Remix Fiction » Interview

Socks Inc. puts the “Fun” in Funding

Steve — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:41:07 +0000

Meet Gary; the star of Jim Babb’s new project – Socks Incorporated. Socks Inc. is an alternate reality game that follows the trials and tribulations of Gary as he struggles with unemployment and tries to get a job at the Socks Inc. toy factory. This free game encourages players to create an avatar, a.k.a. sock puppet, and join in the storytelling by completing missions and posting videos and pictures. What’s that? You say that you’re convinced and are ready to cut up your dad’s best dress socks and start playing? Not so fast – this game only exists in Jim’s mind (for now). You’ll have to wait until September to have fun with your footwear. (I guess you could start playing with your socks now…)

Jim has done something unprecedented in the independent ARG community. He raised more than $7,000 in funding from one hundred people in about a month, and he did it with just a video proposal and a promise that the game would be “super duper fun”. Pure Genius.

Jim spoke at ARGfest on the topic of casual games and we pulled him aside and asked him a few questions about Socks Incorporated.

RF: The majority of the backers pledged $25 and will receive “a limited edition Socks, Inc. embroidered patch featuring the game’s main character” – did you think that the patches would be such a big incentive to contribute?
JB: The value of the patch is not about it’s monetary value, but what it symbolizes. The patch is similar to those given to girl and boy scouts for their achievements; and together we are making this game! Most of the backers are people who will be playing the game. I also I sent a patch of 011iver to all of the players of Must Love Robots.

RF: You can tell in the video, when it came time to actually ask for money, that it made you a little uncomfortable. Did you think you would reach your funding goal so quickly, and how did you feel about “begging for money on the internet”?

JB: I was absolutely blown away by how fast we reached our minimum goal. While I was confident that we could do it, I was unsure of how difficult it was going to be. It is awkward asking people for money, but you never get anywhere without putting yourself, and your project out there. The key is to do it in the most sincere and straightforward way possible. It is important to remember that people are supporting you more than they are supporting the project, which means you have to be trustworthy and passionate.

RF: Did your mom back the project? What does she think of “all that crazy internet stuff” you’re doing?

JB: hmmm, I wasn’t sure… so I just asked my mom: “Of course, I supported my son. I think its is cool! I don’t understand the concept of the interactive gaming and it sure looks fun! I am proud of the work Jim is doing! He is crazy creative! Wonder where he gets it?” ~Kathy Babb

RF: Can you talk a little bit about how you came up with the $6000 goal for this project?

JB: Picking my funding goal was very difficult. In general, I’ve found that it is always hard to name prices for work in the creative non-profit world. Making Socks Inc. is time and labor intensive, but it is a passion of mine. That is why I am working for free, however, I can’t expect others to work for free. Paying the Socks, Inc. team, even if it is a super small amount, is a way for me to show appreciation for their time and work. I am lucky enough to have most of the equipment I need to make this project happen, but I still need to buy props, and of course tons of socks (I have been trying to get some donated socks). Independent projects like Socks Inc. have small budgets and we need to be creative and organized to stretch that money and allow the project to reach it’s potential. Coming up with a solid budget and using all available resources is important.

RF: Offering access to the behind the scenes blog was a big incentive for me to become a backer. How much detail will you reveal in that production blog?

JB: We won’t be revealing much of the story, but we will reveal design elements and additional characters as they are created. You can expect behind the scenes photos of us working on the sets. We are also open to answering questions if and when backers have them.

RF: How much influence did your internship at the Top Secret Dance Off have on the concept development for Socks Inc.?

JB: Jane McGonigal is a huge influence to everyone making ARGs and big games in general, but she has been an especially huge inspiration for me. Seeing the behind the scenes of Top Secret Dance Off was a starting point for how a game like Socks, Inc. might work.

RF: Your last production included some adult-themed humor and a few swears – will Socks Inc. be rated G? Are you trying to target a younger audience?

JB: Socks, Inc. is a family friendly game. Everything will be PG rated, but there will be nods and winks to adult audiences, much like a Pixar movie.

RF: I know that you said you’re only in this for the “joy currency”, but are there any plans to monetize Socks Inc. in the future?

JB: The game will be free to play, but we are not eliminating other ways of monetizing it. We are open to tasteful brand content, advertising, and merchandising. Since this is one of the first funded indie ARG projects, we do want to start making head roads into creating a sustainable indie game ecosystem. Another possible road to monetization is licensing our back-end platform that runs Socks, Inc’s core mechanic. Daniel Grace, the super talented developer behind doomstick.com has been creating a robust system that can easily be used for other games in the future. It is important to remember, that while we are open to generating $$$, our focus first and foremost is on making an awesome fun game.

ARGfest – Keeping it Casual (Jim Babb) from Martin Aggett on Vimeo.

Remix Fiction Television Evolves

Steve — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:59:59 +0000

Remix Fiction is always striving to learn and adapt to meet the expectations of their small (but growing) fan base. We recently took a hard look at our video programing and recognized that we weren’t achieving the reach that we’d originally hoped. Based on feedback from fans who watch the show regularly we knew that we wanted to stick with interviewing amazing people in the transmedia storytelling industry, but we needed to ditch the hour-long format. We’re hoping that our relatively low viewership (based on video views on our Vimeo channel) is tied more to the length of the show versus the content. In general, we think that most people are not willing to sacrifice an hour of their time on an untested show. So, in order to boost our viewership numbers we’re going to make a few changes.

For those of you who are willing to sit through an hour-long show we’re still going to broadcast the recording of the episodes live. Those of you who make the effort to tune in while we’re recording will get a behind the scenes look at the making of the episodes along with some “bonus content” and bloopers that won’t make it to the videos. We’re still going to spend about an hour with each guest, but we’re going to break the videos down into more digestible ten to fifteen minute chunks and release them as a series. We’ve also got some ideas for producing some short, non-interview, segments related to the behind the scenes work we’re doing on our own Alternate Reality Game. We would LOVE to hear your suggestions for these new segments so please let us know your ideas in the comments.

We appreciate Brian Clark’s patience with our first attempt at producing shorter interview shows. Brian is the CEO of GMD Studios; an experimental media lab focused on the emergence of networked communities, audiences and marketplaces. Brian put up with us for almost two hours while we recorded several episodes of Remix Fiction Television that spanned a wide range of topics relating to his company’s vision and practices. Our first short-format episode with Brian is available now on our Vimeo channel.

Remix Fiction Television Welcomes Nina Bargiel

Martin Aggett — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:34:57 +0000

Nina Bargiel is a media writer who has crossed over into the world of Alternate Reality Games with MTV’s first season of Valemont which aired on the network as well as online. Nina wrote and implemented every facet of the series’ online experience, which was no small task considering the online content spanned three blogs (Professor Nicholas Blunt, the Eric Gracen investigation, and student Poppy Barker), nine Twitter accounts, Facebook and Verizon SMS messaging.

We’re excited that Nina has agreed to be a guest on Remix Fiction Television to talk about the creation and behind the scenes aspects of the Valemont ARG. The episode will be recorded live tomorrow night (Dec 22nd from 5-6pm Pacific time) with the video being made available soon afterward. We encourage you to join our live audience and ask questions about Valemont or any of Nina’s other projects.

Valemont, which was created by Brent Friedman and Christian Taylor, was a true transmedia experience, extending across multiple platforms.

Jay Bushman Visits Remix Fiction Television

Steve — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:10:05 +0000

Storyteller Jay Bushman will stop by the Remix Fiction Television studios tonight at 7pm 5pm Pacific time to recap his latest project CT-Halloween! Jay has recently formed Alchemy Storytelling as a full-service story consulting and production company, specializing in net-native storytelling. Formed in partnership with one of our previous guests (Andria Phillips), Alchemy Storytelling aims to be a confederation of story hackers, fiction designers and liars-for-hire devoted to fulfilling all of your narratological needs.

Remix Fiction Talks to Adrian Hon About Smokescreen

Martin Aggett — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:30:42 +0000

Remix Fiction Television returns this Sunday with a fantastic guest – Adrian Hon, CEO and co-founder of Six to Start! Adrian is one of the many exciting guests we’ve got lined up to appear in the coming months. We’ve abandoned our plan of broadcasting the show in the exact same time slot each week in favor of scheduling interviews at times which are convenient for our guests. We will still try and broadcast in the morning (Pacific time) so that our viewers in the UK and Europe have the chance to watch us live and participate. The show featuring Adrian Hon will be recorded live on Sunday November 1st at 10am Pacific time and will be archived on this site and on Ustream for those of you who can’t join us for the live event.

As always, you can participate in every broadcast by sending in your questions for our guests in advance or during the show. We would love to hear your opinions and get your questions about Six to Start’s latest project. Smokescreen is a flash-based internet simulation that incorporates video and alternate reality gaming aspects to tell a story. You experience the narrative through thirteen missions that invite you into the exclusive online social network of White Smoke which was created and is managed by teenagers. Sponsored by UK’s Channel Four, this project aims to educate teens on the hazards and potential consequences associated with online behavior.

About SIX TO START

We invent and build new kinds of entertainment…

…new kinds of entertainment that are designed, from the start, to live on multiple platforms.

For us, this has so far included alternate reality games, integrated on-and-offline experiences for theme parks, playful storytelling like We Tell Stories, or more game-like things. Who knows what it might involve next, but everything we make reflects our joy in entertaining people through play and stories.

We’re about storytelling and play

Storytelling is a huge part of the world’s culture, and great stories have always had the ability to move and excite us, whatever the medium.

Play means a lot to us, too. We draw inspiration from video games, boardgames, casual games and playful applications and services.

Play helps us learn, grow and deal with new experiences – and when play and storytelling are combined, they give us the opportunity to deeply engage with our audience and get them to do things – as a large single group, or individually. Great storytelling and great gameplay are at the heart of what we do.

We’re about partnerships and quality

Our name goes on everything we make. So we won’t make anything that’s not great. We see our clients as creative partners in creating fantastic high-quality entertainment and we’ve learned from working with people like Disney, the BBC, Kudos Film & Television, Penguin and Channel 4 that we’re happiest when we’re involved in a partnership where we’re confident we can excel. And where we’re asked to create genuinely innovative stuff, not just make an ARG because it’s the latest thing.

Remix Fiction Television Welcomes Yomi Ayeni

Martin Aggett — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:11:49 +0000

We are excited to announce that our special guest for tomorrow’s episode (Sunday 11 October at 11:11AM Pacific time) of Remix Fiction Television is Yomi Ayeni, the Creative Director from Expanding Universe. Yomi has worked in some form of creative media his entire career which spans broadcast radio, television, and now embraces interactive social storytelling. Expanding Universe specializes in the creation of immersive social entertainment experiences that live in multiple virtual and physical worlds.

They claim their latest project is a “pioneering concept offering a unique cinematic experience that breaks down the wall between actors and audience”. Breathe will provide several layers of depth to serve a variety audience interactivity preferences. Casual or passive audiences will be able to experience the narrative through three short films released weekly, and more active participants will have the opportunity to solve a murder mystery by interacting with characters from the story and could be featured in the films.

We’re looking forward to the launch of the first installment of Breathe which will coincide with the Power to the Pixel conference being held in London next week. You can still reserve your seats for one of the free screenings being held on October 14th in the Debating Chamber at London’s County Hall at 7PM, 8PM (sold out), and 9PM.

Breathe is a continuing saga, the story starts in London, and moves to Paris, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Sydney, and ends in Berlin. The project will work with local production crews, new and emerging local talent, artists, fashion designers, and musicians to deliver a localised experience, each comprising of film, live events, online interactions, adventure and much more.

Remix Fiction Interviews Funnel Productions – the Creators of Purity Towers

Martin Aggett — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:11:27 +0000

Remix Fiction is excited to announce this weekend (Sunday @11am Pacific Time) we will interview the creative team at Funnel Productions on the heels of the recent conclusion of their alternate reality game, Purity Towers. This was Funnel Production’s third full-scale independent ARG following their previous productions; Man of the People and Myth of the Seeker.

We’ll dive behind the scenes and learn what was happening on the other side of the curtain as players chose their alliances and helped co-create this complex tale of class oppression. We’ll talk to the actors who portrayed Randy, Earl, Melissa, and the rest of the characters who communicated with the audience through email, tweets, and Facebook messages.

We want the players of Purity Towers to be a big part of this special broadcast of Remix Fiction Television by helping us come up with interview questions. You can submit your questions by typing them into a comment, or you can call and leave a voicemail (206-350-1072) which we’ll play on the air. We also encourage you to video your question and upload it to a video sharing site. Just leave a link to the video in the comments and playing those videos during the show will be our top priority (there will also be a surprise for some of our video question authors)

Funnel Productions: Our mission is to create the best games around and to build a broader community of ARGamers in the process. We are a grassroots alternate reality gaming organization. We have day jobs, though one day we hope to create games full time. Our games are produced entirely out of our own pockets, but we do our very best to keep them fun, immersive, and enjoyable for the players.

Live Interview Broadcast With Maddison Atkins Creators

Steve — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:10:37 +0000

Congratulations to everyone who made Maddison Atkins a huge success! This independent Alternate Reality Game, billed as a “social show” or “diet ARG”, followed Adam Wilmont (Jason Zednick) and Maddison Atkins (Faye Austin) as they struggled to deal with the strange events unfolding in their lives. The transmedia story was told through video, social media websites, dead drops, live events, and direct interaction with their internet audience.

Remix Fiction’s Martin Aggett was an active player during the last few weeks of the game and got to see first hand how much the fans enjoyed this 12th Street House production. That’s why we’re excited to announce that he will be hosting a post-game interview on 27 August at 8PM (Central time) with the creators of this amazing story. The interview will be broadcast live on Remix Fiction’s ustream channel and will also include a simultaneous chat session with the cast and crew.

Because Maddison Atkins wouldn’t have been a success without their dedicated fans, we’re going to ask “The Community” to join in one last time and send Martin their questions for the broadcast. There are several ways you can ask your questions, and they will be answered based upon the following criteria:

Priority one: Video questions (uploaded to YouTube please) with the fan on camera
Priority two: Video questions with text or audio with the fan off camera
Priority three: Audio only questions (just leave a voicemail for Martin at his house 206-350-1072)
Priority four: Questions asked in the comments of this post or during the live chat session

Please keep your video short (3-5 minutes) and limited to one question per video so that everyone gets a chance to ask a question. Once you make a video you’ll need to leave the link in the comments so we know where to find it.

12th Street House is a media design company based deep in the Texas Forest Country which produces short and feature-length Independent Film, Documentaries, and Alternate Reality Games. Their mission is to find that balance between quality entertainment, effective advertising, and a reasonable budget.