An Update on Gnosis Arcanum and Harmonia Prime
Each ending is a new beginning
To the dedicated explorers who may have been following along, I’m writing this message with a heavy heart to let you know that I’m putting the Gnosis Arcanum and Harmonia Prime ARG projects on pause.
This was not an easy decision. The stories are designed as transmedia narratives, which means they require player interaction to evolve and unlock the next steps. I’ve spent an immense amount of time building everything from the ground up—domains, intricate storylines, and a suite of interactive applications. The goal was to create a space for players to collaborate and unravel the mysteries together.
The Challenge of The Modern Web
The reality of the web today, with its constant flood of content and bots, made it incredibly difficult to get the projects in front of real people. Even after setting up forums, commenting systems, email addresses, a private IRC chat server and interactive chat bots, the community simply didn’t grow enough to sustain the next phases of the story. While a few people did register, they gave up prematurely, and the essential collaborative effort needed to move forward never materialized. I’ve documented the creation of this alternate reality game in a separate article .
The End of an Experiment
Maintaining the servers, domains, and all the custom applications requires a significant investment of time, energy, and money. It’s a commitment I was willing to make if people were interacting, but unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. I didn’t require the huge amounts of hundreds of thousands of players many ARG’s had in the past, 100 steady commited players would have been enough.
I’ve decided to begin decommissioning all related services as the domains start to expire in about six months. While this is the timeline for a full shutdown, I may be taking some systems offline sooner to reduce complexity and costs.
This is my way of providing a clear end to the experiment.
A Request for Feedback
To the few of you who did register and engage, I have a request. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to me. I would love to hear where you got stuck and what ultimately made you stop playing. Your insights would be a great final lesson for me, and they would help me learn for future projects. Please feel free to leave a comment or send message on Matrix (subl.im) to andrei:subl.im to share your thoughts.
A New Home for the Projects?
This is a common fate for many passion projects, whether they’re closed or open-source—the original founder simply runs out of the time and energy needed to sustain them. While I have to step away from the daily demands of Harmonia Prime and Gnosis Arcanum, I’m not ready to see the work disappear entirely. SO I wish the work would be alive, however, that requires time and energy.
I am open to the possibility of a new home for these projects. If you are interested in taking over and continuing the work, I am willing to discuss a sale of all the associated assets, including the domains, code, and entire project architecture. This would be a great opportunity for a creative individual or team to pick up where I left off.
Moreover, if the right partner comes along, I am open to remaining involved on a collaborative basis. I would also consider being hired to continue the project under new supervision, should someone want to carry the torch forward.
If you are a serious inquirer, please reach out to me privately to discuss .
Only a Miracle can keep it up
Currently, only a miracle of a huge influx of people can change the flow and fate of this project and I may reconsider everything and keep it alive. However, that would also increase my personal load and energy input, which I want to minimize. I don’t believe in such miracles unless there is some kind of get-rich-quick scheme involved, as is often the case in online systems.
Thanks
Thank you to all who were curious about these projects. Your interest was the fuel for this entire experiment. I’m moving on to new endeavors, but the lessons I’ve learned from this experience will stay with me.