SILO-WORKS

SILO-WORKS was a game and creative project on Roblox made by R0xx0st, which developed in June 2010 as part of an Alternate reality game1*, SILO-WORKS by the same name. The game was itself a puzzle, and was designed to let players modify it in order to solve various mysteries in the game; such as finding codes, clues, and solutions to other puzzles, which could be found on a website. SILO-WORKS first released in early 2010 where R0xx0st would stagger the release by privating the game, and then making it public every few days. According to R0x, this was done to keep the player pool somewhat small, and to prevent ("certain types of players"2*) from exploiting or ruining the project. At one point, a developer would leak the game files and send the rbxm on a Forum, but would later take it down after R0x requested it. These files would have been live from 2010 to 2012.

Gameplay-wise we know it was built on the Roblox Engine, and resembled most games for it. The game also had its own community, where users could develop their own mods, and architecture for the game which R0x would look over and add at his likes.

SILO-WORKS puzzle was its main draw, with players trying to uncover a deeper meaning within the assets and scripting. From what we know, it was an enigmatic puzzle that required alot of additional context to be able to solve. Though the puzzle was never solved, the solution would become known to a controversy surrounding R0x.

Some time in 2011 another "High profile developer"3* would formally accuse R0x of stealing their assets by "instancing their game". R0x denied the accusations and had apparently carried out a "Targeted DDOS Attack"4* on his website servers in retaliation. True or not, this rumour would turn his community against him, which also caused tension to rise with his fellow scripters, developers and modders. This came to a boiling point when "One of the developers"5* of SILO-WORKS would leak the rbxm, scripts, assets and the solution and clues to solving SILO-WORKS.

This is allegdely what lead to R0x having a public falling out, which ended with him discontinuing the project and leaving the community.

SILO-WORKS was eventually picked up by "One of the investigators"6* who decided to continue supporting the game beyond 2012, until it was abandoned completely in 2015. It was used as a small social platform where people involved with the puzzle would do meet ups, hang out and chat on a day by day basis. SILO-WORKS was used as a social platform for the last few years of its life, and we believed it had a peak player count of 84. Since R0x had made the game private, many of the interest had died away and resources regarding the project have been lost. Due to how small this project was and how it was derailed in the drama, all we have left is reports of some witness accounts including a member of Project Engine7* whom had participated all those years ago (but no longer has the rbxm or link).

Though the project was relatively small and obscure. We are very interested in finding anything related to SILO-WORKS, in the hopes we can get it up and running again for preservations sake.

This is considered a high risk for "OBFUSCATION"8* if you know anything about this, have any links, images, videos, files, please contact m0fr on discord.

REFERENCES

  1. 1 – ALTERNATE REALITY GAME / (ARG) – A STYLE OF CREATIVE PROJECT, GENERALLY ON THE INTERNET, WHERE VIEWERS AND/OR PLAYERS PARTICIPATE DIRECTLY WITHIN THE PROJECT AS IF IT WAS TRULY HAPPENING IN REALITY. GENERALLY THIS IS DONE THROUGH MULTIMEDIA PUZZLES, CODE BREAKING, AND MYSTERY SOLVING.
  2. 2 – R0X WAS CONCERNED ABOUT EXPLOITERS, WHICH WOULD RUIN THE PROJECT AND IMMERSION. HE WAS ALSO PARTICULARLY CONFUSED ABOUT MEMERS, WHICH HE HEAVILY OPPOSED – PLAYERS THAT DIDN'T TAKE THE GAME SERIOUSLY AND WOULD JOKE AROUND.
  3. 3 – WE KNOW WHO THIS IS BUT WE WERE REQUESTED TO NOT NAME THEM.
  4. 4 – A TARGETED DDOS ATTACK IS ESSENTIALLY ANY MEANS THAT A SERVICE IS SHUT DOWN THROUGH ILLICIT MEANS. IN THIS CASE, IT WAS VERY LIKELY THAT R0X USED A SMALL BOTNET TO DENY ACCESS TO WEB SERVERS VIA FLOODING THEM WITH PACKETS, WHICH PREVENTED USERS FROM ACCESSING THE OTHER DEVELOPER'S GAME/WEBSITE.
  5. 5 – WE DO NOT KNOW WHO THIS WAS, OR EXACTLY HOW MANY DEVELOPERS THERE WERE IN GENERAL – HOWEVER, WE DO KNOW THAT THIS PERSON WAS LIKELY VERY CLOSE TO THE HEART OF THE PROJECT, AND LIKELY VANISHED SOME TIME LATER.
  6. 6 – NOTE, THIS PERSON DID NOT TAKE OVER DEVELOPMENT NECESSARILY; THEY JUST REUPLOADED THE RBXM AND PUBLISHED IT.
  7. 7 – THAT'S US. LOOK AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.
  8. 8 – OBFUSCATION IN THIS SENSE MEANS IT WILL BE LOST TO TIME FOREVER. WE DON'T BELIEVE THIS HAS HAPPENED YET, BUT WE SUSPECT THIS ENTIRE PROJECT MAY BE COMPLETELY LOST SOON WITHOUT INTERVENTION.