HelpEDNA is a Darkspore ARG that went online in mid 2010. It plays out as a puzzle text adventure which gives clues on the Darkspore game, and is set before the events of the game.
HelpEDNA is a puzzle text adventure, in which you play as a contact that has begun receiving messages from an unknown character. Players must register for the site with a user name and password, and log in before joining the game. Players were at first required to ask questions of the character, which would be answered, before receiving puzzles, one of which revealed the time and location of Darkspore's reveal at the PAX game conference. After many challenging mathematical puzzles were solved by the players, the site was updated, disabling the ability to ask questions or solve new puzzles, instead requiring players to work out genetic calculations, charging them with the task of creating the E-DNA genome for the abilities of the game's heroes. Players had to process 10 000 genes in order to complete all of them. After the completion of Meditron, Magnos, Blitz, Arakna, and Jinx, the website's genetic conversion system went unresponsive for several days, before it reactivated with updated text and two newly completed heroes, Goliath, and Tork. Tork had not yet been revealed on the main Darkspore website at the time. The website soon also featured two short in-game videos of Tork. After Tork's revealing, a new hero, Titan, was revealed, also with two short videos of the hero. Following that, another video was shown that featured an unknown hero. Eventually, on 15 October 2010, the number of genes to be processed reached 55, and stopped. Anyone logging into the site from now on will the usual partially corrupted text before it suddenly gives way to a stream of corrupted text data with a message from the Darkspore, stating that they have conquered yet again. The game is over, but still has an epilogue page containing a message from Maxis, and links to all of the pictures and videos from the website.
Plot
Establishing a connection with an unknown source, a contact begins receiving data and messages from a mysterious person who claims to have been isolated in space for more than two million years, and is in danger of being tracked down by another malignant source. After receiving some garbled information, the contact is prompted to ask questions of the person. The person is soon revealed to in fact be a social computer AI known as the HELIX, in a galaxy almost completely conquered by the Darkspore, a strain of aggressive, swarming mutants. Because of these mutants' attempts to track it down, the HELIX was forced to disconnect from the mass network that connected it to all other computer AIs. After completing several puzzles, receiving new information, and processing corrupted text feeds activated by entering select keywords into the HELIX's localized network, the contact is charged with the task of purifying 10, 000 eDNA genes before they mutate into Darkspore strains. The resulting genes were to form the basis for the abilities of the powerful heroes selected to fight the Darkspore. The contact gets to work, assisting the HELIX with processing ten thousand genes. After processing Meditron, Magnos, Blitz, Arakna and Jinx, a virus suddenly causes the HELIX to go into security shutdown mode, rendering the contact unable to finish processing the genomes. But soon the HELIX reactivates, plagued with data corruption but bearing the sequences for two heroes, Goliath and Tork. The contact soon resumes work on the genes, completing the sequences for a hero known as Titan as well as an unknown hero. As the contact processes the final genes, with the gene count down to 55, the contact logs onto the network only to have the message degrade into a stream of unintelligible, corrupted data. The Darkspore's computer virus had finally cracked the HELIX's link to the contact. Nine cold, chilling words stand out: "WE HAVE YOU - One life, one purpose - Darkspore expands". The mutants had conquered again...
The website now eventually displays the message:
"WE HAVE YOU
one life, one purpose
DARKSPORE EXPANDS"
while the background is filled with white corrupted coding that scrolls down continuously.
It was then revealed on the Darkspore forum that the ARG was designed by some of the Maxis team members to give away small bits of information regarding the game, announce new heroes and plot details, and advertise the game.
http://www.helpedna.com/
Amerigo95
