SkypeCast with the Vanishing Point Game developers

[Rob Veteran]

Guys, check out the news item: https://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=38115

42 Entertainment will be hosting a SkypeCast for everyone here to ask questions of the developers for a truly 'behind-the-scenes' perspective on the Vanishing Point Game.

https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/sky...?id_talk=418230

So... what questions are we going to ask?

RESCHEDULED - NOW ON SATURDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2006

[confusio]

Guys, check out the news item:

[so... what questions are we going to ask?

I'd be interested to hear from them some general comments about this experience from their side,

how viral it was, what things went right, what things went wrong.

My .02

[TheRA]

I would like to ask this question:

Did you expect the communities - Neowin and Unifiction to be the first to solve everything, and secondly what kind of people were you attracting. Cause let me tell you this, I am a nanotechnologist by profession with a huge hobby as an IT which pays me accordingly.

Second - Did you think any of the questions would be unsolvable or were surprised by the amount of time it took to solve them cooperatively??

Thanks.

Hope we get a winner from both our communities - PEACE

[kackles]

I would like to know who/who(s) ACTUALLY thought up the puzzles and also the relevance between the topic of each of the four puzzle boxes.

And also was the turn out (site hits and registration and live event participation) what they were expecting?

[bver100]

This is just a question for neowininans, i'd like to ask someone to record it or something, as i'm not going to be available during the skypecast, but i want to hear about it too =)

[Rob Veteran]

This is just a question for neowininans, i'd like to ask someone to record it or something, as i'm not going to be available during the skypecast, but i want to hear about it too =)

Yep, I'm going to do my best to record it (somehow).

Might even simply set up another machine in the chat and record it that way, probably easiest.

[signalpirate]

my questions would be :

how much did they snoop around here to see how we were doing ?

how much research did they have to do to get all the information for the riddles ?

[vpz]

My question:

What or who was the inspiration for LOKI?

[phxmimms]

Any chance of getting "Loki" on at some point?

[Scrooball]

This is a huge assumption on my part: I'm employed in a manufacturing facility, and I'm reasonably sure this whole thing was geared more toward IT-type people. I asked around at work and as far as I could tell, unless I spoke to someone else about it, nobody else was aware this promotion was happening. My daily routine doesn't include any IT-type function at all as far as my job description goes, but I'm still a go-to person for computer 'geek' questions.

I'd kinda like to know how long it took to actually put this whole thing together.

From a non-tech viewpoint, it was very well thought out, and extremely well presented. I saw some gripes about browser crashes, and other (apparently) flash issues. I used both Firefox and IE-6 and I didn't experience anything more severe than a choppy video if I played it more than four or five times.

One other question: When is the next one? (Okay, so I'm a glutton for punishment...)

[irulats]

Where some of the solutions we provided unorthodox? I mean where there any puzzles where we got the answer but not by the path you intended. We know you were following the boards so what about Triton and Los Angeles for example in Puzzle Box 3?

[Zyphrax]

Can someone ask for me, if the guy in the first Loki video was actually a slipup? :)

[luckyphil25]

I'd like to know if there is going to be a write-up on the all of the answers. Especially Puzzle Box 4. Some of the answers seemed to come out of no where. And while, yes, these sites (Neowin, Unfiction, Wiki) did provide some explanation, I would like to see the actual or original line of thinking.

And yes, when will be the next one!?!? :)

[blackhawk127]

Any chance of getting "Loki" on at some point?

its in the works hopefully she can, and is able to join us

[Modo100]

I'd like to know who the plants were.

And how often they had to guide us to the right answer.

[akitakoi]

I would ask how long it took and how many people worked on it?

Also, are they hiring? :yes:

[gdesignr]

I'd like to know what the "Enigma Director" title, and 3.1416 were all about... were those just misdirection?

Same thing with Swanee, TN

Overall a really fun game... It really could have been 4 or more different games with the massive variety of themes they had going on. I'd also ask them to pace themselves... I'd love to see more games like this in the future, so feel free to make long term plans and have more focus on specific themes for each game.

[thegrott]

I'd like to know what the "Enigma Director" title, and 3.1416 were all about... were those just misdirection?

In Game Director? I would like to know what was with the underlined clues/anagrams on each PuzzleBox page .. was it meant to point to an Astronomy reference on the week 3 murals puzzle? It drove me nuts!

[thsartori]

I would really like to know if there was anything that we failed to pick up on. There were several people on the board that worked like they were from a forensics lab but it seems to me that a work of this scale and multiple layers that there must be something that we overlooked.

Also - it would be great to hear if there were times when they believed their puzzles to be too difficult or clues too obscure and if so what kind of contingency did they have in place? For the last clue they later posted a map which brought us significantly closer to the final answer....were there other instances where they thought it was going to be necessary to assist?

It was great fun!

[konamouse]

Can someone ask for me, if the guy in the first Loki video was actually a slipup? :)

Yes, he was. Elan (from 42) answered this question at the Bellagio fountains event. Total messup (and Elan was kicking himself about it for the two weeks we were analyzing it).

I'd like to know who the plants were.

And how often they had to guide us to the right answer.

I can guarentee that 42 did not guide us, nor intervene at any time. They just watched. That is their MO.

[SWAMMIE]

Ask them how they GROOMED the game to react to our responses, guesses, and answers.

Also, an explanation as to why they changed some clues AFTER THE FACT would be interesting to hear.

[astro_boy]

A few questions:

1. Will you be posting full solutions to all the puzzles? If not, could we at least have an explanation for the puzzles that we failed to solve. Such as the sheet music/composers puzzle. It seems some of the answers were simply found through guesswork.

2. What went wrong with the original fireworks video? Also, a lot of people had a hard time making out the different colors in the show, which made identifying puzzles that much more difficult. Was this expected or is it the result of a low quality video recording?

3. What's the most bizarre (or funniest) story you've heard about the competition? For example, someone calling up Microsoft and making an unsuual request. Or the strangest answer for "What is my name".

Thanks for an awesome challenge! Hope to see more from you guys in future.

[_eXile_]

My question:

Where is the Vanishing Point of all the prizes so that we can go and get some? :D

[tgeairn]

Prizes are all buried at crossroads in Hardee, MS. Or is it Sewanee, TN? There is a "Vanishing Point Pub" outside of Sewanee...

[blackhawk127]

bad news guys looks like loki cant come, not because her schedule is tight or because 42 said no. The problem is she asked 42 if she could be there for it, but they never responded to her inquiry, and i guess she cant break the curtain without permission o well...