Today LyteShot rolled out its Kickstarter campaign in hopes of reaching their $168,534 goal. We sat down with LyteShot in 2014 to discuss the game system and the company’s ambitious goals for this augmented-reality gaming element. Funding generated from this campaign will go towards the completion of some inaugural app offerings and software.
For those who don’t know about LyteShot, this system is at the forefront of augmented-reality game development today. The team has more than 20 years of collective game development experience from AAA game studios like Disney Interactive, Activision, Konami, Midway, and Sony, and has been working ambitiously to bring the LyteShot hardware and peripheral platform to fruition.
“It’s time that mobile games become truly mobile,” said LyteShot co-founder and CEO Mark Ladd, “by getting players away from TV and computer screens and instead interacting with the real world. The LyteShot platform gives developers an open-source SDK to create entirely new augmented reality games, and gives makers the chance to create unique 3D printed peripherals. At its core, the platform is designed to get gamers outside, playing with their friends, bringing completely new gameplay experiences that enhance imagination.”
On the Kickstater page, backers can read up on some of the games that have been developed or are in development for this one-of-a-kind system. Out now is the flagship title, called Assassin: The Game (for iOS and Android).
For those who can pledge at the $125 level or higher (the Player 1 Ready reward tier and up), this game is out now and ready to play. In Assassin, games are organized directly from the player’s smartphone, and the time frame is entirely open-ended. The game can go on for hours, days, or weeks, and the location is customizable, too, thanks to LyteShot’s geo-location features that disables LytePucks and Lyters outside of GPS parameters.
Players can make their games public, allowing outsiders to join in, or private and open only to friends. Assassins can also select special features for their games, too: respawning, late entry, cool-down clock, penalties, and more. You also have the option to make your game public and allow anyone in the area to join.
Once the game begins, players will receive a mugshot of their target (which could be a great company game or campus-based challenge for employees or students). Once a player locates and takes down his target, the LyteShot app updates the player roster. Last player standing wins.
Beseiged, another LyteShot game that is currently in development, takes a medieval fantasy twist on a capture-the-flag style game. Beseiged has players working together against other teams in order to gain control of objectives and areas (not unlike the concept behind Google’s Ingress). Taking on the role of a warrior, wizard or rangers, players adopt different character classes with unique abilities and distinctive characteristics. Frequent players earn experience points as they complete games, and even level their character up for rewards and more powerful abilities. Beseiged is scheduled for release around December 2015.
Another game in development for LytesShot, dubbed Invasion, comes to players from the minds of Humans vs. Zombies creators Chris Weed and Joe Sklover. Due for release in Fall 2015, this game is set in a world that has been overrun by a sort of virus. Together as survivors, players team up against AI to reclaim control of their neighborhoods and ultimately the planet. In Invasion, players choose a geo-location to protect on the map. Using a player’s smartphone, players interact in the game by physically visiting a location and following the directives of a team captain (which is, again, not much different from the strategy in Google’s Ingress).
LyteShot will demo their flagship game at Epson’s Sands Expo Booth #74728 at the 2015 Consumer Electronic Show January 6-9th in Las Vegas. Here, players can experience Assassin using Epson Moverio’s smart glasses instead of a mobile device or smartphone.
To learn more about this burgeoning company, read our interview with LyteShot CEO Mark Ladd and CTO Tom Ketola. Also, be sure to check out LysteShot’s YouTube channel to check out this new geo-location gaming platform in action if you can’t visit CES to catch a demonstration live.
