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alright, time for the big reveal..
grunt hunt Q (or grunt hunt qwerty) is an online puzzle game event. so, yes, it's another puzzle hunt. and yes, you read that right: it is, in fact, done online.
but first, a little context:
( if you know what the grunt hunt is, you can totally skip this partCollapse )
 the Q
how ghq differs from the garden variety grunt hunt is found mainly in its delivery method. it being served online changes a lot of the rules and makes for a different experience. i've had to rework certain paradigms to make it work but it's also opened up a lot of doors insofar as creativity is concerned. you're in for a treat.
some things of note:
- this is not a grunt hunt.
not in the standard sense, no. this is an entirely different endeavor. that said, the next in-person grunt hunt (ghx) is still set for april. don't think that that has changed.
- teaming is optional.
if you want, you can solo the Q. it's crazy, sure, but if that's what melts your proverbial butter, then more power to you. you can form a team of four, if you like. hell, you can have a team of two comprised of you, your special someone, candlelight and a romantic evening solving mindbendery puzzles if that's your bag (freak). the way the Q is designed, it's more or less everyone against the game. so, chum up however you like. the point is to get to the end of the story/puzzles/event, regardless of how many brains it takes to get there. though, theoretically, literally anyone in the world can play, i'm probably going to have a registration process put in place so that i can keep tabs on bandwidth usage as well as find out who's playing.
- ghq is self-paced.
once the game event has been published, participants can get to it whenever and however they like. there's no time limit besides any one you give yourself. so, you can totally go at it all casually whenever the inclination strikes you or you can set aside a block of time to do it all in one go. totally up to you. and unlike the standard hunt, ghq runs pretty linearly. while there are still metapuzzle-type roadblocks (kind of) in it, everything runs largely in a straightforward fashion where one puzzle unlocks the next one to follow.
- technology is not only allowed, it's required.
all the puzzles as well as the entire experience will be presented via a web browser. and because it's online, you have the entire internet to help you out. that means people (see teaming is optional) as well as resources. that said, there is no challenge system nor methods to gain hints or free answers. but hey, internet. did i mention that you can use the internet?
- if you've ever wanted to help out with a hunt and yet somehow still participate, now's your chance.
aside from this hunt being the kind that's going to show up on your computer and be doable from whatever location, another major difference with this hunt is that participants can actually help contribute to the stock of puzzles that make up the game. volunteers will be given solutions and some direction and then will be blindly tasked to design a puzzle that resolves to that particular word. they'll have no idea what the context is nor where the puzzle appears in the body of the hunt. in fact, since it's the development of the puzzle that's important and not its presentation (since i'm going to have to dress it up to make it contextually relevant and have the same aesthetic as everything else), puzzles may not be recognizable by their creators until they start solving them. ideally, one person designs one puzzle each. that way, everyone has the same one pass that everyone else has. more details to come.
- mind you, i'm still designing some of the puzzles.
namely, the metapuzzley ones and the final one but a couple of the other puzzles as well. the ones i've designed so far are not easy. and, yah, you're welcome.
- when this is all going down.
ghq will go live as soon as all the puzzles get done by the volunteers and they get fitted into the Q. i'm hoping for some time in january and will make sure it does not interfere with the timing of the MIT mystery hunt. i was originally going for mid-december but, really, now is a horrible time for everyone. so, yah. not doing that.
so who wants to design puzzles? the only requirement for doing some of the design is that you've been involved in at least one of my hunts. that way you get an idea of how things happen.
oh, and who wants to play? =]
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okay