Nightingale to Launch New Alt Reality Game
January 30, 2008
By Michael Mascioni
from Mediaweek Magazine
The Nightingale company, a TV, film, and new media production firm based in Toronto, is taking alternate reality games in a new direction with Do You Believe Me?, (formerly called THE GOT,) an online video series it plans to launch in mid-March.
The show’s plot revolves around a 17 year-old girl called Maya, who seeks assistance online to cope with her fear that the earth is in grave danger. Users will be invited to assist characters on the show with certain tasks, and solve mysteries.
The series is being developed in conjunction with beActive, a Portugese production company. According to Denis Coyne, producer of the series at Nightingale Company, “seven months for the first volume of the story will be initially developed;”and there are “plans to extend more volumes without interruption thereafter.”
The show, which he calls a light form of alternate reality gaming, will be “more realistic, more immersive and have a
more TV-like quality. It will be designed to make alternate reality games “more accessible” to a wider audience, and is geared primarily to female teens between 12 and 17, according to Coyne.
One of the distinctive elements of the show will be its continually evolving video content largely based on “eedback from viewers to the storyline. As Coyne explains: “when the first volume of video goes live, we’ll be writing the second volume based on audience feedback. We’ll make every effort to incorporate audience input into the content of the series and the game.”
In fact, he notes that the show will be very much geared to tapping into the audience’s “community spirit.” All video
content for the show will be free for download and the show’s story will be integrated into games that send viewers on
missions in the real world, seeking clues. Nightingale “hasn’t yet secured ad sponsorship” for the series, but is actively pursuing “branded content opportunities” for the program, including “product placement,” Coyne said.