Social Media and Games

sorry for the wait guys, here’s the links to the website mock-ups

Profile Page:

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=674d43e6d4&view=att&th=12f5502d836fc8ae&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_gmhx0zoa0&zw

Battle Map Page:

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=674d43e6d4&view=att&th=12f5502d836fc8ae&attid=0.2&disp=inline&realattid=f_gmhy4f331&zw

Leaderboards Page:

https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=674d43e6d4&view=att&th=12f5502d836fc8ae&attid=0.3&disp=inline&realattid=f_gmhy9qgq2&zw

Alright, edits to reflect that have been made. I originally wanted to use the goggles mostly because she didn’t place a limit to the technology we could assume was being used globally, but it’s not important. The gesturing was mostly just so players getting attacked would be able to visually see that if they were looking at the person, but it’s not entirely necessary.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ll have time to make any more changes today, so if anyone needs to alter something, just go ahead and re-post the document with your changes. Also, someone please think of a better name.

Game Title: Timewave (placeholder name)

Description:
[Timewave] is an augmented reality game in which participants view historic battlefields as events past are occurring. By looking around and exploring the areas, they can find pieces of history (journal entries, food rations, guns and ammo, etc.) from that time and learn more about what happened. There is something of a meta-game involved in which persons playing can use items they’ve found from exploring to ‘kill’ other players and collect supplies to support further exploration. More exploration by the player will result in more points, which will in return mark more locations for the player to inspect (via a compass-like system, whereas normally the players would have to stumble across caches of information). Grouping up with other players provides similar bonuses, and lining up two friends at opposite ends of a battlefield will yield hidden caches. There will likely be rankings for players who’ve explored the most or have collected the most pieces of history.

Structure:
Any player with this app will download it to their smartphones, which will give them a continuously updated list of historic sites/trails/battlefields. At points scattered around these areas (using specific coordinates of historic significance when applicable), players will see various items in their view (bodies, weapons, rations, etc.). They can then inspect these items via simple touchscreen interactions to learn about their historical significance, and add them to their ongoing inventory. Once they’re found, players can see how they worked and what they were used for at any time. While players are flagged as exploring, they must use these rations and items to keep themselves alive and fend off other players or virtual threats related to the events portrayed. There will also be ‘event portals’ placed around, which would contain virtual representations of past events that the player could witness firsthand.
If they come across other players who they haven’t grouped with, they may equip any item or weapon that had existed up until the time period being represented to attempt to ‘kill’ and loot the other player for items that player has discovered at the same historic site. The killed players would not suffer any penalty; they would simply get some small notification that it occurred and a printout of the ‘combat’ stats after leaving the game space. Likewise, if they group up with other players to explore an area, they can cover more ground (some caches will be flagged before they’re in view); and by placing players at different points of interest, they can unlock hidden caches of items and information. Throughout all of this, there is a point system in place that keeps track of the amount of exploration, items collected, players killed, and several other things, which players can use to keep track of how they’re doing against friends and other people in their area, as well as determining how thoroughly they’ve explored a location.
Killed players don’t lose their items; other players merely have a chance to loot what they may might not yet from afar. The shooting mechanic would require the player to perform some motions on their smartphone to represent the actions required to fire that weapon: powdering, packing, cocking…we could even go medieval and do bows and arrows or flails. It’s more of a tool the player can use to circumvent egregious amounts of walking/biking/rollerblading/etc. and as a way to gamify the sharing of information than a major gameplay feature. There would be an accompanying image of each landmark should the player choose to go there anyway. The more important part of looting other players is the focus on the player collecting enough items to survive using an arbitrary system; like a reduced timescale that universally requires a certain amount of food/water/what have you every couple of hours or so, it would be part of the meta-game and not the actual exploration of the site.

Augmented Reality:
Essentially, this game could be summed up as Fallout: Gettysburg as played through goggles that give the player real-time representations of historic events. Other players are seen as either allies or enemies in the virtual re-enactment the player is participating in. More rewards (information or supplies for the meta-game) can be found by exploring as much of each location as possible and the player can expedite the discovery of these by having friends help. Plus the ongoing point-based meta-game drives players to compare themselves to total strangers.

Goal:
The goal here is just for players to learn and explore as much as they can about some interesting places under the guise of a simplified action RPG. There are thousands of landmarks that have seen tons of history from dozens of groups of people spanning the globe and time itself. Perhaps learning how their ancestors survived or fought their wars can help them in the future. Players have their own goal of surviving while they explore, and achieving notoriety for their accomplishments in the meta-game, but the ultimate end is for more people to understand the importance of preserving history for the sake of how fascinating it is.

Okay, here’s a revised draft. Please, somebody think of a better name…and like before, if anyone has any suggestions just shout ’em out.

Game Title: Timewave (placeholder name)

Description:
[Timewave] is an augmented reality game in which participants view historic battlefields as events past are occurring. By looking around and exploring the areas, they can find pieces of history (journal entries, food rations, guns and ammo, etc.) from that time and learn more about what happened. There is something of a meta-game involved in which persons playing can use items they’ve found from exploring to ‘kill’ other players and collect supplies to support further exploration. More exploration by the player will result in more points, which will in return mark more locations for the player to inspect (via a compass-like system, whereas normally the players would have to stumble across caches of information). Grouping up with other players provides similar bonuses, and lining up two friends at opposite ends of a battlefield will yield hidden caches. There will likely be rankings for players who’ve explored the most or have collected the most pieces of history.

Structure:
Any player with this app will download it to his or her eyePhones (think of an iPhone embedded in goggles that tracks retina movement instead of using touchscreens), which will give them a continuously updated list of historic sites/trails/battlefields. At points scattered around these areas (using specific coordinates of historic significance when applicable), players will see various items in their view (bodies, weapons, rations, etc.). They can then inspect these items (using simple gestures) to learn about their historical significance, and add them to their ongoing inventory. Once they’re found, players can see how they worked and what they were used for at any time. While players are flagged as exploring, they must use these rations and items to keep themselves alive and fend off other players or virtual threats related to the events portrayed. There will also be ‘event portals’ placed around, which would contain virtual representations of past events that the player could witness firsthand.
If they come across other players who they haven’t grouped with, they may equip any item or weapon that had existed up until the time period being represented to attempt to ‘kill’ and loot the other player for items that player has discovered at the same historic site. The killed players would not suffer any penalty; they would simply get some small notification that it occurred and a printout of the ‘combat’ stats after leaving the game space. Likewise, if they group up with other players to explore an area, they can cover more ground (some caches will be flagged before they’re in view); and by placing players at different points of interest, they can unlock hidden caches of items and information. Throughout all of this, there is a point system in place that keeps track of the amount of exploration, items collected, players killed, and several other things, which players can use to keep track of how they’re doing against friends and other people in their area, as well as determining how thoroughly they’ve explored a location.
Killed players don’t lose their items; other players merely have a chance to loot what they may might not yet from afar. The shooting mechanic would require the player to gesture out the actions required to fire that weapon: powdering, packing, cocking…we could even go medieval and do bows and arrows or flails (just the gesturing, they don’t have to be standing near the person). It’s more of a tool the player can use to circumvent egregious amounts of walking/biking/rollerblading/etc., than a major gameplay feature. There would be an accompanying image of each landmark should the player choose to go there anyway. The more important part of looting other players is the focus on the player collecting enough items to survive using an arbitrary system; like a reduced timescale that universally requires a certain amount of food/water/what have you every couple of hours or so, it would be part of the meta-game and not the actual exploration of the site.

Augmented Reality:
Essentially, this game could be summed up as Fallout: Gettysburg as played through goggles that give the player real-time representations of historic events. Other players are seen as either allies or enemies in the virtual re-enactment the player is participating in. More rewards (information or supplies for the meta-game) can be found by exploring as much of each location as possible and the player can expedite the discovery of these by having friends help. Plus the ongoing point-based meta-game drives players to compare themselves to total strangers.

Goal:
The goal here is just for players to learn and explore as much as they can about some interesting places under the guise of a first-person action RPG. There are thousands of landmarks that have seen tons of history from dozens of groups of people spanning the globe and time itself. Perhaps learning how their ancestors survived or fought their wars can help them in the future. Players have their own goal of surviving while they explore, and achieving notoriety for their accomplishments in the meta-game, but the ultimate end is for more people to understand the importance of preserving history for the sake of how fascinating it is.

Sorry it took me so long to post something, I took some pictures of the fort this weekend and I’ll upload some sample pictures soon. I think the rough draft looks good. I feel like the first person shooter aspect of the game is much more involved than the original find objects/relics from the site game play. While I think it’s a nice idea, I wonder if it detracts from the original concept. I’m not a fan of the looting other players options. Though I guess national parks rangers will be ”admin” figures to make sure people like us don’t gang up on little kids.

Summary looks good. Consider mentioning.
Exploration of historical information to gain points
Points open up more marked locations on the battlefield
Emphasis on exploration of battlefield to collect more background.

Also worth mentioning a social element where you try and coordinate meeting others interested so that you can check out different sight lines and distances with other people.

Lastly, having been out to Patterson park and North Point, a simple tool that showed effective musket, rifled musket, and cannon ranges would be very instructive.