Addressing the Problems of the Challenge

[Tbone]

It's no secret that we've run into a lot of confusion and negativity involving the challenge. This was, in some ways, be design - weed out the people that don't have the passion, curiosity, and determination to pursue this kind of thing.

But I feel like there are many people who, by their nature, SHOULD be interested in our website, but AREN'T. The devs are gonna hate me, but I think we're due for some tweaks - very small, but important ones. I need help figuring out exactly what we need.

Our big problem is creating a positive interest from the beginning. This wasn't a problem when we sent the PMs out, because we created the interest and curiosity from people asking "why did I get this PM?". But now our recruitment is in the phase where we will start telling people to "Follow the Signal...".

What I've noticed is that if people go to the website without visiting it via the cypher, they don't understand what's going on. Even if they saw the cypher on the same page as the link, they don't associate the two. There's no hook. I think we need to clarify the story and draw them in right from the beginning. The trick is, how do we do that?

Now I'm just brainstorming this out and hopefully you guys can help me tweak it...

The cypher is still the same, but followthesignal.net is linked within the text. The actually encrypted text only contains the numbers now and not the website.

When you visit the site, a female voice of the ship alerts you:

"Attention! You have an incoming transmission. It appears to be a recording from a friend of yours. Would you like to play it?"

You then click the lit up button. Audio plays. It's a scruffy guy (or whatever character I can come up with):

"Hey friend! I got this encrypted transmission the other day right after you left, and I haven't been able to crack it. All I was able to get from it was your name, so I thought I'd pass it along. It was obviously meant for you. Let me know if you get anything out of it. I'm sending it on a secure frequency, so make sure you calibrate your system to receive it. By the way, did you hear about all those disappearances happening in deep space? Be careful out there, and let me know next time you're on my end of the galaxy!"

After that, the button flashes as it does when you currently first visit the site. In the middle it reads "Please Calibrate System". Once you get all the buttons lit up, you get the same "##New Transmission ... Enter Access Code" on the bottom, but in the middle of the screen (popping up like the galaxy map) is the cypher transmission.

This should connect the cypher with the code you have to enter. Also, inputting the wrong code will just give you an error message but not load out the cypher.

After that, everything should remain the same. I THINK this will draw people into the story a little better and help connect the cypher to the access code. It will also allow us to just use followthesignal.net without having to give any other explanation.

Let me know what you guys think.

[Keeloth]

Hmmm. I rather liked the opening puzzle and it's presentation.  It meant I could come up with my own circumstances that brought me to be following the signal.

How about starting out with a text message in the shuttle?

Signal tracking...enabled.
Warning! Signal lost. Boost more power to sensor relay.

From there, you have to light up the buttons and things proceed a pace.

In terms of how it's displayed, maybe something like this:

Signal tracking(pause)...(each dot typed out like a thinking system)enabled.  
Warning!  (flashes a few times) Signal lost.  Boost more power to sensor relay.

I think that establishes a hook better than what's there currently, without defining a friend for whoever is taking the challenge.

[Tbone]

I'm not a fan of getting so specific early on either, but I think it's needed.

We need a who, what, where, and why from the beginning. The simple "signal tracking" text doesn't give any of that.

So who? You are someone who has a friend who sent you an encrypted transmission from the faint signal because, for some reason, your name is attached to it. You are out in space and possibly going to deep space.

What? It's a transmission and it's encrypted. It's fishy because it was meant for you.

Where? You're on a ship in space, having come from somewhere where you have a friend.

Why? Because this transmission was meant for you.

So before you do anything, you have a basic outline of your goal and background. We even tease about what's to come with the "disappearances" reference - it will make it more personal when you hear the news broadcasts later.

[Lits]

Quick question before I jump in the booth, is that female voice supposed to be from a dispatcher? Or an automated like "you've got mail" or just from a third party relaying a msg? Or a droid? I'm kinda confused as to how you want it to sound.

[Adad]

I believe it is supposed to be your ship talking to you, so droid-esque. Robotic yet containing subtle human-like inflections. Sort of like T's AP28431 I would say.

[Tbone]

Adad is right. It's your ship.

[Lits]

Recording the audio now, going to send in 10 mins