TAP Getting Started Guide

GOAL

The goal here is that we create a solid OA specific and related story as a framework to overlay an alternate reality game that has multiple trailheads and rabbit holes to draw in a wide variety of players. This involves a team of Puppet Masters working behind the scenes, in shadow, to provide a unique experience for the players, drawing them deep into the dimension of The OA - or several of them for bonus fun! - and we have an abundance of potential here for some truly spectacular experiences.

A separate post will describe an ARG for those unfamiliar.

TEAMS

To pull this off doesn't require a whole lot of money, and in many cases it won't require anything - with the exception of any team deciding to put up an official website with a domain as part of the game itself, but it can be done with free platforms just as easily, albeit with a bit less ultimate control over the content. Some things we can develop can also be done in such a way as the PMs - now nominated to officially be referred to herein as "Steve" - can help promote or sell it, perhaps as an affiliate product so everyone can earn a bit of $$ for it, or at least help the core devs of a specific thing earn something to help in the agenda. The cooler it is, the more deserving they are of making lots of money with it if it's doable.

You own all the rights to whatever specific content you bring to the project. If you have marketable skills, by all means make it profitable if you can.

If Team Leaders prefer to be listed as Mods for that group that might be doable. Let me know what you decide, prefer.

MODS --

As of this writing, there is a single, founding Mod - that is me: Kara Kelly, or azkarakelly. My chosen duties here are to keep the sub running smoothly, organized, tidy, and hopefully being able to motivate and inspire some good, old fashioned team spirit to accomplish this lofty goal and not by myself. Like all of you, I do have a life and other obligations but I commit to making time every day to tend to this project and whatever campaign I'm deeper vested in with it. I'm not opposed at all to bringing in more mods to help with the sub but as of this writing, it's too new and there's not enough going on to need it yet. ;-) Since this isn't a typical discussion forum the whole in fighting thing shouldn't be an issue. We're united here toward a common goal to put this together and make something we can be proud of - but that would also make Brit and Zal proud of us too...at least for trying. ;-p

Side note - if any of you are somehow engaged with either of them, and could get them on board to help us frame something that's actually part of their story - that would be ideal. I don't expect that'll happen but that's always an open request. How awesome would that be if they showed up to help us put together the IRL experience...yeah? Yeah?

VLOGGERS --

This group would be responsible for pulling together a good team that will produce videos that further enhance the ultimate Experience once it's fleshed out and ready for development. This group might produce rabbit hole style videos as general fan vloggers or characters within the game who begin sharing clues with their already established audience who is none the wiser. Videos may be produced and shared across all social media, working with that group. Also a possible inclusion would be those who know and can teach others the Movements as part of the experience, as well as for those who need to learn them. Presentations, puzzle videos and even faux rants and raves about The OA and/or an element of the overall Experience as a way to lead others down the rabbit hole.

GAME CRAFTERS --

This group would be responsible for putting together the game mechanics for the gamification of the experience. Ideally, in the perfect world, somebody out there with some mad game dev skillz could come up with a fan fiction knock off of Q Symphony as a legitimate rabbit hole. In the perfect world, it's a short couple of levels deep with similar puzzles that lead to destinations around the world even - to engage collaborative play - set up on any of the app stores, and if feasible or doable, includes some sort of affiliate program so everyone who buys the game can join the affiliate program and sell the game, earning commissions as well...with the bulk of the revenue going back to the devs. At the end of such a game, they are actually beginning the Experience we've all been creating. The app game would be a rabbit hole.

Perhaps a fun simplistic little game about angels and demons...and upon completion of the game there is a fake advertisement that, when clicked, opens up the Experience itself...once they figure out the game / affiliate / rabbit hole, they will be much more inclined to promote it. The details are vague but will be clarified once the framework and Experience is ready. If a full on game app isn't feasible or doable, we can come up with something else - card game, board game, real world street game - but a game with the goal of being a rabbit hole into the Experience.

STORYTELLERS --

The core creative brains behind the story for the Experience are our storytellers. While it doesn't require a novel, the story itself needs to be fleshed out enough to develop a framework for the Experience. Storytellers also provide additional content in the form of journals, scripts (for Vloggers, Performers, GameCrafters) that provide chapters or pieces of a broader story that the Experience requires (to) be put back together for the full understanding...and all roads lead the player to The OA, to the world or dimension(s) of The OA, of Homer and Steve, Jessie, Hap, Renata, Scott, Angie, BBA, Rachel, Buck and French. Whether the stories lead the player to Episode 1 or any point in the story - without infringing the copyrights, obviously - perhaps the scenarios can be described with characters who are angels, fallen angels, non believers, or perhaps all of them are simply named Steve. ;-p Imagination and some effort to collaborate and put together even an anthology of fan fiction about these characters can open up this world for others to experience. Storytellers will provide our framework...the core of everything that is to come from it.

Writers -- are the scribes that help the Storytellers get things written down, taking notes, actual writing of the elements, and so on. Grammar is important. It needs to be top notch writing and storytelling.

PUZZLE MASTERS --

Our Experience engages the players and immerses them within the story through clever but relevant puzzles. Whether in the form of ciphers and symbols, an exploration of angel lore (taken from some of the elements they revealed as easter eggs in The OA), secret codes and hidden messages, a quest to find the Movements - these puzzles will be fun and entertaining...and if we're lucky, the ARG fans who were jonesing for a serious OA ARG ness will find it worthy and will get that community involved. If that community does get involved, then our puzzle trails must be intelligent, well developed and engaging because these are serious players who will not settle for cheap gimmicks for a tv show. It will have to lure them down the rabbit hole toward obsession. It will have to make sense in the real world as much as in The OA's world. Puzzle Masters may also be working with the Game Crafters, Vloggers, and Storytellers to put together a cohesive quest or trail for apps and written pieces, as much as puzzle videos. I won't designate myself Team Leader but this is my preferred group to work with, predominantly, although I will be involved in each of them from a mod perspective to keep things on track.

PERFORMERS --

We will need a dedicated cast of characters with whom our players can interact. That they come from all walks of life, across the globe is even better. They will respond with email and on social media, in video and even as authors of books and journals, they will make phone calls and leave messages. They will take the players who find them by the hands and help guide them along the right path in the Experience. Perhaps our Experience will entail a rogue or villainous type of group so the dark angels and the light angels are vying for the keys to either cage our Original Angel or free her. Full blown acting experience isn't required, real people are more authentic. A willingness to engage with strangers on the net or over phone calls and so on is going to be required so bring your thick skin to this game.

ARTISTS --

This group will be responsible for the tangible works of art that make up our game elements...both in game and out of game. Artists with those skills should be as well compensated as all the other groups, so anything they come up with that can also generate some revenue for themselves is perfectly fine. Plus, as with all our groups, it's also a way to get your name out there and perhaps hopefully build or grow a following for yourselves. Flyers, card/board game designs and art work, and now inspired with the notion of an OA inspired deck of Angel cards, similar to Tarot could be implemented in our Experience somehow or another. Marketing materials we can provide for download to put around our neighborhoods offline and share around our communities online. Puzzle t shirts as part of the game or as rabbit holes or swag for the Experience is another possible avenue for our Artists. An easy and affordable option might be rabbit hole mysteries created for a batch of simple business cards. (I can order a round to get us going, maybe 500 pieces cheap and mail quantities out to our teams to pass out in their area, or leave on counters, hand out to strangers or however we ultimately decide it might go...)

SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK --

The grass roots group that sets our Experience into the wild and helps it grow will be our Social Media Network. This group will be responsible for setting up relevant social media accounts, seeding profiles of characters as needed, connecting with others and building an audience of real people (as opposed to bots, which get us nowhere). Posting on others' pages and profiles, sharing clues to rabbit holes, posting about a peculiar discovery even, and using a collective of those followers, friends and audiences to open up the Experience to them and enchant them into the dimension of The OA. The Angel Project itself won't have a dedicated social media presence, for we are Puppet Masters living in the shadows, but fans of the Experience would have them to discuss assorted elements and bring others together to collaborate and share...growing the audience even more. Or, contact mods/owners of OA related networks already established to try and get involved and bring more people to those profiles. We've got The OA sub already so we don't need a new one. Best to drive new people to our tried and true, established favorites for general discussion, outside our in game accounts as part of the Experience.

WE ARE STEVE --

Steve is now the official designation for our Puppet Masters.

Night before last it sort of dawned on me that our rabid attempts to pin down the actual status of The OA's fate made me feel like Steve chasing after the ambulance. I posted it on The OA subreddit, a couple others agreed. I forgot about it specifically until one member in particular, u/olhydra posted simply:

We are Steve.

In that moment it really just gelled as a designation, more than a way I felt in particular. We ARE Steve. This entire project is Steve chasing the ambulance, wanting to keep the OA alive and help her, open the doors make it happen. So, it's only fitting that this group of members for The Angel Project be christened Steve.

We are not Groot.

We are Steve.

u/olhydra also greeted us as Angels, with Hello, Angels! so I open up this designation as well so our members can aspire to Angels status once they've gotten their wings ;-)

Everyone begins as Steve. With some awards, contributions and participation, a Mod ordained upgrade to Angel status is to come.

GETTING STARTED --

Given the groups and roles above, if you are a go getter with some management abilities and want to nominate yourself as a Team Leader of one of the groups above, feel free. As with a Mod status, these roles are not given out first come first serve. It is preferred that you demonstrate your leadership abilities by putting together a team of at least 3 others who will work with you in that group most exclusively, or by working with me in particular on settling on our core story and Experience. You can also demonstrate what you can offer by sharing some of your work - be it art or stories or video performances or video skills, or even games...or if you're a social media influencer with a serious following and the commitment to share some of it for our goal of generating new viewers to The OA. Then others can nominate leaders or if that makes everyone uncomfortable just starting, I can take private requests ;-)

Team Leaders can then work with one another to set up an official To Do list and our in house Planner so we can start knocking these things out.

None of these elements need to be wholly elaborate or expensive or that time consuming. It just needs to be effective, done right the first time, and everyone bring their A Game so it doesn't implode before it gets rolling. Takes time and energy more than money and a huge amount of life.

Again, this is for the purpose of a single marketing agenda to provide an experience that generates more viewers, but our efforts can still be amplified as an actual production and marketing wing, however fan fueled, to raise awareness and directly get others involved by asking and sharing links to interviews with the cast, or perhaps even engaging Brit and Zal and the cast to give us a nod of approval (or tell us to knock it off, they don't want a season 3 anymore so we can stop!)

Until then, as long as The OA remains on Netflix our window is open to turn around that renewal so if we get on it and get it going, there's no reason we shouldn't proceed as if it's already a done deal. Expect the win for The OA.

Ask why not us?

From here, the next thing on your To Do list should be to introduce yourself in a separate post, tell everyone about yourself and what you're interested in working on. The more specifics you can provide, the easier it'll be to find your groove with The Angel Project. Pick a group whether there's a Team Leader designated or not and rally your troops.

If you have ideas and suggestions for our Experience, post them with the appropriate flair and we can flesh it out and see if it's feasible and what it will take to make it happen.

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If you have any questions, please contact me.

Again, everyone is welcome and for all of you who have stepped up, know that from the bottom of my heart I am grateful and so very appreciative of the effort. We may not pull this off but at the very least we gave it a hell of a shot, made some new friends, and had some fun. If we do it right the first time there's no good reason we can't pull it off and help bring three more seasons of The OA to life.

Thank you again!

Kara at The Angel Project