Assuming that anyone is paying attention, consider this idea for a mobile audio game:
Imagine a college student in their dorm room studying, around 7 PM (near a pre-arranged game time window). They get a notification on their smartphone that reads: "Warning: Breakthrough imminent. Follow beacon to rendezvous."
They grab their AirPods and head out. Once outside, they hold their phone in front of them and turn slowly left and right to orient on the faint crackling rendezvous signal coming from somewhere nearby on campus. Their odd behavior draws a puzzled glance from other students, but the player can hear a strong friendly beacon appear as another nearby defender joins the team. They know that they won't be alone very long. Then they spot the player near the other end of the building, holding their detector at ear level and turning slowly while listening intently. They look up and, with a hand signal, motion toward the nearby open green space between the dorms. On the comm channel, their filtered voice can be heard, "Head toward building C!".
As they approach the the green, they hear the friendly beacons of two other defenders. Only four. Barely enough to zip the rip. We'd better not lose anyone.
They are all heading toward the same point in our reality where the attempted breakthrough was detected by C & C. As they arrives within the game radius, the rendezvous beacon goes mute. The beacon location turns out to be near the center of a lawn that is a favorite for picnickers and students who enjoy studying in the sun. One student, who's seen this crazy behavior before, sighs, closes her book and walks over to sit on a bench out of the way. The sun was going down anyway.
Suddenly, with no time to talk, breakthrough occurs and they hear the buzzing, chittering sounds of the outsiders as they tear through the veil between realities. There are multiple signatures and one is nearly on top of you! Fortunately, you can tell from the staticky noise that it's still disorganized from breakthrough and vulnerable. Over the comm channel you call out to your teammate that you've got one located already and need an assist to take it down. As she approaches, you call out: "It's a buzzer and alone! Flank it on the north side and we'll try a high-low squeeze! You take high!" A moment later, you hear the high pitch of her emitter just as you trigger the lower pitch of yours. The buzzer entity trapped between you screams and tries to escape. With alarm, you realize that while you were getting into position, the buzzer's low-frequency has firmed up and now you're at a disadvantage. This one sounds strong, maybe level 3 and armored low -- and it's getting closer. Frantically, you stab at your emitter to raise its pitch while backpedalling to stay out of its kill radius. You yell to your teammate: "Close the gap and pour it on - it sounds weak on top!"
The buzzer screams again as you find its vulnerable range and begins to crackle and break apart as you exorcize it.
On the other side of the green, the other two defenders of your small team are working together to isolate a screecher and break it up. There's another vague signature somewhere nearby but it's mostly white noise, probably a newbie level 1 and no threat to you at your level. You start quartering the green, searching for the rip. Any remaining attackers are drawing power through it and you intend to cut their supply line, ASAP.
You trigger a resonance scan using your favorite sample: a grand piano just playing scales. Hey, its not fancy and it's slow, but it works. As you near the South end of the green, you catch an echo on G and scrub back 3 seconds to catch it again and pin down the direction. Walking East and scrubbing more, you narrow down the tear's location. You're getting a strong resonance now on that G so you let the sample play. Somewhere behind you, you still hear the white noise and you see your teammates moving purposefully over that way. The rest of the sample gets no response, so you restart it to try to find the combination that the attacker's used to break-through. Only the original combination can zip the rip.
Suddenly, right at the start of the sample, there are three hits nearly in a row on C, E, and that G you found first. In disbelief, you scrub back and check again, then call out: "Guys, you're not going to believe this! It's C-major! That's like using 1-2-3 on your luggage! I think there's only three, and I'll bet they're engineers. Seriously? C-major?"
The girl that helped you squeeze the buzzer calls back "We've got the newbie trapped. It wouldn't be fair to snuff her. We'll herd her back toward you and push her through."
You watch as your team-members carefully push the weak white noise signature across the green, poking at her to keep her moving and getting tinny little screeches in response. Finally, she's trapped in the center of all four defenders at the tear, which ironically, is centered on a trashcan. Then you and two others set your emitters on pure middle-C, E, and G respectively and pan them up and down and left and right, covering the entire rip. Slowly, the white noise signature fades out as the rip closes on it, sealing it safely away from our reality.
"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it? I thought we were in trouble with only four and no heavy. It sounds like this was just a scouting incursion. But, they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers."
Far away, in another time zone, the two exorcized engineering students and the surviving freshman that they'd persuaded to download the game for a minimum team for breakthrough were comparing notes: Buzzer: "I heard a three and maybe a four. Two on one, I didn't have a chance, but we expected that." Screecher: "The others were only twos, but they'd bought some 4-note armor and I only had time to figure out 3 on one of them. Next time, I think we can get more players on a weekend. We can use the park." White Noise: "Do you guys do this often?"
Some notes:
Team against Team play
Team against AI play
One on One duel
One versus AI practice
GPS and compass/gyro enabled, obviously
Head tracking spatial audio AirPods are a serious advantage, else hold a stereo phone sideways close to your head.
All opponents are invisible. Little sighted advantage.
Advantage to good hearing and musical abilities for puzzles. Simple chords for fast-paced combat. Advanced puzzles in single play.
Gameplay values strategy over speed. Walking is fine.
Safe clear play area is defined with audible warning at edges
A game for the blind that the sighted will want to play, with advantages to both.
lawrenceper
commented
1 year ago
Assuming that anyone is paying attention, consider this idea for a mobile audio game:
Imagine a college student in their dorm room studying, around 7 PM (near a pre-arranged game time window). They get a notification on their smartphone that reads: "Warning: Breakthrough imminent. Follow beacon to rendezvous." They grab their AirPods and head out. Once outside, they hold their phone in front of them and turn slowly left and right to orient on the faint crackling rendezvous signal coming from somewhere nearby on campus. Their odd behavior draws a puzzled glance from other students, but the player can hear a strong friendly beacon appear as another nearby defender joins the team. They know that they won't be alone very long. Then they spot the player near the other end of the building, holding their detector at ear level and turning slowly while listening intently. They look up and, with a hand signal, motion toward the nearby open green space between the dorms. On the comm channel, their filtered voice can be heard, "Head toward building C!". As they approach the the green, they hear the friendly beacons of two other defenders. Only four. Barely enough to zip the rip. We'd better not lose anyone. They are all heading toward the same point in our reality where the attempted breakthrough was detected by C & C. As they arrives within the game radius, the rendezvous beacon goes mute. The beacon location turns out to be near the center of a lawn that is a favorite for picnickers and students who enjoy studying in the sun. One student, who's seen this crazy behavior before, sighs, closes her book and walks over to sit on a bench out of the way. The sun was going down anyway. Suddenly, with no time to talk, breakthrough occurs and they hear the buzzing, chittering sounds of the outsiders as they tear through the veil between realities. There are multiple signatures and one is nearly on top of you! Fortunately, you can tell from the staticky noise that it's still disorganized from breakthrough and vulnerable. Over the comm channel you call out to your teammate that you've got one located already and need an assist to take it down. As she approaches, you call out: "It's a buzzer and alone! Flank it on the north side and we'll try a high-low squeeze! You take high!" A moment later, you hear the high pitch of her emitter just as you trigger the lower pitch of yours. The buzzer entity trapped between you screams and tries to escape. With alarm, you realize that while you were getting into position, the buzzer's low-frequency has firmed up and now you're at a disadvantage. This one sounds strong, maybe level 3 and armored low -- and it's getting closer. Frantically, you stab at your emitter to raise its pitch while backpedalling to stay out of its kill radius. You yell to your teammate: "Close the gap and pour it on - it sounds weak on top!" The buzzer screams again as you find its vulnerable range and begins to crackle and break apart as you exorcize it. On the other side of the green, the other two defenders of your small team are working together to isolate a screecher and break it up. There's another vague signature somewhere nearby but it's mostly white noise, probably a newbie level 1 and no threat to you at your level. You start quartering the green, searching for the rip. Any remaining attackers are drawing power through it and you intend to cut their supply line, ASAP. You trigger a resonance scan using your favorite sample: a grand piano just playing scales. Hey, its not fancy and it's slow, but it works. As you near the South end of the green, you catch an echo on G and scrub back 3 seconds to catch it again and pin down the direction. Walking East and scrubbing more, you narrow down the tear's location. You're getting a strong resonance now on that G so you let the sample play. Somewhere behind you, you still hear the white noise and you see your teammates moving purposefully over that way. The rest of the sample gets no response, so you restart it to try to find the combination that the attacker's used to break-through. Only the original combination can zip the rip. Suddenly, right at the start of the sample, there are three hits nearly in a row on C, E, and that G you found first. In disbelief, you scrub back and check again, then call out: "Guys, you're not going to believe this! It's C-major! That's like using 1-2-3 on your luggage! I think there's only three, and I'll bet they're engineers. Seriously? C-major?" The girl that helped you squeeze the buzzer calls back "We've got the newbie trapped. It wouldn't be fair to snuff her. We'll herd her back toward you and push her through." You watch as your team-members carefully push the weak white noise signature across the green, poking at her to keep her moving and getting tinny little screeches in response. Finally, she's trapped in the center of all four defenders at the tear, which ironically, is centered on a trashcan. Then you and two others set your emitters on pure middle-C, E, and G respectively and pan them up and down and left and right, covering the entire rip. Slowly, the white noise signature fades out as the rip closes on it, sealing it safely away from our reality. "Well, that wasn't so hard, was it? I thought we were in trouble with only four and no heavy. It sounds like this was just a scouting incursion. But, they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers." Far away, in another time zone, the two exorcized engineering students and the surviving freshman that they'd persuaded to download the game for a minimum team for breakthrough were comparing notes: Buzzer: "I heard a three and maybe a four. Two on one, I didn't have a chance, but we expected that." Screecher: "The others were only twos, but they'd bought some 4-note armor and I only had time to figure out 3 on one of them. Next time, I think we can get more players on a weekend. We can use the park." White Noise: "Do you guys do this often?"
Some notes:
-- Daniel Birket