Project Redshirt- REVEALED!

The time has come ladies and gentlemen! After eight weeks of teasing you via hangman puzzles, I will now reveal to you exactly what Project Redshirt is.

First though, I want to thank all of you who have been with me since the beginning. It’s been a long time coming, but your patience will be rewarded today. I would also like to thank everyone who has come on board and supported my efforts at any time during the run of these little mind games I’ve been playing with you.

But enough stalling already! You’ve waited and waited and waited, so here it is:

Lost2010 guessed the correct answer to puzzle #8- “GAMEBOOK”.

That’s right folks, Project Redshirt is a gamebook. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what a gamebook is, it is a 2nd person perspective story. You take on the role of the main character and you have to navigate your way through the book like a maze.

A gamebook’s story is broken up into potentially hundreds of different sections. You start at section one and you will ultimately have to make decisions that will affect which section you go to read next. This creates multiple pathways through the gamebook, most of them typically lead to some kind of dead end or the death of you, the main character. Some of you may be familiar with the term “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, but I cannot call Project Redshirt a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story because “Choose Your Own Adventure” is a trademarked line of gamebooks from the 1980s and 1990s. Thus I have to stick with the generic term gamebook.

Project Redshirt is going to be a series of Lost-centric gamebooks. Instead of being one of the main characters on the show, Project Redshirt will put you into the shoes of one of the Lostie redshirts. This has required me to extensively research each episode of Lost to see when redshirts pop up, who they interact with and just how many are still alive! The goal of the series is to see if you can navigate your way through every season of Lost without dying.

You might be wondering now how this gamebook idea meshes with the seven previous clues I have given you. Allow me to elaborate on each of them (in no particular order):

Clue #2: Project Redshirt is only a cryptonym
From here on out, what used to be known as Project Redshirt will simply be called Redshirt. The full title of the series of gamebooks will be Redshirt: Survive the Island. Well, that’s the name and subtitle I’ve envisioned up to know. I’m open to suggestions though, but Redshirt is mandatory for obvious reasons.

Clue #1: You will need a computer to access Project Redshirt
This is kind of self-explanatory. Since Redshirt is not affiliated with the show, ABC or any of the producers, you won’t find it in stores. When the time comes, you will have to come online in order to track down your copy of it.

Clue #4: Downloadable
Now that I’ve got DarkUFO backing me up with some support for the project, I am hoping that he will possibly host the final PDF version of each installment of Redshirt. Otherwise, I guess I’ll just have to email the copies out. Here’s to hoping Dark is on board.

Clue #5: Multiple stages or phases
Because Lost is such an expansive story, I’ll be breaking Redshirt up into multiple parts. The first part of the series, which I hope to release before the end of this year, will carry readers through the events Season 1. I am nearly finished re-watching Season 1 and have begun working on the earliest of events. I hope to be able to release the Season 2 gamebook shortly after the end of Season 5. This way you fine folks will have something to do while waiting for the next faulty ARG to kick in.

Clue #3: Non-canonical, evolutionary continuity conformism
This tongue twister of a clue is what forced me to spend so much time researching the events of Season 1. I’m intent on staying consistent with the canon of the show. Through the use of the Lostpedia timeline and my own copious notes, I have a detailed log of who was where, doing what during all that I have watched of Season 1 up to now.

It wasn’t so difficult at first- everyone was on the beach. But when people started wandering off and they split into two camps, I have been writing down where different characters live and where they pop up and different times of the day. My goal is that I can accurately reflect the events of Season 1 (and the other seasons as well). I don’t want any of you continuity experts to nail me for having the Redshirt character interact with somebody at the beach when that character was most definitely at the Caves that day.

This part here has been the brunt of the work and it’s not going to be over until the show ends. The evolutionary part of this clue means that any information that comes down the pike about what a certain character might have been doing during any of Lost’s season, I will tweak Redshirt to reflect any new canonical information revealed in the show through dialogue or flashbacks.

Clue #7: Personality development
Simply walking around the Island isn’t enough for me. While most gamebooks only have one “successful” ending that is considered a win for the reader, Redshirt will feature a couple different endings. At least for now. While your redshirt persona isn’t going to be interesting enough to have any kind of back story, the people and things you encounter on the Island will mold your attitude towards your fellow Losties. You might end up being pro-Jack or pro-Locke, or you may just end up being a loner. There will be several paths you can take, but not all of them will be as interesting or successful as others.

For Season 1, I am envisioning as many as a half-dozen endings that will pick up in the Season 2 gamebook. This means that the Season 1 installment of Redshirt is probably going to be very large.

Clue #6: Project Redshirt will need beta testers
Some time soon, I will need a crew of about a half-dozen determined proof readers to help me edit the story lines. I’ll need help checking for continuity and also to see if the pacing and writing is any good. This needs to be entertaining, so my beta testers will need to let me know if there are ways and places where I can speed things up a bit.

My beta testers will be insiders, to a point. I won’t be giving them full copies of Redshirt, just a streamlined portion of it (i.e. one of the psychological pathways). When we’re ready for the finished product, I’ll combine everything together. But I don’t need beta testers just yet. I’ll be sure to announce that loud and clear when the time comes.


So, now you know what I’ve been working on and teasing you about for all this time!

This does NOT mean that I will stop posting anything here. I am very interested in your input and I will be posting polls (if they work) and asking for feedback on a variety of issues ranging from creative ways to die to what sort of things our Redshirt character shouldn’t get involved with.

There is still plenty of time for you all to help shape what will become Redshirt, so please be sure to check back at the site from time to time. I will try my best to post something new here at least once a week.

Now then, what is your initial reaction to Redshirt? Does it sound like something you will be interested in? I very much want to know!