Where did the money come from?

[narrativedilettante]

Okay I'm still trying to catch up on the forum so my apologies if this question turns out to be redundant.

One thing I've been wondering since early on was how this was all paid for. I assumed TVTropes provided funding, which seems to be correct based on a few remarks I've seen today. You also mentioned that using Layar allowed you to get some money from them. There's also a "Mystery Donor" in the credits. So... I guess I'm just asking for some clarification/elaboration on exactly how the money came together to do something like this.

[Connor Fallon]

I'll have to ask Eddie for more information on this, but a good portion of it came from TVTropes.
The Mystery Donor is a Mystery to everyone.
And then a large of the funds came from Layar. Contrary to what might be inferred from other posts, we got sponsored by them BECAUSE we planned to use the app, not Visa Versa. App is awesome though, I feel like it should be used in more ARGs.

[Pixelmage]

In regards to money, can you guys share a rough estimate of how many figures the development and implementation of this ARG cost?
See, in light of Krika's technical aspects question, I'm also a Computer Science student, and have a focus on media development. And I wonder what was the actual volume of resources necessary to run everything here.

[Rick Healey]

In regards to money, can you guys share a rough estimate of how many figures the development and implementation of this ARG cost?
See, in light of Krika's technical aspects question, I'm also a Computer Science student, and have a focus on media development. And I wonder what was the actual volume of resources necessary to run everything here.

Well, one part of budget that I can discuss was personnel costs - in our case, this was a labor of love, so we didn't get paid. If you want to do any sort of game, you either will need the cash to shell out for the staff you need, or you need to find a dedicated group that's willing to do everything gratis.

In that way, I feel we were extremely fortunate - we managed to put together an incredible team that put in a ridiculous number of hours for nothing more than seeing you guys have a good time. It was admittedly a tightrope walk sometimes, but it managed to work in the end, I think.

... Okay, I should also admit that plenty of us are looking forward to describing this on our resumes. It's something that we hope will stand out.

[FastEddie]

It ran just over $30,000 to operate the ARG. $10K came from Layar. The remaining came from me and Janitor. At first we thought it would come from the wiki operating fund, but it became clear that the wiki wasn't really benefiting in any noticeable way from the ARG (and the wiki didn't actually have the money), so we picked it up ourselves. It also didn't help Layar much. They were done after the initial $10K. So the only people that made anything on the ARG were vendors. Hosting, props, advertising publishers, artists, and so on.

[Pixelmage]

That's quite an investment for a small group to make. Taking into account the sheer volume of work hours you guys put into this as well, I can say I'm really impressed at the amount and quality of content you guys managed to make. Seriously awesome. And I can imagine how much that cost would rise for a fully paid staff.

I really wish that all of you guys enjoyed running this at least as much as we enjoyed playing.

[Tom]

I'm both proud and ashamed we ran an ARG this big for so little. Proud because I'm not sure anything this big has been done for that amount before. Ashamed because I really would like to pay people for their work. Next time... next time.

[FastEddie]

Tell ya, it doesn't feel like "so little" from this end.

[Victin]

Before I forget: Thank you Fast Eddie, Janitor and Layar! Limes for you:

*high fives Fast Eddie*

[Tom]

Ha, I'm sure it doesn't. All I know is I felt bad every time I had to call or text a writer and tell them they were late with something, because technically they were volunteers. No one ever gave me crap about it, though, which was big of them. Thanks, guys, for not giving me crap.