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How We Work While Traveling The World

January 13, 2012 in Article, Communication, Inspiration, Project management

Over the last 6 months, I’ve been experimenting with a new lifestyle. While working at Farsides, I’ve been spending the majority of my time traveling. When people hear me saying this, it usually raises a few eyebrows:

- “You mean you’re going on holidays, right?”

- “Have fun, but this is going to make communication difficult – you’ll lose focus and go slower”

- “How can you afford this?”

The truth is, it took us a while to figure out how to make this work well. You just can’t expect to work like in a “normal” office – some habits have to be re-learned. But you also get a lot from it. And the usual glittering I see in many eyes when I talk about my lifestyle tells me more people would love to do this. I hope this series can inspire you to do the same : )

In this first post, I’ll focus on some of the methods we used to tackle the issues associated with remote working, especially regarding the communication.

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Another reference for HackIt: Day X Exists Game

November 15, 2010 in Game design, HackIt, Inspiration, Storytelling

You’ve probably at least seen the ads for the latest Angelina Jolie’s movie – Salt. While the movie itself is just another traditional blockbuster from Hollywood, Alex Vachon hinted to a side game that was produced to promote the movie – Day X Exists.

While our approach is a little different, the way they structure the missions and set the atmosphere has a lot in common with HackIt – worth having a look and trying a few missions!

Ever Heard of Alternate Reality Games?

September 16, 2010 in Game design, HackIt, Inspiration, Storytelling

I promised I would tell you more about HackIt last week, so today I’ll describe another source of inspiration for the game: Alternate Reality Games. You may not have heard about them, but they are now commonly used as a way to advertise large productions, such as TV series, games or movies.

For example, let’s take the ARG made for the Batman movie The Dark Knight. Here is one of the websites involved in the game:

I believe in Harvey DentYou may recognize one of the characters of The Dark Knight, Dent, who campaigns for the District Attorney position in the movie. Everything on the website is made like if Harvey Dent was real, and like if this was his actual campaign website.

So you play on the Web, and it usually involves browsing websites such as that one to find clues. For example, Harvey Dent’s campaign website might include a link to the police department denunciation website:

Gotham City PoliceHere, you could report the Joker’s website… And probably get an answer back from a police officer, right in your (real) email inbox.

Joker's websiteOf course, things in HackIt would be different, and more simple. But this mix between reality and the game is an important source of inspiration, and some elements from the HackIt mission system, currently in development, are inspired from ARGs.

What do you think of the concept?

The Future of HackIt

September 12, 2010 in HackIt, Inspiration

HackIt’s concept has gone through a lot of brainstorming and discussions over the last few months. I’ll be explaining more progressively, over a few posts, for those who don’t have the time to follow all the discussions.

But before explaining the changes, I’ve thought of showing you one particular trailer. To put you in the mood…

It’s about a movie called Catfish, that Deborah recently sent on the discussion mailing-list. Of course, the story is different in HackIt, but the atmosphere and experience have a lot in common.

They have also made a website to promote the movie, that has a few strong resemblances with what’s planned for HackIt over the next few releases…

What do you think of the movie? Would you like to watch it? What about playing one of the characters in a game? : )