Software development industry analysis by Larry O'Brien, the former editor of Software Development and Computer Language
Friday, December 01, 2006

Backseat Playground is a research project that developed a GPS-based game for kids. It seems more like a (great) storytelling system more than a game. Basically, it uses the GPS and location-awareness to introduce game elements, e.g., when it sees that you're driving over a bridge, it presents you with the opportunity to "explore" the river with that SCUBA tank you picked up in the last town you drove through.

What a great idea. Any story is made infinitely more appealing by tailoring it to the invididual. To present a long car-ride to Grandma's house as a detective story is a brilliant innovation. I wonder, though, if the better approach would be to feed the parent plot points as they drove, as that would be infinitely more enthralling for a kid.

Friday, December 01, 2006 2:23:53 PM (Hawaiian Standard Time, UTC-10:00) |  Disqus link  | Offtopic#
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"Ender’s Game Videogame" (Deviant Abstraction) [Trackback]
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