Previously, on Mixed-Reality Games

sky — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:15:04 +0000

I just completed a new page at Red7.com that describes the major mixed-reality games I’ve run since 2004 — take a look.

Since I speculated (a few years ago) that we could create really great mixed-reality^[1] games (or learning experiences, for that matter) that would utilize all sorts of real-world media including SMS^[2], video, telephones^[3], FAX, email and web, I’ve been working to develop more of these games and get them played. I started by developing a scenario-operating-system that could run on a server, “listen” to incoming SMS and email messages, and react appropriately to move “players” through the game. This system is in place today, and listening for certain key words in incoming messages the set players off on a chase through the game of their choosing.

While experimenting with the scenario system, the team and I learned a lot. We learned that people have trouble with SMS messaging. We learned that email works (now that smartphones support email) better. We learned they’ll call a phone number, but they’ll hesitate because they don’t know for sure that the number is in-game. We learned that they like certainty more than experimentation. And we learned they ultimately will be creative if given the right opportunity.

Oh, and there’s a new game being planned right now.

[1] Mixed-reality means combining game play in such a way that it plays out in real life but uses digital media either in or to control parts of the game.

[2] SMS (also called TEXT or TXT in the US) messaging is the first method we used to get messages to and from the players. To avoid certain technical difficulties with SMS, including charges, we used email gateways, which are provided by mobile system operators. These did not work well because many people were unfamiliar with the ways they could send and receive email from their phones.

[3] We used call-in phone messages in almost all of the games. These are answer-only phone numbers where a simple message is played for each caller. Each message describes the next step in the game. I thought it would be fun to customize those messages for the players, but we haven’t gotten around to doing it… it’s a technology challenge that involves call-director, voice-response, XML-controlled systems.

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Augmented reality “HUD” displays on iPhone

sky — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:15:43 +0000

Métro Paris, an iPhone app [see also the FastCompany article] to help us navigate the Paris subway has been beefed up to include heads-up^[1] displays that allow you to see pop-up displays of information about the buildings and businesses around you. You turn on the app and it shows you what your camera is seeing (vélos, motos, voitures moving along the street, and buildings) and rectangular squares pop up that tell you what the buildings and businesses are. In addition, you can get a big red arrow (like in SecondLife when you’ve teleported close to your destination but still have to fly to get there) that points you at a nearby Métro station that you can duck into to take the train to your destination. These augmented reality^[2] apps [see article on LA Times site] have been rumored to be on the way for quite some time. Apparently the heads-up portion was sneaked (snuck) into the app without Apple pretty much noticing that it was there. Thus the speculation about whether it‘ll be taken down. The photos/videos tell the story – take a look. [SEE VIDEO BELOW vids are in French – the demo is at Place de L’Opéra – I know it well.]

The talk about Apple taking down this app appears to be related to the stress it puts on the iPhone and/or that the 3.0 software toolset (the “API”) in the phone itself isn’t really ready to support this app. They say it won’t be available until 3.1 is released. (Does this mean it’ll run on my regular 3G iPhone?) It is a great step forward! And definitely visonary.

Métro Paris is available from the Apple iTunes/iPhone store now. Did I say it only works in Paris?

[1] A heads-up display is one where you don’t have to move/tilt your head in order to see some screen – you just look at the real world and a glass panel, or other device right in front of your face, allows you to see a display that mixes the real world with additional information. I doubt there’s any photo-recognition built into this app – instead I’d guess that it takes the GPS readings and the motion sensors and “knows” which direction you‘re looking, and then just superimposes the correct information on the photo rather than recognizing the buildings – too hard a task for a small CPU.

[2] Augmented reality extends the “real” experience with the phone by adding (in this case) visuals that provide additional information.

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mixed reality Archives - Sky's Blog

Previously, on Mixed-Reality Games

Augmented reality “HUD” displays on iPhone