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Pale HorseSomething’s afoot on the interweb. It’s The 21 Steps, a thriller story set . . . in Google Earth.
This is the latest offering by Six to Start, an ARG design team based in London. The founders, brothers Dan and Adrian Hon, were part of the Cloudmakers network that cracked The Beast (one of the first ARGs). They went on to design ARGs themselves, lately spending two years on Perplex City. Now they’re working on several independent projects - The 21 Steps is the latest.
The 21 Steps is a thriller story by Charles Cumming. It’s part of an interactive fiction series by Penguin called We Tell Stories. Six to Start is also working on five more stories by Penguin authors, with one story rolling out every week from now on. You can follow the series on their website and experience The 21 Steps, as well.
Having read it I can tell you it’s really cool and works very well as an interactive Google-Earth experience . . . thumbs up. Takes about an hour (if you read fast).
And there are rumours of a seventh story, cunningly hidden for those with the ability to find it . . . follow the white rabbit, they say . . .
Filed under: internet | Tagged: ARG, Charles Cumming, gaming, new media, Penguin, Six to Start, storytelling, The 21 Steps
I just read the wiki on Perplex City. Fascinating. A really good example of the raw, social and communicative power of the internet. This is the sharp edge of something.
This is, indeed, the sharp edge of something. Check out this or this if you want to see how deep the rabbit hole really goes . . . and I heartily recommend playing through The 21 Steps - it’s a cool experience.