Are you bored with your life and wonder if there was any way to bring more fun into it? Get ready, this is for you; a real-life take on laser tag that makes use of a AR (augmented reality) in collaboration with a small infrared peripheral and the smartphone’s capability to connect to Internet. The end result? You’ll be able to go to war with folks in your area (virtual war)! The whole idea is being touted as a real life, multiplayer-first-person shooter game; Father.IO.
It is quite similar to the Google’s AR world domination game called Ingress. Father.IO shall come with its own free app that will allow you to select a faction and then fight for control over the 150 sq. ft. territory where you’re physically present at that time. The map data has been acquired from OpenStreetMap that offers enough detail for the game to be able to impart significance to banks, hospitals and universities etc.
Father.IO is aimed at being a game that lets you shoot real persons in the face using an imaginary gun. Now, that’s fun! You’ll be going on quests, working on gathering of resources and shall be responsible for building bases.
The game will offer team matches and free for all death match modes. Users will also have access to a web-based commander mode that allows for giving directions to the team using their browser when they are at work or attending social events. The main ‘humans versus evolved’ faction war will restart every three months and according to the developers, the top players will be able to unlock even more advanced classes along with improved gear for their characters.
The hardware aspect features an iPhone or Android smartphone along with a clip-on peripheral that has been given the name of ‘The Inceptor’. The Inceptor is a polycarbonate sensor dongle – about the size of a keychain – that measures in at 70 x 25 x 30 mm and weighs in at 1.1oz. It features 6 infrared sensors that are designed so that it is capable of detecting shots that have been fired from any direction or angle with an approximate range of about 50 meters.
It also comes equipped with an onboard ARM M0 processor, microUSB charging port, Bluetooth for connecting with your smartphone and an optical collimator for defining a hitbox (to ensure that only infrared light hitting the box is counted as a hit). Father.IO is as of now raising funds on Indiegogo and has already surpassed its intended goal of $50,000. It still has a month to go before the campaign concludes. If all goes well, shipping will start by the end of this year.
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