What is The Sky Remains?

• The Sky Remains is a game where you find yourself part of a mysterious Detective Agency. You sign up and start investigating a case. The game allows you to follow a story and solve puzzles on the web site. You can also take part in outdoor games and treasure hunts using GPS devices, all as part of the story.

• The Sky Remains is a social site for people who like games of all kinds. We’ve provided the first game or ‘case’ for you, after that you can make your own cases and put them on The Sky Remains site for other people to solve.

Is The Sky Remains an Alternate Reality Game?
The Sky Remains is as interactive as an ARG but in different ways. You can play parts of the game on your own and in your own time. Other parts of the game will require you to work with other players, using The Sky Remains forum and messaging.

I’ve never played an ARG before, what skill do I need to have to play this game?
If you’re an ARG novice the skills you need will be introduced to you slowly as you play the game. To discover the deeper subplots both ARG rookies and even the most hardcore ARG players will have to work together.

Will this be really difficult? Take up a lot of time?
The game is made so you can stop and start whenever you like. You can spend as much or as little time on it as you like. Whenever you get stuck you can easily refer to what the other players are doing and ask them for help when you need it.

Do I need an iPAQ or any Windows mobile device to play?
No! You don’t need to do the mscape parts of the game to follow the whole game to the end. You’ll be able to find out what the mscapes are about from the other players who have been able to play them.  However we recommend that you try to experience the mscapes because it’s easy and fun! You don’t need an HP iPAQ to play the mscapes, you can use lots of mobile devices other than the iPAQ. Here’s a list of devices you can use http://www.mscapers.com/home/hardware

How can I find out more about mscapes?
Please use the mscapers community site! You can find out everything you need to know about playing and making mscape games here  http://www.mscapers.com

I’m an mscape vet, how can I be involved?
If you're already a part of the mscapers community, welcome! We hope that while you’re enjoying The Sky Remains you'll lend your experience to all The Sky Remains’ mscape novices.

I'm a geocacher, how can I involve my community?
We hope that you and as many of your fellow geocachers as possible will enjoy The Sky Remains and use the site for your own projects in future. We have, however been asked by Groundspeak not to mention The Sky Remains on the geocaching.com site. This is due to Groundspeak's feelings that their whereigo software is in competition with the HP mscape tool kit. The decision is yours.

What happens next, after I complete the game?
After you’ve finished the first case, The Sky Remains site is open for you to add your own cases for other people to solve. Your cases can be any kind of game, story, puzzle, activity…anything you think fits into the weird and wonderful world of The Sky Remains. Go, create, investigate!

Who decides which cases go onto the site?
Each case will be rated by the users of the site. The most highly rated cases with the most stars, will go to the top of the ratings list. If you put anything on the site which is considered offensive to either the majority of the site users or the producers of The Sky Remains, be warned you will be booted off. Of course we strongly believe that all your cases will reflect your good taste and creative brilliance!

How is this project funded?  
The Sky Remains is an HP Labs research project into the future of pervasive media. It is not a commercial project so you won't be charged for anything and we don't think of it as necessarily advertising any of HP's products. In return we'll be asking you if you'd like to help out with the user research, please consider it: the people in the HP Pervasive Computing Lab are very nice and you'll be contributing greatly to future pervasive games development.

 Who made The Sky Remains?

Licorice Film and Jonathan Williams. We’re based in Bristol, UK. Hello and welcome!

Hazel of Licorice wrote, produced and directed video, audio and live performers.

Jon developed the game concept, built the online system, design, motion graphics, multimedia content and locative media games.

The rest is up to you!