[krisse]

I'm involved with a site that does stuff about mobile phone games and apps, and I just did an interview with the developers of a couple of adventure games called The Journey I and The Journey II.

Journey I is really just a technology demo where you can just walk from one location to another, whereas Journey II is a full adventure game with objects and characters etc.

The actual game uses a sort of graphic adventure interface with an illustrated text adventure main panel:



The way they work is something (to my knowledge) totally new for any kind of game, adventure or otherwise: to change locations in the game, you have to physically walk to new locations yourself. It remembers which real-world location belongs to which physical location, so for example if you start the game at your house, that would be the game's first location.

It's totally free to use (and Journey I is totally free to obtain) because it works by noting the registration number of the nearest cell phone mast, and linking that to the current location in the game. When you move to nearer another mast, it changes locations in the game (and checks to see if the new mast is a location you've been to). The upshot of this is that you have to walk between 50 and a couple of hundred metres between locations, depending on whether you live in a city or in a rural area.

It's a great game for a sunny day, and because it's free I think it's something that everyone with a compatible phone should try at least once.

Journey I and II work on Symbian Series 60 smartphones, but the thing is that most people who have one usually don't KNOW they have one. Here's a list of S60s:

Nokia 3230, 3620, 3650, 3660, 6260, 6600, 6630, 6638, 6670, 6681, 6682, 7610, 7650, N70, N90, N91, N-Gage, N-Gage QD, Siemens SX1, Sendo X, X2, Panasonic X700, X800, Lenovo P930

Journey II also works on Symbian UIQ phones as well as Series 60:

Sony Ericsson P800, P802, P900, P910, Motorola A920, A925, A1000, A1010, BenQ P30, P31, Arima U300


Here's the interview with the developers:

http://www.tapaga.com/viewpage.php?page_id=48


You can download the games from the official site or you can get them from my site's Symbian adventure games section.

[fov]

Welcome to the forum!

This sounds like an interesting concept. Anything to get sedentary people to walk around. I can see it being a problem though if you want to play the game while you're stuck in an airport or on a bus (which to me seems like the ideal time to play a cell phone game)... if you started the game at home in San Francisco, what happens when you try to continue it at an airport in Chicago? Or does it only "remember" your starting point each time you start the game up (so location #1 is my house in San Francisco, and if I quit and start up again in the airport in Chicago that becomes location #1?)

-emily

[krisse]

Originally Posted by fov

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you!

I can see it being a problem though if you want to play the game while you're stuck in an airport or on a bus (which to me seems like the ideal time to play a cell phone game)... if you started the game at home in San Francisco, what happens when you try to continue it at an airport in Chicago?

The whole point of this game is that you walk, there shouldn't be any cars, trains or planes involved.

The idea of the game is that the sun is in the sky, you've nothing else to do, and you decide it's a perfect day for a game of Journey II, in the same way you might decide it's a perfect day for a game of soccer football. You have to commit some kind of physical effort and time to it for it to work, which is pretty unusual for a game nowadays

There's no way you can use a location based game in those circumstances you described. All other games would work in that situation, however.

If you want a game that you can start and finish anywhere, just play any other game. The whole point of location-based stuff is to play it entirely in an area where you're going to be able to walk around regularly, usually at home, but it could equally well be a university campus.

This isn't a "pick up and play" game, but then it couldn't be done on any other format than a cell phone because no other computer or console has lots of transmitters with unique ID numbers dotted around the planet.

Or does it only "remember" your starting point each time you start the game up (so location #1 is my house in San Francisco, and if I quit and start up again in the airport in Chicago that becomes location #1?)

You can save your game and then carry on with it when you get back to San Francisco. It'll remember where everything was when you were in SF, but it won't work in Chicago (unless you completely restart the game) because the serial numbers of the cell phone masts in SF won't match the ones in Chicago.

Basically, if you go to a totally different area, you have to restart the game, much like other outdoor activities.

[AFGNCAAP]

I don't know. Sounds like a highly original concept - but not a practical one. Some *cough* revolutionists here claim that walking in games creates greater sense of immersion, but somehow I don't think that's exactly what they would like...

I'd hope that there are few locations and little excessive backtracking, at least.

[krisse]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

I don't know. Sounds like a highly original concept - but not a practical one.

I've actually tried it, and it works fine in practice. If you have a compatible phone you should at least try it, it's free.

I know it sounds weird, but if you enjoy physical activity it's great fun.

I think part of the "problem" is that it's not really an adventure game in the traditional sense of adventuring from the comfort of your own house, it's not going to appeal to the kind of people who want to stay at home when they play.

The interesting thing is though that one of the things non-gamers often say is that they hate the way games are so non-physical, to them it's just couch potato stuff, if they want games they prefer going out and playing sports or whatever. Maybe this kind of game would appeal more to them than normal games.

Some *cough* revolutionists here claim that walking in games creates greater sense of immersion, but somehow I don't think that's exactly what they would like...

It's not like that at all, this is NOT some hugely hyped up "new paradigm in gaming" from a commercial company.

The first Journey was originally just done as an academic paper on smartphones by a single student, and it was purely because of the hugely successful feedback (despite having zero hype or budget) that he did the proper interactive game Journey 2. The original Journey was just done to show the concept that a phone can know where it is without GPS.

Journey won all kinds of prizes and got featured on TV news in Austria (don't know why Austria, but there you go). Loads of people in the smartphone community were amazed by it because it opened up a lot of possibilities no one had thought of.

Other more serious location-based software from other people has appeared since then, for example one application adjusts your phone's profile so it automatically goes silent or changes ringtone or whatever when you enter a particular set of locations. So for example, if you worked in a library you could set it so that it automatically switched from ringing profile to vibrating alert profile when you arrive at work, which means you never have to remember yourself.

Other location based stuff does things like alert you with reminders when you enter a particular area.

I'd hope that there are few locations and little excessive backtracking, at least.

It's honestly a question of taste, some people will love it and some people will hate it. Fortunately the first version's free so you can try it out to see what it's like.

Personally I love it, there's parts of the game where you have to get back to a particular location to save someone, and it adds to the sense of urgency that you actually run to a real place in real life instead of just pressing an arrow key or direction pad.

It's actually a bit like a 1-player version of Live Action Role Playing, although I guess you have to use your imagination a bit more when a rundown bar looks like a supermarket

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by krisse

I've actually tried it, and it works fine in practice. If you have a compatible phone you should at least try it, it's free.

When I have a compatible phone, I'll probably will. Have just been theorizing here.

[mopius]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

When I have a compatible phone, I'll probably will. Have just been theorizing here.

Unfortunately this is one of the biggest problem of the game -- it requires Symbian OS based mobile phones (Series 60 / UIQ). There are already many phones available -- however, these are generally not the average phones that everyone has. The big advantage is that the game will work right away on a standard Symbian OS phone (out of the box) and location detection is free. No additional devices, like expensive external GPS receivers, are required.

Our next product (something quite experimental again, and it will be released for free) will use J2ME technology, and therefore work on many more handsets. On the other hand, a GPS receiver or a phone&operator that supports location detecion are required. This again limits the possible target audience to a very small group.

It's simply a bit too early for location based games and applications to play a significant role in the market. But we do hope that the situation will get better with time. Location based adventures are really fascinating and involve you into the gameplay like no other games. The next step would be multiplayer location based adventure games, which would add a whole new dimension to the gameplay...

Until then, have fun with The Journey I + II!