Cluekeeper is a puzzlehunt answer-checker app. Game Control tells the app about the hunt's answers and hints. Players run the app. They can use it to check answers. The app does time-release hints. If you're running a hunt, you can learn more.
At GC Summit, Rich got hauled up to give an update on ClueKeeper. He mostly announced things that have, in the months between the talk and this write-up, already come to pass:
- Reduced rates for labor-of-love games. Regular pricing is aimed at professional hunt runners. But folks Cluekeeper's authors play in (and love and want to help) DASHes, etc., that don't charge so much. Running a game like that? Talk to Cluekeeper folks before you decide you can't afford it.
- It's not just for one-time events. Cluekeeper knows about some "permanent" puzzlehunts you can play. If you're going to, say, Philadelphia, you can check the list of hunts, buy the Philadelphia one, then spend a few hours wandering around and solving. Or if you're a puzzle constructor, you can write a hunt in your hometown and let Cluekeeper handle the logistics.
Still, there are some things you can learn by watching the video…
- Bob Schaffer described how ClueKeeper made his life easier for running Elevate Tutoring puzzlehunts: Instead of worrying about logistics of scoring, he can concentrate on writing puzzles.
- Todd Etter asked if ClueKeeper might be a way to "archive" past hunts that used locations. And the answer is: yeah, with the caveat that (so far, mid-2014) ClueKeeper's doesn't deliver those gnarly multi-media puzzles. But if you have folks print out materials ahead of time, that could still work… But is that the best experience? Dunno, it's new ground.
