I talked before about the coverage of alternate reality games in the video gaming media. It’s fitting, then, that I took the chance to interview two members of Mind Candy’s staff about their game, Perplex City, and video gaming. Adrian Hon, the Director of Play and Executive Producer of Perplex City, and Dan Hon, COO of Mind Candy, took some time to answer a few questions for us.
For those playing Perplex City, this interview took place before the Academy’s role in the Viendenbourg experiments came to light. For those confused by anything referenced in the interview, you can look up all the information on the Perplex City Wiki.
32_Footsteps: How did each of you get started with alternate reality games?
Adrian Hon: With the first ARG, the Beast, back in 2001, I was one of the moderators of the player group Cloudmakers.
Dan: While I was supposed to be revising for my law finals at Cambridge University. I didn't do too well at the exams, but...
32: How did you first get started working with Mind Candy on Perplex City?
Adrian I first met Mind Candy's founder, Michael Smith, back in late 2003, and that was when I first began thinking about it. It wasn't until the summer of 2004 that I started working full time though.
Dan Via Adrian via Michael, via blogging. See, blogging's not a waste of time at all.
32: I tell that to myself every time I check my recent online activity. How has the game changed since you first started on it?
Adrian: It's gotten a lot, lot longer.
Dan Many more people are playing it now than were playing it when I started. Which is good. Plus we make more money now than we used to. [Grins]
32: Any twists that have surprised you since it began?
Adrian: There've been plenty of twists, and a lot of things have been different to the way we planned them, and one day I'll be able to talk about them properly :)
Dan: Lots more people have been killed than I expected, which is a good thing. I always put great stock in what a community can produce, so while I can say that I expected our community to do weird, wonderful and downright admirable things, I'm consistently surprised by the weird, wonderful and downright admirable things that they do on a stunningly frequent basis.
32: Do you have a favorite puzzle card?
Adrian: I'm going to be really immodest and choose my own card, Elucidate. I loved making that card - it represented to me what Perplex City was about - a mystery that told you something about the world, a mystery that anyone could solve if they looked at it in the right way.
Dan: Elucidate was a good one...
32: There are four cards as yet unsolved. A question on each:
On Riemann - Some number theorists have conjectured that Riemann's General Hypothesis (the problem to be solved on this card) may in fact be impossible to prove. Others are actively working on disproving the hypothesis. Do you have any thoughts on this, and how it will affect solves for the card?
Dan: Our main aim with this card was to undermine the majority of encryption systems used worldwide. This way, we could covertly divert massive funds to our Swiss bank account.
32: Yeah, but the problem there is that the cryptographical uses of the Riemann Zeta Function are so far fairly obscure, and the hypothesis mostly concerns number theory and not cryptography. And distracting number theorists isn't exactly a route to fantastic riches, Clay Mathematics Institute prizes nonwithstanding. So how does the Riemann Zeta Function undermine encryption systems?
Dan:You see, with this riposte to my answer, you have managed to either:
a) help dispel the myth the Riemann Zeta Function could undermine currently used cryptosystems and publicly embarrass me for perpetuating such myth; or
b) fall into the cunning trap that we have set so that I can answer your question with a cryptic "ah, but that would be telling - maybe there's something Sente had to trade us for our help..."
32: On Shuffled - The card appears to be based on the so-called Solitaire, or Pontifex, cipher. However, cryptographers now agree that the cipher is somewhat flawed, and it's possible to improperly decipher a code even when you have a properly keyed deck. Do you think this is causing the delay on the problem?
Adrian: Short answer, no.
32: On The Thirteenth Labour - The attempt to crack the RC5 cipher in this case has been going on for a year now. How long do you think it'll take to finally crack it?
Adrian: Probably even longer.
Dan Possibly a good while yet. Better get more clients running!
32: On Billion To One - So, where's Satoshi hiding right now?
Dan: With the cube, naturally. Just kidding.
32: Spoken like a man who knows I have a copy of the card. Putting questions of his identity and whereabouts aside, what does Satoshi think of the efforts to find him?
Dan: Well, I imagine he'll be surprised if someone gets him on to America's Most Wanted... We'll have to ask Satoshi what he thinks once we find him.
32: Now, Mind Candy's staff page lists several video games in various staffer biographies. Are video games a big influence for MC's staff?
Adrian: Absolutely. The story team all plays a lot of adventure games, for example. We all love the DS as well.
Dan Absolutely. Mind Candy is in the entertainment business so we have to know what's fun and what works. I'm better at Katamari than anyone else here and Adrian's better than anyone else at Dance Dance Revolution (apart from Andrea during those times when she's not with child). We don't have Guitar Hero in the studio yet, but our Wii's on pre-order. I expect that in December they'll be much nunchuk wielding.
This means, of course, that any arguments are settled by intra-office Katamari/DDR face-offs.
32: Well, if nothing else, I’m fully confident I could become the top dog at Mind Candy purely through my video gaming skills. But along that topic, right now, there really isn't a video game component to Perplex City. Are there any plans for one in the future?
Adrian: We're always looking at different opportunities, and there's definitely an overlap between what we do and video games. But these things take time.
Dan: Definitely. We've got Madden lined up for an EA franchise right now, plus we're going for the ultimate sideways scrolling 2d licensed platformer. Think Bully meets GTA meets Katamari meets Crysis meets Phoenix Wright meets Spore meets Second Life meets Civ (the original).
32: I’m fairly certain I saw that pitched at E3.
Dan:In all seriousness, we think the rich world of Perplex City is ripe for storytelling. And you can tell wonderful stories in all sorts of games.
32: I’ve noticed that there seems to be a real push to get video gamers into Perplex City - E3 appearances, coverage on sites like Netjak and Joystiq, and the cards are now on sale in some GameStop locations. Why do you think Perplex City and video gamers are a good fit?
Dan: They're obsessive people who like to have flamewars in forums? I think that's called "viral marketing" or "word of mouth" these days. Gamers are smart, and we think we've got a smart product. Perplex City is fun, plus it's horribly addictive. We should probably feel really bad about selling something addictive to poor gamers who're already frightened by WoW.
32: My wife does have a few questions about you encouraging my2-pack-a-week habit. But that brings up a good point - with the persistent game world that encourages people to continuously pay for the game, massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft are probably the closest non-ARG analogues to PXC. How much does Mind Candy look at what WoW and other MMO games are doing and adapt it for their own purposes?
Dan: Oh, a tremendous amount, but I'm not particularly good at WoW. I only have a couple characters on the European servers and really, it's all in the name of "research". For example, in season two of Perplex City players will be able to avatars ranging from pretty goody-two-shoes elf-like characters, or really cool slobbering undead orc-type things. Also we'll be introducing an excruciatingly addictive form of subtle levelling that will gradually bring civilization to its knees.
32: I can see it now… five more puzzles to get the puce leitmark. Despite being a game primarily built around puzzle cards, Mind Candy made appearances at the last two E3s. In fact, that's how I first heard of Perplex City. What's the story behind Perplex City's two E3 appearances?
Dan Last E3, the UK government helped us out with a subsidised booth and we wanted to get out to the 'states to make distribution deals. More importantly, we wanted to see the 360 and the plastic shell of the PS3. We had a low key appearance at this year's E3 and again, it was all about making deals in smoke filled rooms behind closed doors. We're mysterious like that. Sente prefers it that way.
32: Ah, you held most of your meetings by the NCSoft booth - or you just repeatedly borrowed their fog machine. But still, making secret deals behind the scenes under the name of the would-be benevolent leader that tasks the players with their mission... Sente Kiteway fits right in with so many video game characters that I lost count of them back in the 16-bit era. Is it wrong that the video game character I mentally
associate with Sente is Metal Gear's Big Boss (who sends Solid Snake on his first Mission only to be the guy behind the Evil Organization you're fighting all along)?
Dan:I couldn't possibly comment. But, they've both got that gray hair, kind-of-evil look going on, don't they? Maybe he'll lose an eye by the end of season one and start sporting a trendy patch...
