Obduction ARG - Continuing the Quest

[kf6kjg]

Ok, so I've got nothing new. hiredark.com is continuing to count down to Mon, 06 Jan 2014 22:00:00 GMT
(1/6/2014 2:00:00 PM Pacific) - the date that represents the millisecond UNIX timestamp found in hunrath.com's source code. I think that thoughts on that date would be of some fun here, at least until we get more information.

My speculation is that on that date there will be GPS coordinates to locations around the planet that will result in more clues when visited physically. My reasoning is based on looking at "ARG"s like Cicada 3301 and others that had similar countdowns. The countdown gives a gap that allows the planning and placing of such clues. Logistics is a bear after all!


PS: Has anyone bothered to see if there are any hidden messages in the behind-the-scenes images posted to the Kickstarter?

[ljbade]

If they do that there better be one near Canberra, Australia!

The only other idea I have for the date is that they ship out the backer t-shirts, perhaps some sort of message/clue on them?

[kf6kjg]

Oooh, what if there were several "batches" of shirts, each batch having a single letter/value located on it: the letters/values would be sequenced by the color to create another URL link... It would have to be batches to try and make sure all pieces to the puzzle were found - no fun if the game's spoilt by someone not posting their shirt's letter/value!

[ljbade]

Oooh, what if there were several "batches" of shirts, each batch having a single letter/value located on it: the letters/values would be sequenced by the color to create another URL link... It would have to be batches to try and make sure all pieces to the puzzle were found - no fun if the game's spoilt by someone not posting their shirt's letter/value!

That sounds like a lot of fun!

[numinous]

Has anyone else seen the link to the forums cyan posted on their Facebook? It has an odd black and white image of blocks (or large pixels) accompanying it. Is this just some fandangaled new type of internet link thing I've never seen before or something more? The start of a new leg of the arg? I'm expecting it to be nothing but thought I'd make note of it all the same.

[Acorn1]

That image doesn't display for me on Facebook - can you capture it for us all to look at, numinous?

[numinous]

This is the image that displays on Cyan's Facebook page along with a link to these forums.

http://i.imgur.com/CtNGaEX.jpg

[ljbade]

I was puzzled by the image till I realised that it looks much different in a desktop browser:
http://i.imgur.com/W462m9Z.png

It appears to be a zoomed in image of the icon next to the author on the forum index:
http://i.imgur.com/MoN2NEM.png

Might just be a strange glitch with Facebook when it tried to get a thumbnail image for the link - that icon is the most repeated image on the page so it may be why it chose it.

The app seems to make it worse by zooming the image in like crazy until it looks like random pixels.

This is the original image file:
styles/hannerpro/imageset/icon_topic_latest.gif

[numinous]

And assumption confirmed. It's nothing of interest at all. Thanks for figuring that one out Leith. I was kind of hoping Cyan were gonna lead us on a merry little chase culminating in the backer forum access. Hopefully they still do something like that *hint hint* lol

[CompChris]

Hey everyone! I wish I had seen this thread earlier. At least, I'm on the first page. I'm thinking about keeping a post updated if there are any developments.

I'd very much like to stay involved with the community, so if we (the community) find a stunning new revelation, I'll try to keep this post updated.

If anything, this post will serve as a reminder that the Wiki page for the ARG is at OpenURU.

I'll try to put it down when I update the post, so you know when it was last updated. If it hasn't been updated in a while, you'll know not to rely on this post for the latest info.

[Last updated | December 1, 2013 / 17:02 KI Time] (convert to my timezone)

Footnote: What did I just get myself into?
Footnote: KI Time is actually equal to Mountain Time. Oops. Hopefully I have this correct now.

[Mac_Fife]

Forgive the dumb question, but KI time is Pacific time, correct?

No, KI Time is US Mountain Time, i.e. the time zone applicable to New Mexico where the Cavern is located.

[CompChris]

Forgive the dumb question, but KI time is Pacific time, correct?

No, KI Time is US Mountain Time, i.e. the time zone applicable to New Mexico where the Cavern is located.

Thanks Mac. This is embarrassing, but it's the reason I asked. I didn't think about the fact that the Cavern, the one that you experience right at the beginning of URU, might actually be the origin of KI time.

I had this failed thought that it was related to the time in Spokane, WA, the time at Cyan's headquarters. I think I need to catch up a bit on my lore.

Thanks again!

[MoP]

Been wondering if we shouldn't continue the ARG discussions on the Backer Forums once they're up (shouldn't be a problem for the admins to move this thread over there if needed be).
Not sure what Cyans game-plan is, but I think our speculations will undoubtedly touch upon whatever materials they give us in the Backer-only updates and such, and those shouldn't really be discussed "in the open". But then again, the wiki would of course be updated regularly, so if some clues/steps indeed end up connected to the Backer-only material, they'd be publicly described there anyway...

[ljbade]

I hope they do something special with us backers in the ARG. That would be so awesome.

Perhaps we can make a private wiki page? Is it possible to do that? Otherwise if the wiki is being updated as stuff as solved if probably won't matter as non-backers won't know where we are up to.

Another option is to keep a sticky post that someone adds the latest progress too.

[Ainia]

Hey guys,

Dunno if this is anything... but I've been revisiting the Cyan thank-you video and its final tease:

no clues were provided in this video - move along - nothing to see here

I'm not finding anything promising with the hashtags yet on Twitter. The only dots I can connect so far (so to speak ) are the #coffeeisfood at 1:11 and the Kickstarter Update #11 where Michael Dogherra lists coffee as his favorite food. Because he's also the Cyantist at 1:11 in the video, I looked him up on Twitter and found this, which was shot/uploaded by him the same day Cyan uploaded their thank-you video to YouTube (November 12, 2013).

Here's what that video looks like to me:

A rising shot of Marc Ferrell listening to an off-camera conversation between Karl/smapty and someone else (maybe two others?). Marc's left desktop monitor is turned off, his right desktop monitor shows a live view of the MOULa Tokotah plaza (looking toward the alley; probably acting as the in-cavern ResEng), and his laptop monitor shows a still (?) of what I *think* is Myst Island at night.

The conversation bits I've been able to put together from the video:

smapty: Huh?
unidentified voice 1: I like Aaron (Erin? Aeron?) a whole lot.
smapty: I was like, wow, cool, it's like a superhero dream.
unidentified voice 2: Yeah.

Maybe the laptop screenshot is the important bit here? Possibly a tiny preview of the upcoming realMyst Masterpiece? Or yet another wild goose chase?

Thoughts??