Gbanga
Encyclopedia
Gbanga is a mixed reality
, social gaming
platform for mobile phones developed by Zurich
-based startup, Millform AG. The platform runs on real-time locative media
, 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 status. Additional features enable social gaming in forms such as exploring, collecting
and trading
.
in order to attract and collect endangered species
of animals.
The advent calendar
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.
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.
referencing a network of cell site
s to determine the players location, whilst the iPhone
version of the platform uses GPS. 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).
Mixed reality
Mixed reality refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time...
, social gaming
Social gaming
Social gaming commonly refers to playing games as a way of social interaction, as opposed to playing games in solitude, like some card games and the single-player mode of many video games...
platform for mobile phones developed by Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
-based startup, Millform AG. The platform runs on real-time locative media
Locative media
Locative media or Location-based media are 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....
, 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 status. Additional features enable social gaming in forms such as exploring, collecting
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
and trading
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
.
Games
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 ZurichCanton of Zürich
The Canton of Zurich has a population of . The canton is located in the northeast of Switzerland and the city of Zurich is its capital. The official language is German, but people speak the local Swiss German dialect called Züritüütsch...
in order to attract and collect endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
of animals.
The advent calendar
Advent calendar
An Advent calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content...
game, Gbanga Santa, was launched in December 2009 in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake 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.
April 2010 saw the launch of Gbanga Famiglia
Gbanga Famiglia
Gbanga Famiglia is a mixed reality, mobile phone game published on the Gbanga platform. Players take on the roles of Mafioso and can join an existing Mafia Famiglia or start their own. Players must first locate establishments whilst walking around the city before they can be taken-over....
, 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.
Technology
The J2ME-based version uses a real-time locating systemReal-time locating system
Real-time locating systems are a type of local positioning system that allow to track and identify the location of objects in real time. Using simple, inexpensive badges or tags attached to the objects, readers receive wireless signals from these tags to determine their locations...
referencing a network of cell site
Cell site
A cell site is a term used to describe a site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed, usually on a radio mast, tower or other high place, to create a cell in a cellular network...
s to determine the players location, whilst the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
version of the platform uses GPS. The platform is available worldwide as an application download for the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
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).
Awards
In 2011 Gbanga won the AppCircus Spotlight on Blackberry, hosted in Barcelona. 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.See also
- Locative mediaLocative mediaLocative media or Location-based media are 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....
- Alternate reality gameAlternate reality gameAn alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
- List of alternate reality games
- Location-based gameLocation-based gameA location-based game is one in which the game play somehow evolves and progresses via a player's location. Thus, location-based games almost always support some kind of localization technology, for example by using satellite positioning like GPS."Urban gaming" or "Street Games" are typically...
External links
- Official Site
- Gbanga featured on Schweizer Fernsehen's Einstein TV (German)
- Mike Kirkup, Director of Developer Relations at BlackBerry, gives Gbanga a mention as to its win at BlackBerry Developer Day at AppCircus
- Gbanga's Official YouTube Channel
- Gbanga on iPhone App Store
- Review of Gbanga Famiglia (German), netzwertig.com