Andrea Phillips (born 20 July 1974) is an American

transmedia Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of adapting a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. From a product ...

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

and writer. She has been active in the genres of transmedia storytelling and

alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by int ...

s (ARGs), in a variety of roles, since 2001. She has written for, designed, or substantially participated in the creation of Perplex City, the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

-nominated ''Routes'' (a project of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

), and ''The 2012 Experience'', a marketing campaign for the film ''

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''.

Entry to alternate reality gaming

Phillips came to the genre in 2001, when she co-moderated the Cloudmakers mailing list which served players of "The Beast", the ARG which revolved around the release of the movie ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence''. The Cloudmakers community encompassed thousands of players of the game and eventually included a "guide," walking players step-by-step through the game as it happened, a "journey", describing in prose the content of the game and its backstory, and a "trail", functioning as an

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to organize the multiple sites and widespread information sources present within the game. As a player of the game, Phillips co-wrote "the journey" and contributed to versions 4.5 through 9.0 of "the trail".

Work in transmedia

Perplex City

In 2005, Phillips transitioned from being a player of transmedia and alternate reality games to being a designer of them. She was hired by Mind Candy as an "'ad hoc' polymath", doing "'a little bit of whatever it takes to keep the game rolling,' be it designing and writing puzzles, or live event coordination.". Perplex City was the first "freestanding" alternate reality game to run as a stand-alone project rather than as a marketing vehicle for a traditional media project and Phillips stayed with the project until Mind Candy announced in 2007 that Perplex City was being put on indefinite hold.

Routes

In 2008, Phillips was hired as Lead Game Designer for ''Routes'', a multimedia game targeted at

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teenagers and run by

and the

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. Routes included interactive

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games, an alternate reality game, a television documentary featuring

Katherine Ryan Katherine Louisa Ryan (born June 1983) is a Canadian comedian, writer, presenter, actress and singer. She has appeared on British TV and radio panel shows, including ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', ''A League of Their Own'', ...

, and a series of

webisode A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cab ...

videos. The project ran live for eight weeks between January and March 2009 and won or was shortlisted for a number of industry awards. It won a 2010 International Visual Communications Association (IVCA) Gold award in the Web 2.0 category and the IVCA Grand Prix award the same year. It was also a

nominee in the Children's Interactive category in 2009 and a

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winner for content.

Other projects

Phillips has also worked as lead writer and game designer for "The 2012 Experience", an alternate reality game used as marketing for ''

'', a

Roland Emmerich Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German-American filmmaker. Emmerich is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the movie industry. His films, most of which are Eng ...

film. Phillips also worked with

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

in the creation of his online game " A Map of the Floating City", listed as "Quarter Master for game design, writing, UI." The game's purpose was to promote the artists upcoming album of the same name. Credits also listed Thanks to Hollywood producer J. J. Abrams. On her own initiative, Phillips has developed Madame Zee, a

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stream and blog that deliver tongue-in-cheek horoscopes and advice, ''My Super First Day'', a "massively collaborative storytelling project", and ''The TSA Choice'', a

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods and services, goods or services—including ideas, Voting, votes, Microwork, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary ...

d activism site opposing recent changes to TSA airport screening procedures.

Industry participation

Phillips was a founding member of the

International Game Developers Association The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers." The IGDA is incorp ...

's Special Interest Group on Alternate Reality Games and has carried out a variety of duties under that umbrella, including contributing to an Association

whitepaper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...

. She currently serves as Chairman of the Special Interest Group. She has also written extensively on the topic of transmedia on her blog, ''Deus Ex Machinatio''. Phillips has been a presenter at numerous industry gatherings, including

Foo Camp Foo Camp is an annual hacker event hosted by publisher O'Reilly Media. Event O'Reilly describes it as "the wiki of conferences", where the program is developed by the attendees at the event, using big whiteboard schedule templates that can be re ...

2010,

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2010, and an MIT conference on "Storytelling 3.0".

Publications

Phillips in 2012 published ''A Creator's Guide to Transmedia Storytelling'', Amazon. 31 May 2012 as a guide for current and aspiring modern storytellers. Phillips presents techniques, guidance, and information from her own professional experience as well as from interviews with other professionals in Transmedia. In February, 2013, Phillips created a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

project to raise funds for a year-long fiction serial called ''The Daring Adventures of Captain Lucy Smokeheart''. The project successfully funded on March 28, 2013, with 251 backers. Each month beginning in May 2013, Phillips will be releasing a new chapter in the fun and lighthearted adventure, and with each chapter, a puzzle to be solved as well. By successfully solving the puzzles, a reader will be able to find the secret online location to Lucy's treasure. 15 May 2013. In February, 2016, Phillips published ''The Daring Mermaid Expedition,'' an

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

set in the Lucy Smokeheart world, with

Choice of Games Choice of Games LLC is a video game developer based in California that creates interactive fiction. They create their games in the custom-made ChoiceScript programming language, which is designed for writing multiple-choice games with a small ...

. In July, 2020, she published ''America Inc.: A novel of democracy and dirty tricks,'' in which a corporation runs for President of the United States.

References

External links

International Games Developers AssociationOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Andrea 1974 births Living people People from Michigan American game designers Transmediation