City Warfare – Foursquare Location-Based Virtual Water Fight Game Wins UK Student International Award
Written by Rob Nichols on July 1, 2010 · Filed under Software
To most of us, the name Thomas Fletcher would probably mean nothing unless it coincidentally happens to be that of a friend or relative. However, the afore-named Bath University student has just stumbled across a $2,500 paycheck and his very own Apple iPad.
The 19 year old is the developer of a location and text-based mobile game, City Warfare, which allows players the pleasure of causing complete text based mayhem in a location of their choice from the real world. Of course, not literally but within the game you can use a variety of water bombs or water pistols for that matter to cause uproar in your opponents hometown.
Being a text based game it offers nothing in the way of graphical exuberance, but even so its creation took Thomas Fletcher from a relatively unknown student to the winner of Location Wild, worldwide startup competition as competitors had the week-long duration of the competition to create an interesting location based app, which would later be judged by Direction Magazine’s Adena Schutzberg, The Next Web’s Chad Catacchio, Slashdot’s Rob Malda and TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld.
Mr Fletcher said after receiving the somewhat prestigious award, “The timing was good because I had just finished the last of my exams, and I thought, ‘Why not spend a week giving this a go?” Undoubtedly the best decision he will make throughout his University course.
The game works on the back of Foursquare, a location-based social network and although it won’t win any award in terms of being a quality game on a global scale, this is a surefire win for one student’s optimism and determination to succeed, so I think the moral of this story is clear.
Paula Abrahamson, CEO of NakdReality, said “NakdReality sponsored this competition to help stimulate innovation among location apps, and we’re very happy to see a young British student win the competition.”
“What’s cool about this winning app” she continued, “is that it takes Foursquare’s application on a tangent by involving other social networkers in a game of virtual water-warfare.”
How It Works
1) You check into your local pub/coffee-shop/train station using FourSquare (as normal).
2) You open City Warfare in your phone’s browser.
3) You place waterballoons, shoot passersby with your waterpistol etc.
4) While you are away, those balloons remain where you placed them and will burst when the timer runs out or you detonate them remotely.
5) The aim is to try to get as many people wet as possible. You earn credits which can be used to buy better waterbombs etc.
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