Alternate reality game-maker Six to Start, whose co-founders helped create the popular ARG Perplex City, has a new project that's just as mysterious: The 21 Steps, a thriller that uses Google Maps, of all things, as its storytelling medium.
The 21 Steps tells the story of Rick, a man with a checkered past who finds himself mixed up with a dangerous organization that wants him to smuggle a mysterious vial into Scotland. A blue line traces Rick's path across satellite images from Google Maps as you work your way through the story by clicking on location markers.
Six to Start's Dan and Adrian Hon helped create Perplex City, which combined a search for a stolen artifact with collectible cards, puzzles, blogs, and live events. * The 21 Steps* is on a much smaller scale, and isn't actually an ARG so far as we can tell, but it definitely has a Perplex vibe to it.
The Hons left left Perplex City organizer Mind Candy after plans for a second season of the ARG were scrapped. We Tell Stories, an "exercise in digital writing" created in partnership with Penguin Books, is
Six to Start's first public project.
Charles Cumming's The 21 Steps is the first of six tales that We Tell Stories will be producing in just six weeks. The second entry is Toby Litt's Slice, a "ghost story for digital natives" that started today and will be told over the course of the week in two separate blogs, one for Lisa, the main character, and one for her parents, Ray and Lynn.
Six to Start's web site contains a tantalizing hint about a "seventh story, a mysterious tale involving a vaguely familiar girl called Alice. Readers who follow this story will discover clues that will shape Alice's journey and help her on her way."
If you need a more obvious clue, Six to Start's blog spells it out pretty plainly: "If you see a rabbit somewhere on our website, who knows where it might take you...".
Update: Forget what I said about it not being an ARG. I've just noticed that snatches of text saying "Tracking Alice" and "Alice, call 020 8133 8141" fly past as the chapters of The 21 Steps are loading. The game is clearly afoot.
Image: Susan Arendt
We Tell Stories: 21 Steps [Wonderland]
