Press kit

Unlocking the potential of augmented reality: Where the virtual world infiltrates the real world…

A technology startup based in Brighton, UK, has developed a platform (global positioning system - the same technology that helps you navigate in your car) so you can play games using GPS on your mobile phone.

The problem we’re trying to solve

Mobile phones enable you to connect with people while on the go. But mobile games don’t work like that: mostly you’re immobile (except for your thumb) and disconnected (games are commonly single-player). We’re aiming to redesign the mobile games industry: by making it possible to play games on screen by moving around in real-life - with or against your friends. LocoMatrix does this by turning your phone into an outdoor gaming console.

Locomatrix was conceived as a games platform, and will be freely open to other developers to create their own games. We are in the process of building three example games that demonstrate some of the more flexible and inspirational features of our mobile application.

Things we’re working on right now

• Inventing a new kind of entertainment

• Engaging our primary market of young people
• Creating three playable games to show the possibilities of the platform
• An open API (application programming interface) - this is the bit that allows other developers to connect to our system to make their games.
• Building a community of Locos - gamers, developers, game theorists, educators, mobile experts, funders, anyone interested in being “inside” the project
• Exploring applications beyond gaming, e.g. team development, tourism, promotional, education

The games

Available right now is Fruit Farmer. One or more players run around a real environment (such as a park, desert, football field, beach) collecting virtual oranges as indicated on their mobile phone screens. They have to avoid virtual obstacles and killer wasps!

Various levels have been created, and the user is able to create their own versions using a special program which can be found on the website.

A prototype version of the second game, Treasure Hunt, has been demonstrated and will be available in the next few weeks. The player follows a set of picture clues to find a series of locations. This game is location-specific (i.e. a game could be created for Regents Park, or the Brighton seafront, for example) and, like Fruit Farmer, a web-based game creator will let users produce their own customised version of the game.

Treasure Hunt can be configured so that information specific to the "found" location can be viewed thus making it attractive for educational or tourist applications. There is also a "warm-ometer" feature, which shows pictorially whether you are getting hotter or colder with regard to the destination.

In early March, the third game "Locix" will become available. It is based on the players "capturing" territories by running in a circle around that area. If another player enters your circle before you have completed it, you have to start again. This game can be adapted easily for different environments - a field, a town, over extended time periods - on foot, wheels, boat or even suitable four legged animals.

Following this, it is possible that we will create a role-playing game (RPG) where the players will take on characters and tasks will be created where the team have to work together using their special powers to "win".

There are two projects in progress with local universities: a usability study at Brighton, and an investigation into games that do not rely on the phone screen, (e.g. stronger use of sound and vibration) at Sussex. We will shortly announce a university challenge with a prize of £2,000 for the best game created by a university department. We will also be sponsoring an investigation into outdoor games specifically for girls.