Research and creating new blueprints follow broadly the same rules but with slightly different goals in mind.

Research is a purely theoretical endeavour that will not result in an item that can be crafted. Instead, it expands the knowledge players have available to them and creates new options for developing item blueprints.

A blueprint allows a new item to be built using a suitable crafting space.

Fred's cunning plan is to construct a whole new gun.
The idea is to superheat the bullet as it leaves the barrel to make a plasma gun.
He teams up with Bertha (a physicist) to make this happen.
Bertha carries out a research project to develop the necessary science to superheat materials into plasma.
Fred will then use that information to create a blueprint for a plasma gun.

Outline what it is you want to achieve. Keep it short and simple to begin with. Send this outline in an email to findoutinplay@gmail.com and we will discuss your goal with you. If you have scientific data acquired at an event that will feed into your idea please include details of what it is and where you got it. We keep records of what data was put out so you can simply tell us the colour of the data stick and the event you found it at. If something is not feasible or doesn't fit with the game setting we will tell you at this stage.

Bob wants to enhance his assault rifle to improve the rate of fire.
He has parts from a similarly enhanced gun he found at an event.

Fred wants to increase the damage of his heavy pistol.
He wants to try coating his ammo in teflon and has a few ideas
on where to get the teflon.
Increasing damage is not something the game team want to encourage
so Fred's idea is rejected at this stage.

If your idea is accepted you now need to set out your plan to make it work. It is much easier to process if you break the work up into small stages. Email the game team and we will assign a number of downtime weeks that will need to be spent on the various stages. It is entirely possible this will take more than one event to complete.

Bob's plan is broken into steps.
Step 1 is to pull apart the gun he found and examine the mechanisms.
(One week)
Step 2 is to scan the scavenged parts and print a prototype for testing.
Step 3 is to test the prototype and make necessary adjustments. 
(One week to do steps 2 and 3 at once)

Some projects will need multiple skills to complete, or take a long time. In these instances multiple characters can collaborate to share the load. The same two steps should be followed but at stage 1 you need to identify everyone involved and their skill sets. At stage 2 the game team will respond with a more detailed list of the weeks needed to complete the task and which character needs to do what.

Fred's second plan is to construct a whole new gun.
The idea is to superheat the bullet as it leaves the barrel to make a plasma gun.
He teams up with Bertha (a physicist) to make this happen.
The game team determines that the science for a plasma weapon is solid
but still only theoretical so Bertha needs to spend 5 weeks testing it.
The first prototypes will need Fred's gunsmithing expertise, but Bertha's science work is done.
(6 weeks for Fred, 5 to create the blueprint, 1 to build the prototype itself)

Not all research work needs to end in a fixed product. Sometimes a character can work on a purely theoretical piece of science work. Such theoretical blueprints would be very similar to a published scientific paper in scope and style.

In the example above Bertha could have done her 5 weeks entirely
independently of Fred and just filed a blueprint for the theoretical
science of superheating bullets. 
Any gunsmith can then access that theoretical blueprint and use it to do
the engineering work of designing a gun. 
They may still need some of Bertha's time for the testing though. 

It is down to the character(s) working on the project to determine how broad or narrow the scope of their work is. A narrower focus requires less input from the scientist when a practical application is being designed, but a broader focus means the science is useful to more people.

Bertha could have chosen to throw her scientifc endeavours behind the
idea of superheating materials in general. She would have needed to
spend more time with Fred on his plasma gun concept, but she would
also have been able to help Martha with her idea for a melee weapon.

These are the areas of research that just plain aren't going to get anywhere. Most of these are for game design purposes, or restrictions in the lasertag software that make them impractical. This list may well expand over time so please check back every time you have an idea just to be on the safe side.

• Weapon modifications that increase damage. Sooner or later everyone's got one and then the next mod arrives and we have an arms race. The lasertag kit only accepts certain damage values, keeping the gun types balanced and distinct gets a lot more difficult.
• Any new chemical or drug that is addictive. The game team will be playing around with addiction as a theme but we intend to be very careful with it and sensitive of the possible impact on players. Characters will be able to replicate most drugs they find at an event including anything addictive, but we do not want players introducing new substances whose primary focus is addiction.
• Any chemical or drug designed to make the recipient more suggestible, lose inhibitions and so on. We have no issue with truth serums or the like but anything with a wider, more sinister use is unacceptable.

Primarily presented to help players decide what projects might be feasible as far as combat upgrades go.
The kit has the following stats programmed in;

• Rate of fire
• Clip size
• Length of time your gun is disabled when you are shot
• Length of time you are invulnerable after being shot
• amount of hit points/health you have for gun combat

The software also tracks how many clips of ammo you are carrying, but that hasn't really been something that's been an issue for players and is probably not worth modifying. If there ever seems to be a need, the game team will make that modification anyway, regardless of research.
The software will also allow you to regenerate in two different ways, either back to full when partially damaged, or back up and functioning from zero health. Both have a time period that elapses before regeneration starts.