Alt-Minds - Total Fiction Waiting in the Wings

The suspense is killing me already - but it looks like I'll have to wait until September to try Alt-Minds, a new alternate reality detective game from the makers of In Memoriam.

The suspense is killing me already - but it looks like I'll have to wait until September to try Alt-Minds, a new alternate reality detective game from the makers of In Memoriam.

Fans of CSI or the French series Spiral will be drawn to this "Total Fiction" whodunit, because it's fully interactive.

Developed by acclaimed French new media author Eric Viennot and his company Lexis Numerique with Orange, the game will take place over eight weeks, releasing a new mission each day.

The bare bones of the mystery focuses on a group of missing scientists, kidnapped by an unknown power.

You'll be able to watch it passively on internet TV and play it on your PC or laptop. So you'll see a clue in the show and be able to investigate it yourself. But it's also designed so that you can participate at any level you want, meaning you won't miss out on the narrative if you don't complete the mission.

And you can watch and play in real time or catch-up "iPlayer" mode.

It sounds complex and very fluid, but the way it was explained to me by spokesman Djamil Kemal, Alt-Minds has huge potential to become a compelling format.

Especially to fans of detective thrillers who are used to engaging with storylines at a forensic level. Instead of wondering if a scene contains valuable evidence, you'll be able to launch your own probe on the internet, by searching for car number plates or researching characters.

You'll also be able to co-operate with fellow gamers and collect rewards and achieve rankings.

Another interesting aspect is that Alt-Minds will send out updates to your phone as well as tracking clues and checking in at locations via your handset's mapping functions.

But the game won't be limited to Orange customers, although Android and IOS are the only smartphone platforms at present.

You'll also find additional layers to the narrative on Facebook. These will enrich the storyline without being essential to solving the "treasure hunt".

The area of entertainment, where TV shows and online video games overlap have massive potential.

And this game appears to be biting into the biggest challenge: to try and please the viewers and gamers by making participation user-definable, without detracting from the enjoyment or overall effect.

Surely whoever can successfully package this form of entertainment, with universal appeal at various levels of engagement, will own the next big entertainment thing.

Close

What's Hot