Kickstarter project Turf Geography Club launches its “Foursquare + Monopoly” app
thenextweb.comSo, I backed Turf on Kickstarter when it came out, and it really does look a cut above its competitors. It reminds me of Nimblebit's style but with plenty more wit and whimsy. There are some rough edges but for a 1.0 it's great.
However, I wonder about its longevity. I remember back when Gowalla was the big new thing and I had friends literally walking halfway across London just to collect all the cool badges. After a few months they got bored and stopped playing, probably because they realised that walking across cities for badges just wasn't worth the payoff.
Turf is a little different because you get rewards by going to the same places. In fact, the more you frequent the same place, the more you can build it up and defend it and get neat stuff. But in my case - and in the case of many people I know - I don't actually travel to that many different locations, usually going to the same few shops and cafes. I check into these on Foursquare and I'm Mayor of the same few places, and I have been for a couple of years. It may sound boring, but I suspect that most people are boring.
So I would probably just end up owning the same places I'm Mayor of on Foursquare, building them up a few levels, increasing their defences, successfully fending off the occasional attackers, unless they were so bothered to keep on checking in more than me, which would require some dedication. If they did that, I don't know if I'd be bothered to check in enough to defend my bases myself.
So maybe Turf is just not for me, it's for people who enjoy exploring new places. I imagine they'll play it a hell of a lot, because it really does look cool. But will they keep on playing it? Maybe. I'm not sure it has the depth.
On a side note, I think that a lot of these check-in style 'true' location-based apps run into the same problem, in that most people really don't go to that many different places, and that having to manually check in every time requires a certain type of obsessive personality; and that automatic check-in freaks people out.
(I also remember hearing about some next-gen persistent transmedia game that you'd play as an FPS on a PC or a console, and then if you were injured in the game, then you could literally walk to a pharmacy to get healed. It sounds cool but it's idiotic. Most people get impatient waiting a few seconds for their TV to turn on, and we think they'll walk to the pharmacy? I don't think so.)
Realistically that's the growth curve experienced by even the most popular and addictive games (grow quickly to large # of users, slowly decline into mediocrity) -- the trick for Turf will be to figure out how to become more than just 1 game. There's no reason they can't launch new games within the game (just off the top of my head, think scavenger hunts or group battles), and get people engaging in all sorts of gameplay.
I want to add that I am super-happy that the game exists, and moreso that it was Kickstarted. We need more imaginative apps like this. I may sound a bit pessimistic in the parent, but it's no skin off my nose if it does really well, and it would be nice if it did do well.
(Another aside: There's a common thing on places like HN and similar forums about how Kickstarter is risky and 'don't a lot of project fail?' etc. I have been thinking lately that a proper survey of the success rates of projects, plus some analytics and questions to successful/unsuccessful creators, would be very valuable. I doubt KS will do it themselves, but maybe someone should Kickstart a Kickstarter survey. I'd be in for $20.)
I've been a beta tester for many months and I can tell you the novelty hasn't worn off yet. In fact, the game sucks you in -- like a mermaid who tricks you into following her to the bottom of the sea only to let you drown. You'll never escape.
Wish you guys the best of luck! As someone who has worked on and thought about location based gaming like this for a long time but failed to launch I'm really hoping you guys pull it off. We even called our prototype "Turf" :)
Location based gaming throws up a lot of challenges and problems that we felt were less than ideal as a gaming experience and instead of just launching something, we over analysed and try to solve them all upfront (without evidence that they are really problems). My only advice is just launch!
If you like this kind of games check out http://www.oust.me ... Here you checkin via foursquare/fb and counquer areas. You can also join a team and control parts of citys together. They have some seedcamp money behind them.
Disclosure: I'm friends with one of the guys who made it.
Have been beta testing this and enjoy the little battles you can have with others over locations. In terms of design its one of the slickest out there, especially considering all the building types and levels
I beta tested the app and got addicted pretty quickly. It's fun and gorgeous -- really a cut above most mobile games when it comes to craft and attention to detail.
It took us a little over a year. Our team is three people:
Michael Tseng - Designer (Me) Steve Finkelstein - Backend Developer Adam Bellmore - Front End Developer
We've also had quite a few freelancers help out though to illustrate all of the locations and other assets was time consuming.
Mike,
How far along is the Android app?
To be honest we haven't gotten to start on it yet. We wanted to prove that there was demand for the iOS version first. When we make the move to Android we will have to build a team for it. Keep the hope alive!
I just heard of this project today, but being an Android user I would contribute to a kickstarter just for Android if that's what it takes.
Looks like a ton of fun, love the 8 bit graphic concept
I love this, though I know I am an old retired gamer when I have no interest to use this myself
Downloaded the app just now. My friends were already teasing me about using Foursquare...I can already tell this is going to be even worse.
(My one little bit of criticism is that I find the 8-bit-style text really hard to read on the iPhone's screen.)
This game is beautiful. How long did it take you to make?
have you ever heard of mytown or booyah?
Ya we have, the original mytown is more in line with what we created, though everyone could own their own copy of each place. In Turf there is only one of each location so you have to fight for ownership.
Mytown 2 is not really like Turf. They went more of a cityville route.
Thanks for the info. Love the graphics.