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Father.io: first real life massive multiplayer FPS
- rquantz 11y agoHey, it's like laser tag, but you have to look through a tiny screen while you run and jump and try to evade and attack! What could go wrong?
- eric001 11y agoJust like you, I was about to write a rather pessimistic comment about how obsolete this will be as soon as VR goes mainstream, but I hate being the nay sayer so I will just go along and assume this would be great as a cheaper "hybrid" alternative to join the fun?
- rquantz 11y agoHonestly, it does look like fun. But also like a lawsuit waiting to happen? Like a future source of broken noses and arms and what-have-you when people trip or run into walls. Which, that's fine, if that's a risk you choose to take. But I think "what could go wrong?" is justified.
- jcoffland 11y agoI don't see why they couldn't add VR headsets once they gain traction. If they started out requiring hardware that was expensive and almost none had then it would be difficult to reach critical mass. It would be even better I'd they didn't need anything but a phone to get started.
- emerongi 11y agoPlus, it has the Airsoft/Laser tag bug - it relies on people being honest. I can just place the phone under my shirt if I'm moving around and never die. So you can immediately scratch the "massive multiplayer" part off the slogan - if it's going to get popular, people are mostly going to play in small communities.
- pavel_lishin 11y agoParts of it strongly remind me of Ingress.
- nissehulth 11y agoSome of the "promo images" on that page looks quite similar to what Niantec uses to promote Ingress, yes. But neither game really looks anything like the promotion pictures.
- cyanbane 11y agoDebating if this is safer than the BB Gun wars we used to have.
- hluska 11y agoHa!! When I saw the page, my first thought was, "This is still safer than running around the forest spraying everything that moved with BBs.." Good memories...and damn, I really need to hug my poor Mom! :)
- protomyth 11y agoBB guns while sledding was fun. Do watch the barbwire fence at the bottom of the hill, though.
- foota 11y agoThe tagline at least reminds me of the company posted a while back that was building virtual reality experiences where just enough of the environment was physical to make it feel actually real. edit: speeling
- partisan 11y agoI'm skeptical about the fundraising goal. Seems a bit low. They could easily spend that much on another commercial.
- jcoffland 11y agoIt's more about the advertising than the money raised. If they fund then they also have proof of interest which future investors will want to see.
- NDizzle 11y agoI think I'd rather play Planetside 2.
- explorigin 11y agoBroken phones everywhere
- lambdacomplete 11y agoHave you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, the phone simply works like a scope? Apart from being less comfortable what's the difference between aiming through a scope and aiming through a phone's screen? For a game it's good enough IMO; it's not like you have to look through your phone for the whole time. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be that hard to port this to an augmented reality device.
- krcz 11y agoWouldn't player be able do become invincible any time they want by covering the "inceptor" with their hand (with some distance between so occlusion can't be detected using light detectors)?
- RussianCow 11y agoWell, it's the same problem as laser tag: it relies on players being honest. For that reason, I can't imagine playing this with strangers.
- lambdacomplete 11y agoThey might devise a "karma" system where a player is kicked out once N players confirm the guy is cheating.
- aggie 11y agoThis reminds me of the books 'Daemon' and 'FreedomTM' by Daniel Suarez. Entertaining reads for those interested in what such a karma system might look like when installed as a ubiquitous feature of society.
- extra88 11y agoOr the idea of "whuffie" in Cory Doctorow's _Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom_.
- notliketherest 11y agoThe commercial got me so stoked - like a kid again playing games with only you imagination outside! I'm so excited to see the progress on this!
- cschneid 11y agoDropped Phone: The Game.
- raus22 11y agoThe next thing would be drone laser tag. - the players sit at home(yeah latency issues) or at the venue - order the standard drone-by-the-minute service(future service, copyright no-one-yet) - drone goes to the venue spot - shoot other drones...(no AI cheating!) - best of 5 matches Or instead of laser, user physical objects, and they need to reload them at a station with real people that can shoot down the drones to, so they can defend the loading station! that would be cool. "Real" warfare in a play setting. mix it up with the Father.io thing/normal laser tag. so the drones will be tactical vehicles that will feed info. and the players can shoot them down. to gain information advantages. Or just make the drones bomber planes, that can bomb the players. you know-normal military drones... But if you have all that, why not do it virtually and with realistic graphics somewhere that does not look like anything on earth...
- Syssiphus 11y agoWake me when they made an augmented reality game where people actually have to do something creative together, instead of 'killing' each other in a million ways.
- fnordfnordfnord 11y agoIsn't that what some like to call "employment"?
- mring33621 11y agoMuch cooler if you play while riding a Segway.
- codemonkeymike 11y agoAll we need now is a big fake plastic gun mount for our sensor, and a VR phone holder and we will be talking. Everywhere is a war zone.
- protomyth 11y agoI'm sure there will be no accidents with the local police.
- 27182818284 11y agoI feel like https://www.ingress.com/ https://www.ingress.com/ wins on the creative use of "real live massive multiplayer" You'd be surprised how many players are doing that game everywhere from the Middle east to the Midwest US
- cracell 11y agoCool idea but there's no way this is going to be finished along their timeline and budget. The CEO's resume doesn't make me think he has the experience to get this done https://it.linkedin.com/in/francescoferrazzino https://it.linkedin.com/in/francescoferrazzino Engineering and manufacturing are pretty tricky and hard. And building a fun augmented reality game like that is hard. You need a lot of very experienced people with the needed skill sets to successfully complete a project this ambitious.
- Jordrok 11y ago"Artificial intelligence has surpassed human intelligence, the IoT connects the whole world to the Net. Humanity created “Ethereus,” a super-cloud computer, able to re-design itself..." I, for one, welcome our new buzzword-compliant overlords!
- WiseWeasel 11y agoI like the tech, but I feel like it could be a lot more successful if it could either be run with private local instances rather than MMO, or it was something more casual and creative than FPS. If you want an app that brings strangers together IRL to be widely appealing, then the interaction should be a little more endearing than having people frantically mashing the screen of their phone at you. I can't imagine most bystanders being enticed by this kind of behavior.