Happen demo

Happen happened (as I happened to mention previously) to have a meeting at James House last week and we gave them the opportunity to play LocoMatrix. Afterwards we were treated to some feedback which I blog here for your interest and posterity. They had no previous knowledge of LM and what I write is from the Post-It notes that they wrote their ideas on in this session (text in bold = the note – everything else my comments [a + is shorthand for a positive comment])

+ Loved the chase for the orange

Good, I knew people would like fruit games

+ Calorie counter for grown-ups

Interesting observation as we may collaborate with other organisations interested in the health aspects of LocoMatrix. Given the weight of the player, and calculating the speed and distance (from GPS) moved, one can get a pretty good indication of calorie consumption

+ Orienteering

Out now – our treasure hunt game – great for geocaching and also for orienteering. By saving map elements instead of pictures in the sequential clues, one can easily create a very interesting orienteering game. Try it now!

+ step towards real gaming / spin on virtual reality

Indeed and a step towards augmented reality

+ a screen per user

The Happen group played as 2 groups of 3 and as such were sharing a phone – there was a sensible request that the graphics be repeated on the phones for all players in a team
The Fruit Treasure – Hunt at Fruitstock in Regent’s Park

Shame, but there is no Fruitstock this year. We have been thinking about tie-ins with other companies and the Innocent Smoothie brand has been mentioned several times before.

More sounds and vibrations to celebrate point scoring

Keep following our research at Sussex University.

How to create a super fast ‘flash mob’

Using the power of knowing where the players are to get them to congregate – we have the platform so if any flash-mobsters want to get in touch.

How to shoot your opponent (lay mines, drop bombs)

We prefer custard pies and whoopee cushions – but one interesting aspect is to allow players without GPS to interact using their mobiles to help or impede a player who is

Alert when you are about to cross a road

Again this is a topic that comes up frequently. Because the GPS signal tells you where you are, it could be linked in to signal all sorts of dangers and places where play is not permissible, but would obviously require a lot of time and money to build up a database that could control this. We have had discussions with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and there are various things that, knowing a child’s position, could be done to enhance safety (comments to follow).

How to – countdown

Must admit that I am not sure what this comment was about. It could be to do with the fact that at present Fruit Farmer only shows the players score. And it would be good to see the other players’ scores too. Something that we are having a look at. Also it occurred to me that it could be better if you play only until one player is bound to win – e.g. with 2 players – the first player to get to 51%. Of course this is a little more difficult to do with 3 or more players – is there a formula for working this out. Yes, subtract the combined score from the total possible points, and if the remainder allows the second placed player to equal or overtake the first place player then keep on playing.

How to – ideal route

This is the travelling salesman problem (see here – if you have a look, see also for interest sake the stuff about ant colonies) and would indeed be the basis for an interesting game – or even of use for salesmen or anyone else that wants to find the shortest route.

How to – do it on water

Again, we are already talking to people about LocoMatrix and its use in sailing. Rather than just sailing round bouys, how about a territory capturing game, or how about having to sail through virtual chicanes and slaloms.

How to have corporates use it for team-building and leadership

In the pipeline – we are in contact with a number of organisations who run team-building workshops. It requires little imagination (and hopefully you have a lot) to see the potential here. If you are interested in this aspect, then we would love to hear from you.

You could hook up with Walk & Talks around London
Link up with bars/restaurants as stop-off points
How to have tourist boards use it for city tours

Now we have the treasure hunt, this has become a reality. We are currently creating (obviously) some Brighton tours / London to come soon / and will also do an experimental pubcrawl too (which although it doesn’t really do much for the health aspect, is more than compensated by the fun – expect too a tapas crawl).

How to do it auditorily using Bluetooth headset

It’s going to be tricky to connect up more than one Bluetooth device at the moment but, as more phones get GPS, more opportunities to use Bluetooth for something else. And of course we have the research project at Sussex looking into games that don’t require the screen.

Hopscotch

Nice idea – a giant hopscotch on a giant pitch – anyone want to have a go at programming this one

I wish for the motorcycle game from Tron

Not too sure how safe this would be – maybe on mountain bikes first of all

How to – have some strategy
I wish for a virtual world (of warcraft) in the real world

Coming soon – well maybe not the warcraft bit, but certainly some games with interesting role playing and strategy games. One of my own particular favorites for strategy would be live variant of Socoban.