Gbanga is a geolocation-based
social gaming platform for
mobile phones developed by
Zurich-based startup, Millform AG. The platform runs on real-time
locative media
Locative media or location-based media (LBM) are Electronic media, media of communication functionally bound to a location. The physical implementation of locative media, however, is not bound to the same location to which the content refers.
Loc ...
, developed in-house, which means that the gaming environment changes relative to the players real-world location. Players can interact with each other using built-in social and chat functions, which indicate their current real-world locations as well as
online and offline
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...
status. Additional features enable social gaming in forms such as
exploring
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
,
collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining items that are of interest to an individual ''collector''. Collections differ in a wide variety of respects, most obvi ...
and
trading
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
.
Games
Gbanga Zooh (2009)
''Gbanga Zooh''
was the first game to be published on the platform in August 2009, in cooperation with
Zurich Zoo. The game encouraged players to maintain virtual habitats across the
Canton of Zurich in order to attract and collect
endangered species of animals.
Gbanga Santa (2009)
The
advent calendar
An Advent calendar is used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Since the date of the First Sunday of Advent varies, falling between November 27 and December 3 inclusive, many reusable Advent calendars made of paper or wood ...
game, ''Gbanga Santa'', was launched in December 2009 in
Zurich. Players solved puzzles to find the real-world locations of virtual gifts scattered around the city. Once found and collected, virtual gifts were then tradable for prizes provided by sponsors.
Gbanga Famiglia (2010)
April 2010 saw the launch of ''
Gbanga Famiglia'',
a game in which players can join or start their own Mafia Famiglia to take-over virtual establishments they discover whilst walking around the city. Establishments are linked to real-world establishments, so players must physically move between locations to play. A successful take-over depends on the Famiglia's power, determined by the number of Famiglia members and the cash total for special items collected.
Famiglia Rise and Fall (crowd-funding; discontinued)
In 2014, the sequel game ''
Famiglia Rise and Fall'' was announced on crowd-funding platform Indiegogo.
The yet to be developed game technology is described to be an evolution of the previously 2-dimensional games that used flat material only. The new game uses the 3D engine
Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
and renders a 3-dimensional world based on
open data
Open data is data that is openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shared by anyone for any purpose. Open data is licensed under an open license.
The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-source)" movement ...
from
OpenStreetMap. Apparently,
Millform AG, the company behind Gbanga decided to use crowd-funding for financing the project to be more independent from traditional publishers.
Gross. Stadt. Jagd. (2015, 2016)
The commissioned mixed-reality game ''Gross. Stadt. Jagd.''
(or Urban. Hunt. in english) was performed in May 2015 in Zurich. In a mixed-real manhunt, several thousand participants equipped with a GPS app were running in the streets of Zurich to avoid the hunter, a sponsored car. The real-time app synchronized the GPS positions of all participants and evaluated the last man standing.
Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion (2019)
In 2018,
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primaril ...
announced the video game ''
Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion'', the winner of their developer competition ''Universal GameDev Challenge'' that had offered game developers the opportunity to use some of Universal's IP. In 2019, ''Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion'' which is based on the
Voltron: Legendary Defender series, was made available on the
Steam store in Early Access, the platform's experimental game program. In the game, players compete in real-time
player vs player (PvP) game battles by placing own and destroying opponent blocks with different features in a game board with a grid.
Technology
The
J2ME-based version uses a
real-time locating system referencing a network of
cell sites to determine the players location, whilst the
iPhone version of the platform uses
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
. The platform is available worldwide as an application download for the
iPhone and
J2ME compatible phones.
Whilst Gbanga studio continues to develop games in-house, the playing community itself can also generate interactive content using Gbanga's ''Puppetmaster API'', coded with
Lua (programming language)
Lua ( ; from meaning '' moon'') is a lightweight, high-level, multi-paradigm programming language designed primarily for embedded use in applications. Lua is cross-platform, since the interpreter of compiled bytecode is written in ANSI C, ...
.
In later productions, such as ''Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion'', game engine
Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
was used.
Awards
Gbanga was nominated for Business Idea 2010 by Internet World Business,
shortlisted for Best of Swiss Web Award 2010
and shortlisted in the category of Best Real World Game for the International Mobile Gaming Awards.
In 2011, Gbanga won the AppCircus Spotlight on Blackberry, hosted in Barcelona.
In 2019, Gbanga's real-time strategy video game ''Voltron: Cubes of Olkarion,'' based on the
Voltron: Legendary Defender TV show, was entered into and won the 2018 ''Universal GameDev Challenge'' where over the course of six weeks, over 500 entries from contestants in over 60 countries were submitted.
See also
*
Locative media
Locative media or location-based media (LBM) are Electronic media, media of communication functionally bound to a location. The physical implementation of locative media, however, is not bound to the same location to which the content refers.
Loc ...
*
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions.
The form is defined by inten ...
*
List of alternate reality games
*
Location-based game
A location-based game (or location-enabled game, or geolocation-based game) is a type of game in which the gameplay evolves and progresses via a player's location. Location-based games must provide some mechanism to allow the player to report thei ...
References
{{reflist, refs=
[Lüssi, M]
Elefanten und Tiger per Handy retten
20 Minuten AG
2009.
[Lüssi, M]
Mit Game zu Mafioso
20 Minuten AG
2010.
[Gbanga is the Winner of AppCircus Spotlight on BlackBerry]
dotopen 2010
2011.
[Gbanga gibt Gas]
Internet World Business
2010
[Best of Swiss Web Award 2010 Shortlist]
Best of Swiss Web Award
2010.
[Nominee in the category of Best Real World Game]
IMGA: International Mobile Gaming Awards
2010
[Graber, J]
Die Suche nach dem Riesenknueller
20 Minuten AG
2014.
[Rüegg, P]
Haben Sie sich schon einmal gefragt, wie ein Game entsteht? Nicht? Egal, wir zeigen's Ihnen trotzdem
watson.ch beta
2014.
[Gbanga Famiglia Rise and Fall Game]
Indiegogo crowd-funding platform
2014.
[Moynihan, T: ww.wired.com/2015/07/mixed-reality-game-killer-mercedes-chasing-people-irl Mixed-Reality Game Has a Killer Mercedes Chasing People IRLbr>WIRED]
July 2015.
External links
Official Site
Lua (programming language)-scriptable game engines
Social casual games
IOS software
Mixed reality
Geosocial networking
Outdoor locating games
Wireless locating
IOS games
Mobile games
Java platform games
Video game companies of Switzerland
Software companies of Switzerland
Android (operating system) games
Video games developed in Switzerland
Augmented reality applications
Video game companies established in 2007
Internet properties established in 2007
2007 establishments in Switzerland