This is a situation where I’d say – ‘I am speechless!’ I mean this CarDroid game looks truly spectacular and lots of fun [See Video Below].
This is what they call “Pervasive Gaming” or gaming in a physical space. These kinds of games cross the barriers of the computer/mobile right into the physical world. Amongst them you can find various location based games often combining one’s mobile device through the usage of Augmented Reality technology which allows seeing both virtual and physical objects inside the screen of your mobile.
The concept behind the game is to merge the two worlds: physical and virtual. How? Well, one player plays on the computer while the other one plays in the real world. The players compete against each other with their cars. Right now, it’s just a double player game but who knows maybe they will modify it and turn it into a multiplayer game. The team of CarDroid is from Israel and the project was created in 24 hours as part of GeekCon 2010; and honestly, they have introduced a really fun concept.
How does CarDroid work:
The two cars are driven by the players inside the arena. On top of the arena there is a webcam that transmits all images to the computer where one of the players is playing. What this player is actually seeing is a combination of the real world and a virtual world – he/she is seeing the arena as a live image, and the two cars as animated vehicles according to the location of the real cars in the arena. When this player is pressing on the computer keyboard, a signal is sent through the computer to one of the cars in the arena and so the player is driving it. The other player is standing beside the arena and using a regular RF remote control drives the second car.
As you may have noticed, on top of each car is mounted an Android smartphone (hence the name chosen for the project). These are meant to transmit a live image from the car point of view. This live image can be displayed to the player on the computer or even to an audience watching this game from the side. The android devices on the cars can also be used for making various sounds or displaying an image or a movie on their screen while the car is moving.
The game allows two players to compete with each other, when one of them can basically be sitting in a remote location and play the entire game from their computer connected to the Internet. Everything regarding the game is completely synced and works well. You won’t find the computer system lagging when showing the images or the car movements on the screen in real time. It’s actually pretty cool and smooth.
This is an example of a whole new world of gaming options. Who knows, maybe in a few years we won’t need to sit in front of the TV with our gaming consoles. Instead, we will be able to play the games in the real world. Wouldn’t that be like the best thing gamers could actually dream of? To me, yes it would be. I would do anything to go that far with gaming.
But, for now we have to stick to the CarDroid and appreciate the fellas for their hard work. The more they are motivated, the better it is for us. And, maybe one day, they will come up introducing the Resident Evil game in real life. That would be Awesome or completely freaky!
Special thanks to Nadav Horesh, Yoni Lindenfeld , Itay Kahana , Aviv Revach for this awesome invention!
