This is a child site meant to attract designers/writers to a proposed published treasure hunt project.
Unlike the rest of Oak Games, this is phone friendly. It might become its own site.
Plan O is a go!
Prior to the ambitious Thesaurus Canada book project, the plan is to have a local, Manitoba treasure hunt. Free, on a new website, $1,500 prize. This will be a signal flare/pilot project for Thesaurus Canada.
New stuff for me :-|
I really enjoy making treasure hunts. I want to put them out there for people. In the right way, lots of buzz and preferably in a book. What should I do?
| 1. | Nothing |
| :-( Say goodbye to treasure hunts. | |
| 2. | Plan O. An initial signal flare/pilot project treasure hunt for Manitoba on a website. Flavour B. |
| :-) Useful signal flare/pilot project. No problem with flavour. Every aspect is doable. Except | |
| :-( Having trouble making it. It doesn't feel satisfying, pleasant, or complete. Not yet anyway. | |
| 3. | Plan O. Flavour A. |
| :-) I could plug in a slick, neat flavour A treasure hunt that is on the way to being ready. | |
| :-( The flavour problem. Also this one just works better in a book, pages. | |
| 4. | Treasure hunts just from me. |
| :-( Limited, more local audience. Financially nuts. Finite good material draining away. Limited type of material. | |
| :-) Getting my treasure hunts out to people is what I'm trying to do. | |
| 5. | Thesaurus Canada light. TC with training wheels. Some designers, some provinces. Likely self published. |
| :-) There wouldn't be a tense struggle to fulfill the criteria and get everything right. Grab a couple of guys and gals who want to do it. | |
| This could function as training wheels on the way to proper Thesaurus Canada, intended as a series. | |
| :-( This would mess with the brand. Those criteria (and a push for "diversity") exist for a reason. There would be fewer sales. | |
| If it's self published, getting money for treasure could get interesting. | |
| 6. | Thesaurus Canada, in a properly published book. |
| :-( It's ambitious. Challenging criteria. It's a safe bet it won't actually be successfully done. | |
| :-) With a treasure hunt book being very much national, that will lead to buzz, sales. Buyers will know there is treasure not too far. | |
| A team would be comforting. People could bring all kinds of things to the table. Here's one: promotion. |
I'm starting to look favourably on a crawl, then walk, then run model. That is Plan O, self-published TC with training wheels, then Thesaurus Canada.
What is the flavour problem? Treasure hunts are fun games where you try to get a treasure. But the location of the treasure is secret; you have to figure it out.
If I use flavour A for an early treasure hunt, people will associate that style with Manitoba, me, when it's used in Thesaurus Canada. We also want to avoid a situation where people won't buy books because there are
no active hunts in their province. Flavour A hunts could have other little issues too. See above.
Publishers, proper publishers vs. self publishing, is a separate topic.
Thesaurus Canada works in English and in French. Right?
It's thésaurus in French (shouldn't the last s be silent?). The accent shakes things up.
Thesaurus Canada was chosen because the Greco-Roman word works in English and French. Thesaurus Canada might be renamed. What should it be renamed to? Treasure Canada?
Uninspired, but also unambiguous. Treasure Hunt Canada (THC) would be interesting.
Should I use the term criteria, quotas, or requirements?
Should I use the term variety instead of diversity? Same meaning, less baggage.
Headed to the treasure hunt child site:
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If these conditions are not met, the project will not happen (well ... see the Book page).
This is ambitious and has the criteria to be followed. The first book in the series could be Thesaurus Canada light, TC with training wheels, with fun hunts but the criteria do not have to be followed.
Could be self published.
This would involve
| Hierarchy | Control. Single point of contact. |
| Co-operative team | People have their strengths, weaknesses, and areas of responsibility. |
| Decentralisation | You make the decisions and do the work for your treasure hunt. |
Mostly decentralisation.
Different types of treasure hunts are desired, so there is a soft quota. Narrative, poems Utah, salad, ciphers, pictures Masquerade, word play, map, word search. Sequential puzzle, where one clue helps you figure out the next. Sequential road trip, going from spot to spot like in a Hollywood movie. History (more subject than puzzle type).
Salad is my vague term meaning a treasure hunt uses a number of these types of puzzles at once. A ticket, a newspaper article, some weird symbols over there ..
Narrative hunts include autobiography (the famous big hunts do this), history, story
Dyscordia, mystery, I propose a ghost story.
A long-winded narrative treasure hunt is not just desired but needed, even in a relaxed TC light. That's because it would fill out page count.