Riddle Productions to Debut First Online Game Series

Riddle Productions to Debut First Online Game Series

February 14, 2006 – Santa Monica, CA – While others are positioned at the starting line of what Variety recently called “the race to bow the first big-budget event series for the Web,” Internet entrepreneur Chris Tyler and Larry Bridges, President of the international editing and digital design boutique Red Car, are in the final stretch with StrangerAdventures.com, an interactive espionage-like adventure-game show where all viewers can compete for prize money.

“We’ve been in development for over a year now and have executed five online trials of the show with over 1,500 players, and the results have been fantastic. Now we’re ready to deliver a new genre of exciting entertainment programming to compete for the prime time TV audiences,” says CEO Chris Tyler. “With reports that Steven Spielberg, Mark Burnett and other leading Hollywood producers are developing similar programming for Internet distribution, we’re certain the market will develop very quickly for all consumers to be able to participate and compete in a real game show experience for millions of dollars in cash and prizes.”

The pilot of StrangerAdventures.com will debut February 19 through February 25 to qualify for the new Emmy category for original programming created specifically for non-traditional viewing platforms. Shortly thereafter, the “first season” of ten episodes will begin, arriving every other week. Future seasons will offer back-to-back episodes for a 20-week run.

The weeklong pilot, as well as the following series, will unfold Sunday through Saturday. Each episode will feature its own central character (the “Stranger”) and clues to a 10-digit code that the Stranger needs the players’ help to identify. The clues will not require any specialized expertise and will piece together like a puzzle. The first player to crack the code will win the grand prize of $25,000; the second prize of $10,000 will be divided among every viewer who breaks the code before time runs out. The value of the prizes will progress weekly as the audience grows.

The anthology series, which will span different genres, is designed around first-person stories containing intricate plots in which brain-teasing clues are embedded. The stories take shape through a series of graphic-enhanced text-e-mails and live-action video communications the central character sends viewers. The e-mails will contain several hidden clues or “Easter eggs and treasure chests,” along with “red herrings and head fakes” and arrive throughout the day via the viewers’ personal e-mail. These communications are aimed at promoting active participation in the adventure among viewers.

Chris Tyler, founder and creator of Riddle Productions, LLC and Stranger Adventures, has filed the patent applications integral to providing the series’ cross-media method of storytelling. Tyler’s past credits include the creation and development of Telecom Xtra for Telecom New Zealand, Access One (OzMail) and Solution 6. He also formerly served as the Internet subject matter expert for Electronic Data Systems’ (EDS) Management Consulting Group.

Advergaming, guerilla marketing and branded entertainment legend Larry Bridges is the series’ Creative Director who directed the pilot and is working with WGA writers on crafting stories. Jan Wieringa, formerly of Propaganda Films and Harmony Pictures, and Anne-Marie Mackay, formerly of Propaganda Films and Palomar, are set to executive produce.