Inspired by the online mystery game created to promote the film A.I., a group of that game’s core players are working in secret to develop their own similarly addictive online mystery game.
Code-named Lockjaw and slated to launch in November, the game revolves around the secret activities of fictional company GanMed Biotechnical and its work toward developing a highly controversial genetic therapy to halt the aging process.
Like the A.I. game -- which hooked thousands of Web surfers on trying to figure out who killed Evan Chan -- and Electronic Arts’ Majestic, Lockjaw players will find themselves thrust into a disorienting and wide-ranging conspiracy that unfolds through websites, voice mail, faxes and e-mail. As they attempt to peel away layers of the plot, participants must uncover clues and solve puzzles in order to discover what’s really going on.
Not coincidentally, all of these games have conspiracy themes.
Having no set path to follow to the conclusion, these games take advantage of the Web's nebulous structure and create a new narrative form that is akin to a hypertext novel.
With a team of 25 Web designers, writers, artists and other game enthusiasts -- most of whom have never met one another -- Lockjaw is being created entirely online through mailing lists, IRC chats and an online workspace.
Group coordinator Ross White said that while he's had many electronic conversations about the game, he has never spoken aloud about Lockjaw with anyone before he was contacted for this article.
Obsessive secrecy is the name of the game here.
Like the A.I. game, which was neither officially announced nor advertised by Dreamworks, Lockjaw will be rolled out stealthily.
The hope is that players will happen upon the biotech conspiracy-themed game on their own or through word-of-mouth, and that their first encounter with Lockjaw might leave it unclear whether or not they’ve stumbled onto something real or simulated.
With it unclear where the game ends and real life begins, the result is a blurring of the boundaries between game and life that is more immersive than a standard video game.
While its creators race to finish the game on time, Lockjaw may have trouble standing out in an increasingly crowded field.
Plexata, created by Tactile Media of Sunnyvale, California, is already underway but has received mixed reviews.
Electronic Arts launched Majestic this past July and claims to have signed up 100,000 players for the game's free introductory chapter. Majestic costs $10 a month to continue playing. EA has not released numbers on how many people who played the first chapter have paid to continue.
The A.I. game and Plexata are free, and there are no plans to charge for Lockjaw.
Duplicating the success of the A.I. game won't be easy, but the all-volunteer creative team behind Lockjaw hopes to emulate at least one aspect of the earlier game: how it created a community of game players working together to crack the case.
Part of the appeal of the A.I. game was its complexity, which made it virtually impossible for any one person to complete alone. Multiple mailing lists and websites dedicated to cracking the case subsequently sprung up.
Majestic, however, was designed to be played alone, and largely lacks a collaborative element.
Without a big budget or major movie tie-in behind the game's funding, Lockjaw's creators, who themselves were brought together by a game, are keenly aware of the importance of the collaborative element. The shared experience of playing might just be Lockjaw’s strongest asset in holding players’ attention long enough through the ten weeks it takes to complete the game.
Dave Cole, a game industry analyst with DFC Intelligence says, "People are playing online games for their social component, not for their flashy graphics or cutting-edge technology."
Should Lockjaw prove to be a hit with an online audience, the all-volunteer team might find itself squabbling over who owns the game and story rights.
Already there have been several angry defections from the team by members unhappy with the game’s direction. White admits that there hasn’t been much thought given to this issue: "We’ve skirted around those issues and tried to operate on a goodwill basis. I’m not sure how that would shake out."
Sorting out the labyrinthine legal issues involved might prove more difficult than creating the game itself.
But before worrying about who owns Lockjaw and the movie rights, White and the other creators will have to craft a game that attracts players in the first place. Elan Lee, one of the lead designers of the A.I. game, is confident that Lockjaw will deliver.
"My experiences with the audience for the A.I. project have left me in awe, and I've no doubt that the results of their combined efforts will be nothing short of spectacular," Lee said.
White is also hopeful that his group can create something as compelling as the A.I. game, which eventually attracted about 7,000 part-time participants. The goal, he says, is not just to create an interactive experience, but also to tell a story in the process: "I don’t view this as just a game. It’s got to be good fiction as well."
