Ingress

Ingress

Prior to this class I had heard of Ingress but had never played. The game sounded interesting; I liked the idea of a game whose map is the real world. I thought that it would add an exciting element to the game by making it feel more "real". After playing for the first time on Wednesday, I can say that my initial suspicions were correct. Ingress is actually pretty fun! Using GPS as a mechanic is a game changer (pun intended). By incorporating your actual location and the physical limitation of where you can actually go it closes the gap between reality and virtual reality. It's exciting to feel like you're actually living in the game. For me, playing with others is what really made the game fun. I don't think I'd enjoy the game nearly as much if I were walking around hacking portals by myself. In a way, Ingress can actually be a great social platform. Overall I enjoyed playing the game and would actually like to continue playing (so long as I have friends that will continue to play alongside of me). I just learned that the creator of Ingress, Niantic, is also the one behind Pokemon Go. Ingress has pioneered a way into a new era of gaming that bridges the gap between reality and virtual reality. Ingress is a solid game and a great first attempt at an augmented-reality game for Niantic. I'm excited and hopeful that Pokemon Go is an even bigger success.

Video Game Prototype

Recycler: Video Game Prototype

Description

In this game you control an eco-friendly recycle bin navigating over a landfill of garbage and recyclable materials. You encounter an increasing amount of garbage and recyclables. The goal is to collect as many recyclables as you can to save the planet.

Controls

Use the Up, Down, Left, and Right arrow keys to move Binman around the screen.

Objective

Your objective is to collect as many recyclables (glass bottles, plastic bottle, paper bags, and cans) as possible while avoiding garbage (apple cores, bananas, diapers, and trash bags). You are given five lives and will lose a life each time you pick up a piece of garbage. The game ends when you run out of lives. The speed and spawn rate of the items will gradually increase as the game progresses (up to a certain point).

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The game is pretty much completed and functions as expected. The only known issue is that garbage/recyclable objects sometimes spawn in a position where they are partly off of the screen or on top of another object. After the feedback we received from the alpha, we made the icons bigger so that they would be more easily identifiable. We also made it so that the horizontal speed of the objects would gradually increase as the game went on to make it a bit more challenging. We decided to use lives instead of a countdown timer to control how long the game would last. We think that with all of the changes we've made the game is now complete.