Archive for the ‘ARG’ Category

Posted on March 3, 2009 - by MG

ICE SHOCK and doughnuts

ICE SHOCK is out! So just as we did last year, members of the Joshua Files Facebook group met up at Krispy Kreme in Oxford to share a few boxes of doughnuts and chat about the new book.

Two young lads sat down to crack the new code in ICE SHOCK – it’s a clue for the Alternate Reality Game, you know! I had a nice long chat with Jacky Atkinson, one of the organisers of the Kids Lit Quiz.

Then I went home and frosted the big choccy cake that we’re having for the Joshua party at Blackwell’s tomorrow night.

I hope you are all THRILLED by ICE SHOCK. Check out excerpts, downloads and tips about playing the ARG at wonderful TheJoshuaFiles.com.

Posted on January 6, 2009 - by MG

Make your own ICE SHOCK trailer! (and some ARG news…)

Well a very Happy New year to everyone on this lovely, crispy-crunchy Twelfth Night!

I thought I’d alert my blog readers to the fact that there’s a new contest at themgharris.com, the official online hangout for fans of The Joshua Files. 

This one is for budding movie-makers – to make a 30-second video for ICE SHOCK.

There are photos, images, hints, tips, sources of royalty-free images and music, plus a couple of plot spoilers for ICE SHOCK, to nudge your creative impulses.

Go on, have a try! You could win one of these:

In other news, I have had a stonkingly good Christmas and New Year with much socialising and partying – but not TOO much. I can’t handle too much – start to crave the peace and quiet of my desk.

But some is good, as is afternoon tea at Huffkins in Burford, a lovely Cotswold village.

Apart from that, I’ve also been working on the ARG (Alternate Reality Game).

I forget – have we said what it’s going to be called yet?

Nope, I don’t believe we have. Well, it’s called THE DESCENDANT, which is the title of the techno-thriller novel I wrote back in 2005, before INVISIBLE CITY. It’s from this manuscript that the backstory of Joshua Files is drawn, as well as the ARG. I originally conceived a sequel, which was to be entitled THE FIFTH CODEX. 

But then it struck me that the hero of THE FIFTH CODEX could be a youngster. And from that, I had the idea to write for children. (That and a reluctant-reader teenage daughter who I longed to see reading…)

At the beginning of THE DESCENDANT two DNA scientists meet to swap secret biological samples. One scientist is murdered and the other goes on the run. Is he the killer? Or is he running from the killer? The story moves from Mexico to Europe and then to Iraq, where a mysterious underground chamber hides an ancient secret about human civilisation.

For the ARG, we introduced a new character, Gabi – the teenage daughter of the murdered scientist. Her father has been killed – but why? And by whom? Like Josh she’s all alone…stressed out…can’t believe what she’s hearing about her father…and increasingly close to danger. And since her Dad was Josh’s godfather, Gabi turns to her old friend in Oxford for help.

Josh is ready and happy to help…but it won’t be long before his life is taken over by the dramatic events at the beginning of ICE SHOCK.

When we launch THE DESCENDANT ARG you’ll be able to watch as Gabi’s story unfolds. Who’ll solve the mystery first – you or Gabi? And will Gabi survive to tell the tale? In a real-time interactive finale you’ll be able to watch and assist as Gabi goes on a midnight run – with her life at stake.

I’m making a 60-second video trailer about THE DESCENDANT for some online retailers who are interested in having a glimpse. Is this the kind of thing you’d like to see here too? Or does it too badly violate the ARG maxim TINAG – This Is Not A Game?

Tell me what you think.

Posted on November 18, 2008 - by MG

A competition to win a bound proof of ICE SHOCK…with a twist

That doesn’t mean you get a twist of lemon with the bound proof of ICE SHOCK, btw.

It means there’s a twist in the competition; a twist that I’m only telling you guys here on mgharris.net

Firstly though – the competition. I announced this over on themgharris.com - you can read the full story there.

The basics are – you have to take the deciphered message of the code in INVISIBLE CITY and discover the single word that Josh has buried within the text. The code was a replacement code that over one hundred readers correctly deciphered. But what most people haven’t known until now is that there’s a second code.

And what I haven’t told anyone else yet – is that this word is a Very Important Clue in the Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that we’ll be launching along with ICE SHOCK.

So even if you don’t win the bound proof of ICE SHOCK – you can still crack the clue and be ready for the ARG.

One more thing – the method that you need to use to decipher this clue is also used by Josh in ICE SHOCK to crack a very cryptic message about his destiny…