Transmedia: Storytelling for the Digital Age

Nedra Kline Weinreich:  "I've had a fun summer as one of the main writers for the Miracle Mile Paradox, an alternate reality game a group of us from Transmedia LA decided to create as a learning experience (for us as designers)" ...

"As alternate reality games have evolved, so too has its nomenclature: puppetmasters have gradually given way to game developers and transmedia producers, and “this is not a game” itself has fallen into disuse. Perhaps it’s time to make the term’s retirement official."

At this year’s IndieCade, Nonchalance won the World/Story Award for their “epic, immersive, poly-media, real-world adventure,” the Games of Nonchalance...

David Cronenberg's movies will be transformed into an augmented reality game, according to Cinema Blend.

To me, Alternate Reality Games are a really clever combination of narrative and user generated content that becomes the game itself...

Mike Rougeau: "Gamers are no strangers to unusual passions, and in reality, April Arrglington's isn't all that weird. In fact, "transmedia" entertainment simply describes what everyone is already doing anyway" ...

"This is a computer game, of course, but there are no animations. There are no special effects, no rules and no prizes.  There’s just a living, breathing man floating in a real boat"...

An immersive gaming experience played online and in real life involving a Time Switch machine.

This is the Kickstarter campaign for an ARG created by the members of Transmedia LA.  Not only is it a great project, but the kickstarter page provides a fabulous look at what it takes to make a compelling ARG.

Jan Libby's SNOW TOWN I-Fi App (following on from her indie ARG, of the same name, and original story "Legend of the Snow People") is on Kickstarter ... read an interview with her at YSA and check out her kickstarter campaign at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1270960286/snow-town-an-i-fi-app

[Note: Image is from kickstarter campaign.]

Driven, talented future media makers normally waited until their sophomore year to produce any major media through the program, but this year USC partnered with Ph.D. candidate Jeff Watson to produce Reality, an alternate reality game focused on media creation...

Initially inspired by the unique world portrayed in 5 Gum’s TV commercials and launched with mysterious coded messages, The Human Preservation Project is an Alternative Reality Game, starring Terry O’Quinn and Summer Glau, that delves audiences further into the World of 5 through a transmedia experience...

For eight weeks, the MIT Education Arcade and the Smithsonian Institute put on an alternate reality game seeking engage children with the scientific method.

[This article makes a great case study on building community.]