How an international team made an augmented reality detective game
One studio with a novel approach to augmented reality play is Funbakers, who have just released their AR title Silent Streets for iOS and Android. What makes the game particularly interesting is the way it marries modern technology with classic storytelling.
The game is set in the fictional Victorian town of Snowport. You play a detective who arrives in town, and quickly finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery.
It is, basically, a good old-fashioned detective story. Not long after booting up the app, however, the AR-elements kick in.
When searching an environment for important objects, you can use your phone’s camera to find the items in the ‘real world’. If you decide to travel to another area of the city, you have to physically walk a prescribed distance (don’t worry - the step counts are modest). This can be done in the background, so you don’t have to keep staring at your phone while you’re walking about (those pesky safety concerns that were raised about Pokémon Go don't apply here).
Meanwhile, you may have ‘encounters’ as the app runs away in the background - your phone may vibrate as you walk, for example, to inform you that you have encountered a mysterious stranger in game.
The result is a satisfying mix of the old and the new. The AR elements are less intrusive than other games of its ilk, while lending the whole experience (already blessed by excellent production values) a very welcome sense of tangibility.
Making and selling the game
Pricing wise, the game’s first episode is free. Players can then buy the later episodes, while the game also offers the option to take ‘cab rides’ (i.e. watch ads or pay real money) to quickly skip the in-game walks - albeit in a way that stays true to the game's fiction.
Like many modern development teams, the Silent Streets crew operate remotely. Demid said: “I'm in Maynooth, while Kevin Boylan - our intern programmer from IT Carlow - works from home in Co Wexford. Other team members are indeed scattered all over the world, from Brazil and England to Belarus and Russia.
“We use Slack and Skype extensively, but sure sometimes there's loss of information, and we may spend an hour quarrelling in a text chat!
See the full story here; http://www.newstalk.com/How-an-international-team-made-an-augmented-reality-detective-game