Perplex City Interview - Adrian Hon

Perplex City is a unique new game that is played using puzzle cards and clues that can be found online as well as in the real world. I spoke to Adrian Hon at Mind Candy – the publishers of Perplex City – to find out some more information on Perplex City and the unusual, increasingly popular subgenre of games known as Alternate Reality Games (ARGs).

Hi Adrian. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and Mind Candy?

Mind Candy is the first - and only - company in Europe that creates alternate reality games (ARGs). We were founded about two years ago by our CEO, Michael Smith, who also set up Firebox.com. Mind Candy isn't just about making ARGs though, we're here to create engaging, fun and stylish puzzles for all media.

I'm the Director of Play at Mind Candy, which is an unusual title that I didn't pick myself, but it is pretty descriptive. Basically, it means that I'm responsible for the gameplay of all of our products. In the case of Perplex City, I direct the ARG, its story and live events, and also oversee the creative side of the puzzlecards.

Many people aren't aware of alternate reality games. Can you give us a little bit of explanation of what exactly alternate reality games are?

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are games that don't require rules.
When you play a videogame, you have to learn that X means accelerate and Circle means brake. When you first play chess, you have to learn how the pieces move and what they're allowed to do. In ARGs, you don't need to learn any rules - you already know them. Imagine pretending that you're a detective in a murder mystery, or a fugitive on the run. You don't need to be told how to look up a suspect's address, you can just do it on Google, and you don't need to learn how to talk to an informant - you just email or phone them.

In other words, ARGs use the entire world as their playing area; games will use radio, TV, newspapers, weblogs, email, SMS, live events and even skywriting - they're all tied together, and they all happen in real time.

Of course, in practice games often have to compromise. For example, you can't have players actually hunting down supposed killers (who are being played by actors), and for cost and logistics reasons, a lot of the story and action takes place on the internet, but the principle remains the same.

Can you explain to us what the aim of Perplex City is?

Well, Perplex City is an alternate reality game, but it has a focus on fun, innovative and stylish puzzles, which (I hope!) we are doing well at. The puzzlecards are what we sell, and surrounding them is the story of Perplex City, which is a vast world with dozens of websites, characters and mysteries. The overarching story for the first season is of course the theft of the Receda Cube, which is Perplex City's greatest artefact. The Cube was stolen and brought to Earth, and now there's a reward of £100,000 to whoever finds it by piecing together the clues.

So, in a way, it's a 21st century remaking of Masquerade. That's the explanation that I use to anyone who's old enough to get the reference, even though it's not entirely accurate. If the person I'm talking to is younger, I normally ask them if they've seen 'The Game' with Michael Douglas, and say Perplex City is a bit like that, but more fun and with less shooting.

Can you tell us who initially came up with the idea behind Perplex City, and how close the initial concept was to the final product?

The founder of Mind Candy, Michael Smith, came up with the core of the idea behind Perplex City; in other words, a modern, stylish and cool puzzlecard game that's both an ARG and a treasure hunt, and that anyone can play. In that regard, the final product is very similar to the initial concept. However, a lot of the details have been changed - certainly the story and the ARG, which I'm responsible for, have changed a lot, and it keeps on evolving.

Roughly how many people are currently working on puzzles for Perplex City? How many puzzles are currently available? Are there plans for further expansions?

The number of people working on the puzzles keeps on growing. For example, the first two waves, comprising 132 cards, were largely designed by Michael and myself, with others done by our developer Andrea in New York. Wave 3 had more puzzles designed by freelancers on an informal basis, and recently we've begun to build up good relationships with several freelancers across the world, which allows us to keep generating fresh and interesting concepts. Even so, most of our puzzles are designed in-house.

At the time of writing, 132 puzzles are currently available. When wave 3 comes out in a couple of months time (that's approximate, by the way), there'll be another 62 cards available. For season 1, there'll be a final fourth wave of another 62 cards, bringing up the total to 256, and then we'll start work on season 2. It's an ongoing process, and we still have plenty of great ideas for puzzles [before I forget, the iguk perplexcity competition code word is Unfiction].

Finally, do Mind Candy have any projects in the pipeline that our readers may be interested in?

Yes - season 2 of Perplex City should be very interesting - we'll be extending the concept of Perplex City even further, and making the game a more richer and enjoyable experience for more people. I know that's not very specific, but I can't give much away right now. Ditto for non-Perplex City projects.

Adrian, thanks for your time.

No problem - the pleasure's mine.

Interview by Jason M. Brown