyes of Blue!”
Story Matrix Master
| INDIGENOUS TEAM | PIONEER TEAM | COURAN TEAM | TOMORROW TEAM | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TP ENVIRONMENT CHARACTER (4) | Middens around the island indicate that shell fish was a big part of the Aboriginal diet and they also ground fern root into a flour to make a type of damper. Bandicoots, wallabies, snakes, lizards, echidnas and turtles were also eaten. | Shipwrecks supplied the locals with lots of goods - including sewing machines, cases of beer, mousetraps, sweets and blankets. In 1892 the Cambus Wallace shipwrecked near the Jumpinpin isthmus and it's load of dynamite exploded. Some argued that the explosion weakened the narrow spit and contributed to the breakthrough which occurred four years later | Life was hard, many personal tragedies. In 1948 a cyclone hit and after high tides destroyed his crops Bob Latter gave up 30 years of hard work and left. The remains of his toils are the crumbling house foundations and old Mango trees in the Couran Cove Chapel. | The year 2050. Global warming predictions have come true and sea levels have risen by 3 metres. Couran Cove is now a mini Venice. | |||||
| ACTOR DESCENDENT CHARACTER (4) | Aboriginal people who lived here has custom of removing two joints of the little fingers of the girls. This was a distinguishing feature of many fishing tribes. But what was the reasoning behind it? And why only the girls? | Four Roman Catholic missionaries came in 1831 to convert the local aboriginees. The leader Father Raymond stayed on after the others left but by 1847 he was desperate to leave and asked for police protection. | Shark attack cover up. Tiger shark was trapped in lagoon and had to be rounded up by jet skis and guided out. Staff seem very reticient about discussing it - what really happened? | The year 2110. This character has had a chip embedded and communicates voices from the future. he/she speaks about the alien invasion and talks about the helipad not being big enough. | |||||
| LAGOON SL CHARACTERS (4) | Catches of fish have diminished and the Aborigial perspective is that the reason for this decline is that fisherman now trawl outside the bay. The traditional Aboriginal people knew the habits of the fish and would wait until the schools of fish were inside the bay so the young fish would learn the route for future migrations. They also used dolphins to herd shoals of fish into shore. | Oysters were once so plentiful that they were gathered in schooner loads and burned for lime to make cement. Some builders preferred live oysters as "they were claimed to give the lime more body". | In the 1920s land at Couran was divided into farm blocks. One colourful identity who took one up was Athena Tollhurst who went by the stage name of Athena Palace and toured locally as a magician | The year 2080. A new strain of avian flu has seen the world decimated. Couran Cove is a health spa where people come to recuperate and/or die, not unlike the TB clinics in the Blue Mountains in the 1930s. | |||||
| ADDITIONAL SL CHARACTERS AND ARTEFACTS (9) | Many of the trees on the island still show the scars of the indigenous people. For example the canoe trees - there is a forest red gum near Couran that bears the scar of where a huge slab of wood was cut out to make a canoe | A steamship the Mystery was shipwrecked in 1897 and lives were lost as the lifeboat was locked in the shed and no-one had the key. | In the 1980s Bruce Shaw sought permission to run a funeral business. He planned to build a "maze type structure for a vault under the sea" and included a gondola to carry mourners across to the island. Council permission was denied. | The year 2163. Post apocolyptic world where nothing lives, only the fossils in the rocks tell what happened to Earth. | "Kanakas" was the name given to the Pacific Islanders kidnapped from their island homes and shipped to Queensland to work as indentured slaves in the cane fields. In 1883 a group of them escaped from a farm and crossed to Stradbroke. A "nigger hunt" was organised which finally resulted in their recapture and incarceration in the Nerang Lock-Up. | It was thought that alpacas would be a good animal to breed but the first attempts to bring these animals in were "extraordinary sagas of survival for man and best". In 1858 ten llamas were successfully brought out by George Lloyd of London. | In 1960s wild bulls (cattle left over from the grazing days who had gone feral) roamed free and would often menace the township. Rodney Eaton was asked to shoot them all and sold them for pet food. | Camps were run in the 70s with first camps being for coastguard training, with navigation, map reading and survival exercises | In 2300 when the fresh water ran out, it didn't rain for 74 days and half the population of the planet expired |
| "THE ONE" | This six year old girl was abducted by aliens in 2150 who believed she was their messiah. She has been living with the aliens and has not aged. She has seen the destruction of the earth and is trying to get in contact with the human race right back at the beginning, to stop the inevitable eco-catastrophe. |
Virtual World Development
First phase couple of hours re-purposing AFTRS Island Esperance. Now almost a half of the sim dedicated to a "resort area" - thinking can be used for machinima and meetings etc post this game anyhow. This is actually a quarter scale of the real site from the helipad to the rainforest. So thinking we can still layer a mini locative hunt in both spaces alongside the time displaced planning. Anyhow here are early images
Archived Planning
Story Matrix Master
| INDIGENOUS TEAM | PIONEER TEAM | COURAN TEAM | TOMORROW TEAM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TP ENVIRONMENT CHARACTER | Middens around the island indicate that shell fish was a big part of the Aboriginal diet and they also ground fern root into a flour to make a type of damper. Bandicoots, wallabies, snakes, lizards, echidnas and turtles were also eaten. | Shipwrecks supplied the locals with lots of goods - including sewing machines, cases of beer, mousetraps, sweets and blankets. In 1892 the Cambus Wallace shipwrecked near the Jumpinpin isthmus and it's load of dynamite exploded. Some argued that the explosion weakened the narrow spit and contributed to the breakthrough which occurred four years later | Life was hard, many personal tragedies. In 1948 a cyclone hit and after high tides destroyed his crops Bob Latter gave up 30 years of hard work and left. The remains of his toils are the crumbling house foundations and old Mango trees in the Couran Cove Chapel. | The year 2050. Global warming predictions have come true and sea levels have risen by 3 metres. Couran Cove is now a mini Venice. |
| GIVEN CHARACTER | Catches of fish have diminished and the Aborigial perspective is that the reason for this decline is that fisherman now trawl outside the bay. The traditional Aboriginal people knew the habits of the fish and would wait until the schools of fish were inside the bay so the young fish would learn the route for future migrations. They also used dolphins to herd shoals of fish into shore. | Oysters were once so plentiful that they were gathered in schooner loads and burned for lime to make cement. Some builders preferred live oysters as "they were claimed to give the lime more body". | In the 1920s land at Couran was divided into farm blocks. One colourful identity who took one up was Athena Tollhurst who went by the stage name of Athena Palace and toured locally as a magician | The year 2080. A new strain of avian flu has seen the world decimated. Couran Cove is a health spa where people come to recuperate and/or die, not unlike the TB clinics in the Blue Mountains in the 1930s. |
| ACTOR CHARACTER | Aboriginal people who lived here has custom of removing two joints of the little fingers of the girls. This was a distinguishing feature of many fishing tribes. But what was the reasoning behind it? And why only the girls? | Four Roman Catholic missionaries came in 1831 to convert the local aboriginees. The leader Father Raymond stayed on after the others left but by 1847 he was desperate to leave and asked for police protection. | Shark attack cover up. Tiger shark was trapped in lagoon and had to be rounded up by jet skis and guided out. Staff seem very reticient about discussing it - what really happened? | The year 2110. This character has had a chip embedded and communicates voices from the future. he/she speaks about the alien invasion and talks about the helipad not being big enough. |
| SL COMPUTER CHARACTER | Many of the trees on the island still show the scars of the indigenous people. For example the canoe trees - there is a forest red gum near Couran that bears the scar of where a huge slab of wood was cut out to make a canoe | A steamship the Mystery was shipwrecked in 1897 and lives were lost as the lifeboat was locked in the shed and no-one had the key. | In the 1980s Bruce Shaw sought permission to run a funeral business. He planned to build a "maze type structure for a vault under the sea" and included a gondola to carry mourners across to the island. Council permission was denied. | The year 2163. Post apocolyptic world where nothing lives, only the fossils in the rocks tell what happened to Earth. |
Walkthrough
1. Intro and group selection - The story premise and goal for the game is revealed by showing the matrix on a large screen (shows teams and one given character) and all participants are then asked to choose an item (tba) from a box. This forms them into four random groups of six people. They then go outside to the bike area and find six bikes, one each, per group ready and waiting for them. Attached to one of the bikes in each group is a game inventory bag that includes the instructions to go to one of four '5 min distance' areas, museli bars, flashlights and colour coded glow tubes.
2. Reality 1. The Environment - Each group has a colour and a name and are given a cryptic clue and told to ride their bikes to their special area to look for a "Character" - the Story Environment card.
Indigenous team - Rainforest Pioneer team - Museum Couran team - Eco Lodges Tomorrow team - Helipad Once they go to the area they have to find a card that has a description of the environment, that gives them a) backstory for their story thread b) a secret keyword and c) instructions take advantage of a time portal opening that allows them to use Second Life to travel back in time ("get a move on the portal is only open from 5.30-6.00!").
3. Virtual 1: Ancestors - Participants arrive back to find designated areas relating to their team (colour, name etc). They are already in Second Life as a pre-made character. They have inworld instructions (steps similar to the graveyard sequence of Freycinet) to find the graveyard and look for their ancestor mentioned on the environment card. Once they find the correct grave they click on it and an avatar appears, the ghost of their character. A conversation and the ancestor tells them to go and find their relevant descendent, now working for the resort.
4. Reality 2: The Actor - The team finds the actor who gives them a character card and a story clue that indicates they need to go back to Second Life. They return to the main room and hand in their character card which fills in on the onscreen matrix. Two steps in order 1) They return to main room and their character card is 'put' on the onscreen matrix (for all to see!) -'characters are being revealed' 2) Go to a designated place near to the actor and then return to the time window (SL) and find the virtual missing artefact from the past.
5. Mixed Reality 2: Find the artefact - The participants return to Second Life and using their clues from the actor, real world location clues (some to and fro here tba) and inworld directions go to the second destination where they find an artefact or object that has story significance. They have a conversation with this artefact (tree, bone, machine, animal) and are given a clue where to find the next virtual character card. (The corresponding real world card is revealed as being somewhere in the vicinity of the computer - a different location for each team). This card is also taken to the main room and the matrix mirror is activated.
5. Reality 3: Treasure Hunt - Once all the 16 characters are filled in the last cards indicate that the letters/numbers on the bottom of each card are the key to solving the next puzzle. This anagram/puzzle unlocks the final location of the game, the chapel where a treasure chest is buried. The teams now join to work together to find the chest and once opened find four envelopes addressed to each team. Inside is the final 17th character card, The Child of the Future. Along with the card are chits to be redeemed for a drink at the bar, copies of all the other character cards and instructions to use five character cards, including the Child. They return to the main area and bar.
6. Preparation - They must construct a 3 min dramatic account of the Couran Cove Story to be presented at 7:30 during dinner. It must be narrated and have each character deliver a small vignette to illustrate their story - with reference to 1) The teams environment 2) One character from each of the four 'teams' 3) The 17th Child of Future card . The best team wins a prize.
Game Environment Ideas
We should try to capture that sense of layers of time, uncovered in a portal that has opened for the next 60 minutes in the virtual world. This portal can because of some astronomical anomolie, eclipse in 5000BC etc.
So the start of the game should be in physical space that is a challenge that then allows them to unlock the two new areas as below.
As a game level the environment for the game could be as follows:
- Three time periods as host to the play
- VIRTUAL - 5 000 BC greenfield version (just ferns, some trees, bay and scattered signs of dwellings - easy build for me;-) of a selected area of Couran Cove. This would contain the environmental, aboriginal and fantasy/mythological stories.
- VIRTUAL - approx: 1890 version of same area of Couran Cove. (More dwellings, some machinery, perhaps a shipwreck etc:) This contains some of the 'dodgy' past stories of slaves, pirates, corporate scandal, business etc:
- REAL - elements set in the 'live' physical space for the 2 hour duration of the game. Elements here would be shark attack cover-ups, more corporate scandal, environmental issues etc:
- The three time layers above would include story cross-links so that each would be an effective worm-hole that the teams would explore and uncover the truth or fiction.
- For example clues in each layer would point to generational or physical links - a descendant of a pirate is now the chef (find out what the real person is hiding), a tree in the virtual space still has a carving from an aboriginal elder with a message for the future (go find the real tree and carving etc), the early sand miners are part of the eco lodge management and are still sneakily ravaging the land, in the present day the 'activities' organiser lady is covering up the fact that sharks do take people (in the middle zone you find bones and sharks) and so on...
- Another technique we want to explore is 'real actors' in the historical virtual zones who reveal some of the cross-reality, cross-time fragments.
- To get between the two virtual zones there would be a simple teleporter in both which physically moves them to a different area with each 'parcel' called 5 000BC and 1890 AD. Perhaps some kind of unlock for them to get to the earlier time?
- In the virtual area keen to have lots of 'residual' sensor based story chats - ghosts, particularly 'dreamtime' ones from 5000BC in the 1890 zone...perhaps for fun have some 'spoken' trigger sounds in the real world (we use the walkie talkies for this and hide out of sight? - something similar)
- Note: I'm wondering if we should use walkie talkies as in three games they have not worked properly. Thoughts?
Other components to include
- The players trade tokens or gold coins they find for props/costumes to use to roleplay to get more info or a password to progress (rather than being used in the final presentation). Again the gold coins will be hidden in the real world - but this time each team goes to one of 4 areas.
- A puzzle to define the teams
- Lots of talking to real world characters
- Codes to unlock the virtual zones
- Lots of cross virtual real locative links - but now 'time' displaced
- Use of the bikes to get around (could be part of how they are divided into groups)
- Other physical tasks such as the rock climb, kayaks and/or ropes course
Possible Locations/Activities
- Chess set
- Rock climbing tower
- Ropes course
- Lagoon kayaks
- Sprint track (with lights and timer)
- Rainforest tower
- Kids playground
- Swimming pool (something at the bottom?)
User Journey
- Introduction and puzzle/task to get into groups
- Hunt for gold coins
- Second life virtual models x 3 time frames
- Exploration/physical challenge/roleplay in real world
- Exploration/puzzle solving/roleplay in virtual world
- Final code or password for drink from barman and final instuctions
- Creation of monologue over drinks
- Presentation of monologue after dinner
JT - The detailed user journey can be worked out once the story premise has been clarified a bit more. I'm still unclear how and why we move them between time zones both in the real and virtual worlds.
GH - As we did in Freycinet the virtual world had two components - the graveyard bit and then the real time Freycinet lodge bit - this worked well I thought as levels. I suggest we start by taking all groups back to 5000BC and they go through that level (linking real and virtual) before then being transported forward in time to 1800s and do a similar (real and virtual) - sort of time archeaologists? Perhaps that's the premise - Working title 'Time Window of Opportunity"? Travel back in time to look for clues? So alternative user journey...
- Introduction - setup up time zone thinking
- Puzzle in story to get teams into groups
- A real world task (physical) to give them the 'key/token' from physical supervisor, so they can go back to 5000BC
- Clues (3?) in the virtual 5000 year old Couran lead to things still here! Cross-reality scavenger hunt 3 items.
- A final task to collect an physical indigenous artifact which they can trade for a key to go forward in time to 1800
- Again clues (3) in 1800s lead to more 'still here' real world things - plenty of roleplay with decendents.
- A final important clue from 1800s (the shipwreck with gold bullion) leads teams to collect coins
- They use the gold coins to buy a drink, final instructions and props
- Creation of story over drinks and dinner
- Presentation before dessert of story
Story Fragments
5000BC Story Seeds
- Aboriginal people who lived here has custom of removing two joints of the little fingers of the girls. This was a distinguishing feature of many fishing tribes. But what was the reasoning behind it? And why only the girls?
- Many of the trees on the island still show the scars of the indigenous people. For example the canoe trees - there is a forest red gum near Couran that bears the scar of where a huge slab of wood was cut out to make a canoe
- The name Couran has several meanings in local dialects, including Moreton Bay Ash (tree), dugong skirt and eldest brother.
- Catches of fish have diminished and the Aborigial perspective is that the reason for this decline is that fisherman now trawl outside the bay. The traditional Aboriginal people knew the habits of the fish and would wait until the schools of fish were inside the bay so the young fish would learn the route for future migrations. They also used dolphins to herd shoals of fish into shore.
- Middens around the island indicate that shell fish was a big part of the Aboriginal diet and they also ground fern root into a flour to make a type of damper. Bandicoots, wallabies, snakes, lizards, echidnas and turtles were also eaten.
19th Century Story Seeds
- Four Roman Catholic missionaries came in 1831 to convert the local aboriginees. The leader Father Raymond stayed on after the others left but by 1847 he was desperate to leave and asked for police protection.
- "Kanakas" was the name given to the Pacific Islanders kidnapped from their island homes and shipped to Queensland to work as indentured slaves in the cane fields. In 1883 a group of them escaped from a farm and crossed to Stradbroke. A "nigger hunt" was organised which finally resulted in their recapture and incarceration in the Nerang Lock-Up.
- Shipwrecks supplied the locals with lots of goods - in 1887 the Scottish Prince went down, strewing the beach with sewing machines, cases of beer, mousetraps, sweets and blankets.
- In 1892 the Cambus Wallace shipwrecked near the Jumpinpin isthmus and it's load of dynamite exploded. Some argued that the explosion weakened the narrow spit and contributed to the breakthrough which occurred four years later
- Another steamship the Mystery was shipwrecked in 1897 and lives were lost as the lifeboat was locked in the shed and no-one had the key
- It was thought that alpacas would be a good animal to breed but the first attempts to bring these animals in were "extraordinary sagas of survival for man and best". In 1858 ten llamas were successfully brought out by George Lloyd of London.
- Oysters were once so plentiful that they were gathered in schooner loads and burned for lime to make cement. Some builders preferred live oysters as "they were claimed to give the lime more body".
20th Century/Present Day Story Seeds
- In the 1920s land at Couran was divided into farm blocks. One colourful identity who took one up was Athena Tollhurst who went by the stage name of Athena Palace and toured locally as a magician
- In 1948 a cyclone hit and after high tides destroyed his crops Bob Latter gave up 30 years of hard work and left. The remains of his toils are the crumbling house foundations and old Mango trees in the Couran Cove Chapel.
- In 1960s wild bulls (cattle left over from the grazing days who had gone feral) roamed free and would often menace the township. Rodney Eaton was asked to shoot them all and sold them for pet food.
- Camps were run in the 70s with first camps being for coastguard training, with navigation, map reading and survival exercises
- In the 1980s Bruce Shaw sought permission to run a funeral business. He planned to build a "maze type structure for a vault under the sea" and included a gondola to carry mourners across to the island. Council permission was denied.
- Shark attack cover up. Tiger shark was trapped in lagoon (when?), and had to be rounded up by jet skis and guided out. Staff seem very reticient about discussing it - what really happened?
- Eco resort - some hauntings? Particularly from the past, the original inhabitants or some disgruntled oyster farmer who went bust?
- Would be nice to have something fantasy - alien sightings...? UFO society who converges here every twenty three years and this is the year?
- The conspiracy over building a bridge to the mainland. The engineer disappeared, a body washed ashore eight years later?
