I have an idea for a Smartphone based game to help visitors to a local village learn a bit about its history through the medium of a treasure hunt. I’m wondering how practical these plans are.
How will visitors know the game exists?
Posters and brochures with a QR code which leads players to a mobile webpage which
• Asks them to download the free Wikitude app and
• Go to a specific location in the village to pick up their first clue on Wikitude
How does the game proceed?
At the start location, players will find the first Point Of Interest (POI) which will present them with a
• short text explanation,
• an image,
• perhaps an embedded YouTube video and
• three hotlinks (they must click one to make a decision and be led to the next POI)
How will the game finish?
The aim of the game will be to find the location of a specific functional building (eg a railway station, a school, a bakery) which used to exist but no longer does so. The payoff for winning will be a sense of completion but could also include a small sponsored prize by a local business. This prize can be claimed by the winner showing a specific webpage on their Smartphone which they could only have accessed by completing the game.
Possible player challenges
1. The POI markers are not very accurate so players may be led up to 50 metres off track. I need to do more testing of this. Perhaps the solution lies in placing the markers at a very high scale on the map?
2. Data charges for downloading Wikitude, for accessing related game websites and for streaming YouTube videos. In fact data is now included in most subscription plans in Denmark so this should not be an issue. However it may be possible to turn the related game website into an app so that it can be downloaded as a one-off. This does not address the YouTube problem so maybe the clues and information contained in the YouTube videos should be optional extras.
3. Incompatible technology: Wikitude works on Android, Nokia, Samsung and Apple phones so this should cover a good proportion of phone users.A good alternative to Wikitude is Layar
4. Language: Many visitors to the village do not speak Danish. The game could be produced in English and German as well as Danish.
The backend
How is the game built up technically? As noted above, the game is a branching scenario built on location based points of interest which include text, images, maybe videos and hyperlinks to act as decision points. This means that a player needs a Smartphone, viewer and access to a website and maybe the ability to watch short streaming YouTube videos. At this point I am unsure whether the hyperlinks could point to other Points of Interest instead of webpages. If this is possible this would remove a layer of complexity as the website would not be needed.
The proposed tools include:
Smartphone: So far this needs to be an Android, Nokia, Samsung or iPhone to be able to use Wikitude. The user needs to have cheap or free data as part of their subscription. This latter requirement is not demanding for Danes but may be more of a challenge for foreign tourists on roaming plans.
Wikitude: a location based viewer which shows you added information at specific locations (Layar is a good alternative to Wikitude).
Google Earth: This is a free tool used by the game developers to create a series of multi-media POIs which can be collated into a KMZ file and uploaded to Wikitude.
Website: If it is not possible to link POIs directly on Wikitude (ie in the KMZ file created on Google Earth) then the intermediary of a website will be needed to point players to their next POI depending on which decision they have made. There are many possibilities for making Smartphone compatible websites free of charge. Eg Winksite
The spiel ide
The idea would be to present the game in the guise of a young boy from about 1900 sent on a mission to find a specific location in the village. He would ‘meet’ various residents who may be able to help him through their reminisces about where things used to be. They may be able to show him photos and so on.
Game Resources
Local Archive: There is an interesting local archive with images, articles of interviews with elderly residents and other artefacts which can be used to build up a game to lead visitors around some of the most interesting parts of the village.
School children: The local school may be interested in getting their pupils to prepare the text, images and videos needed for the different POIs in the game. Videos may need to consist of cartoon characters with audio commentary in order to protect the identity of the children.
Unresolved issues
My main concern with this idea is whether I have made it overly complicated? Do I really need Wikitude? Is there a way of including the YouTube videos in a pre-downloadable app? Can I do without the intervening webpages?