Location Based Gaming and the iPhone
Location based gaming isn’t anything new. Take a look at the wikipedia page for location-based game to see a wide variety of games dating back to around the turn of this century. But, what are all these games missing? Hint: it starts with an i and rhymes with dry scone.
I honestly think the iPhone, with it’s GPS enabled functionality combined with it’s google maps app, may revolutionize the location-based gaming genre, and even bring it into the mainstream. The barrier to entry for these games is that you need 1) a GPS device and another device or format for interacting with the game or 2) a business-class phone running Windows Mobile or Symbian-OS. The types of people that fit these two scenarios are a small fraction of the types of people that want/have an iphone.
Here’s a braindump of silly/fun generic location-based game for the iphone that’s been swirling around my head for the past few weeks.
- The iphone user downloads an app from the app store.
- They register and sign up for a team.
- There are two teams - doesn’t matter what they are.
- Players simply go to different locations and ‘capture’ them for their team.
- Capturing could be as simple as pressing a button, sending GPS coordinates to a server, reverse geo-locating that address and storing it in a database.
- Opposing teams can capture each other’s locations.
- First team to 500,000 locations wins
- There is a companion website for the game that shows activity, history, a map with the team’s locations, etc.
Obviously, there are some quirks that would have to be worked out. A location would have to have a more specific and larger definition than ‘any GPS coordinate.’ There may have to be a cooldown on a location to prevent high-traffic locations from continuously changing hands.
Also, this provides the foundation for more complex and interactive location-based games. There could be more than just 2 teams, or an infinite number of teams that players define. There could be more complex rules for capturing a location. A location may have to be ‘won’ by a game of tic-tac-toe or chess against a live person or a computer. The game could have a theme or be branded as a fun compliment to a mainstream console or PC game.
Really, the possibilities are endless! I’ll have another post in the near future with more details on an iphone location-based game we may or may not be working on at Figaro 
Add New Comment
Viewing 2 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment