Several years ago I had the dream of creating my own
casino resort and spa. Not just any
casino though but the casino of the future. It really inspired me and I began
to share my dream with others who were usually also inspired. Then I began to look at the reality of what
it would actually take to make my dream a reality. I even changed careers and
took a position as a Creative Director at a gaming company so I could learn the
casino business through game development.
After not seeing any other real clear action I could take to move my
dream forward besides talking about it I after a while stopped doing that. The inspiration never left me though.
Then a few weeks ago I met with my business mentor and
coach and he suggested that I take my big dream and create a small bite size
version of it that I could act on right now and a sequence of successive steps
that would lead me to the larger goal.
This also reminded me that I had a diagram in my head of
all the elements I can see converging that I think are leading up to the
inevitability of the Dream Palace and businesses like it. The rise and gaining popularity of cosplay
and live and location games. Augmented reality and other emerging technologies
like Oculus Rift. The frenzy that
happens each year at events like Blizz Con, Comic Con and the League of Legends
Championships. The advancement of live
interactive attractions like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal
theme parks. I see all these fantastic
elements merging into a next generation entertainment facility, experience and
service.
Putting these simple images together sparked a few ideas.
One is to start designing a game. The
type of game I’m thinking of is a combination of Location, Augmented ,
Alternate Reality Games (I’ll call it a LAARG).
I’m choosing a pirate theme and the gameplay will be focused on treasure
hunting and ship combat. My target launch
and prototyping location will be my local gaming convention, Strategicon.
A friend of mine asked me to do some consulting on a
social app project and this really got me thinking that my project should
definitely incorporate a mobile app. I
then started thinking of not only an app that is a standalone game but a game
service. And not just designing games
for cons but for malls, public and private parties and live events of all kinds
completely customizable to the players needs and desires.
