Presentation 1 – Feedback

I received some positive feedback from my first iPhone app. presentation.

One idea that was given to me by George was the inclusion of sound to the application, giving it a greater realistic effect. What I am thinking is to give the firing of weapon/projectiles a sound. Each weapon will have its own unique sound which will be made as realistic as possible.

The picking up of an item may also have a sound as an indication for users that an item has been picked up.

Another sound which can create ease for users is one which indicates that a player has been shot. This means that you don’t have to keep looking down at your screen to check your health, you can just do so when you hear that you have taken damage.

Rob gave me helped me an idea of how to improve my user response, by using storyboards. By allowing the users to role-play, they can get a better feel of the activity of the game. This can be done by creating a scenario for potential users, and have them perform this scenario with model iPhone’s in order to give them a real feel of the game.

I think this idea can work very well with index cards, providing potential users with both a visual and active representation of the game. This enhances potential user’s knowledge of the game, thus providing greater, more accurate feedback.

Idea Modification – Changing Game Play

After my insightful discussion with Rob last week I have decided to change many aspects of my iphone application. What I beleive he wanted me to do is revolutionise the way location-based gaming is played.

Most of us have seen the capability of gyros within a device. The best example of this technology is the Nintendo Wii, which revolutionised the gaming consul. This feautre of the Wii greatly increase activity of players. For example, in a Wii game of tennis, you attatch the Wii-mote to the tennis racquet attachment, and accept for the running around, it is just like a real game of tennis!

Rob wants me to maximise activity in my game, making it a central aspect of my application. What can set my application appart from the Wii will be the fact that instead of being glued to a television screen, you will be moving around quit a lot in order to play the game.

The gyro fuction will play a key role in shooting opponents with the iphone. I have decided to break away from my previous idea (shooting players by pressing their icon on the game map) in order to incorporate to iphone’s gyro. Player icons will be represented as arrows on the game map, not only to show direction of movement but also to show what direction people can shoot in. Shooting will become a two stage process, simply pressing the button on the iphone will not do anything. In addition to pressing the button, a gesture is needed, and the specific gesture needed complies in accordance to the weapon that is selected. For example, firing a pistol will need a vertical, upwards motion. A projectile on the other hand, will need a vertical, downwards motion. This gives the game an aspect of realism, making game-play much more fun. As an additional realistic aspect, reloading of weapons will be done on screen, using an upward-downard motion on the touch pad (just like a real gun!).

I think that activity may also be increased if the firing of weapons by oponents can be shown on-screen. For example, if one player throws a projectile, its path movement may be monitored. So if an opponent is in range of this projectile, they will be able to move out of the way. And this means they need to run!

Idea Modification – Problem With Indoor Usage

It has come to my attention that one feature of my application cannot work the way I imposed. It is unlikely that my application can be used indoors because of the fact that the GPS function will not work. This is because of the fact the satellite’s signal to the phone would be blocked by the layers of concrete in building ceilings.

This brings about the problem of not being seen on a map during game play when a player enters a building. This problem can simply be solved by adding an out-of-bounds time limit function. For example, if a player enters a building, he/she will have 10 seconds to get back within range or they will begin to gradually loose life.

This problem may also be advantagous as it adds and extra style/option of play to the game. In stead of all players being visible at all times they will not be, giving the game an aspect of stealth as nobody knows where everyone else is, making the game much harder to play.

This also increases activity in the game. For example, the is one player who has no weapons, when this player suddenly comes into contact with another who has weapons, he/she would run away to try and avoid damage.

Brainstorming

One aspect of my aplication which I am working on is the layout of the game’s playing screen, and also how to shoot opponents. Kaz last week gave me the idea of using the map to shoot opponents. Players (along with yourself) are represented as icons on the sceen and in order to shoot them, you tap their icon on the screen. I am still not 100% positive that this method will be the most effective, however it is the easist way of doing so (so far). 

Scenario

We just finished a class and have an hour to kill and decide to start a game in the Wilkinson building.

I use the map editor to construct the boundaries of the game simply by walking around and setting the boundary points using the GPS function on the iphone. Now that the boundaries are set, I  perform the same action to create walls and now the battle field is set for play.

Idea Extension – Obstacle Creation on a Map

Last week I was working on the the idea that in the game options, you have the ability to create walls within a map. This gives the game the added abilty to be played in-doors. The boundaries of a building can be set, along with the walls within the building.

From this I have also come up with an alternative way of setting boundaries and obstacles. One method of doing so is simply setting them on a map (touching the screen and dragging your finger to create the length of the map boundary or a wall).

An alternative method would be simply by walking (activating the starting point using a key on the iphone and walking the distance of a boundary or wall). The easiest way to describe how this feature works is that it is like the pen tool in photoshop, you set out different vector points which are joined by straight lines between points.

The second method is to be used for easy layout of a map and its boundaries in a small, complicated area such as the Wilkinson building. This feature wouldn’t be used when laying out a map in a large park (this is where the first method comes in handy).

Research: Location-Based Games

I have now set out in search for any game which is in some way similar to mine (to make sure a havn’t stolen anyone’s idea!).

The first game I found quite impressive (and thankfully unrelated to mine) is called Pac-Manhattan. This is a real-life version of Pac-Man created in 2004 by graduate students at the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. It uses Wi-Fi technology, open-source software and of course mobile phones.

The game is played with ten people: “Pac-Man” and his “controller” (who keeps contact with him via cell phone and keeps track of how much of the city he has covered), and the four ghosts and their controllers. Pac-Man and the Ghosts play out the game on the streets of Manhattan while their respective controllers give them information and strategy advice via cell-phone from the control room.

 

More info at http://www.pacmanhattan.com/

I managed to find one location-based game which works on the principle of shooting opponents on a map, however instead of people there are warships.

Torpedo Bay uses the area in and around you to avoid being killed by various ocean warships (carriers etc.) To survive, you must move in your neighbourhood to get more ammunition and health to stay alive. GPS enabled mobile handsets allow for real time location information. This game has been available for play in North American since 2005. 

 

More info at http://www.blisterent.com/torpedobay/index.jsp.

Researching Specs – Connectivity

My application uses the Bluetooth 2.0+EDR to connect between different players of the game in order to shoot and damage an opponent. I have recently done some research on the specs of Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and have found out quite a lot about it which may also be useful to others who plan to use this feature.

I have found in the past that the use of bluetooth wares out the phone battery, however Bluetooth 2.0+EDR is apparently much more efficient. It runs much faster and smoother than previous versions with the added advantage of conserving battery life. The connection is specified as having ‘three-times-faster data-transfer speeds’ which i find perfect for my application, providing much better game play. The range is said to be greater than 33 feet which also helps game play (differing ranges with different weapons). For further information, the full details of this can be found at http://www.bluetomorrow.com/content/section/414/570/.

During my reasearch i also learned of the future of Bluetooth with a company called ‘EZURiO’ developing a blutooth chip the size of a postange stamp, capable of a 1Km range! This article may be found at http://www.intomobile.com/2007/07/10/bluetooth-range-tops-1km.html.

First Idea

I have come up with the first idea for my iphone application. It is an interactive location based shooting game.

It uses the GPS system on the iphone for gameplay. You yourself can set the area boundaries on the map. So you get together 10 or so friends with iphones to play this game. Weapons and other items are randomly spawned into a selected area and you have to go out and find them in order to defeat your opponents. Like in normal games different weapons damage in different ways. So a sniper rifle for example can shoot long range and do lots of damage where as a pistol is only short range and does little damage. The way to damage an opponent works using the bluetooth interface on the iphone. 

There are also different games to play such as free-for-all, capture territory, capture the flag and teams.

Day 1: It Begins

Is it just me or did word press just improve 99 percent?