So basically how HTC/Android/Apple make smart phones, we make smart toys. Our first smart toy is a robotic ball that you can move by tilting your phone in the direction you want the ball to roll. We are then leveraging the connectivity and computing power of the phone to create a fully interactive experience for the user. Our first app for the ball is Sumo. I throw my ball on a table, you throws yours on the table and then we can try and sumo each others ball off the table. However, while our physical balls are moving there is also an onscreen component with online stats, profiles, damage, powerups and other aspects of gameplay that aren’t possible with a regular remote control toy. For instance, when the balls collide they can sustain “damage” and roll slower or I could get a powerup to reverse your controls for a few seconds.
Aside from the games we produce we are also opening up the APIs for the ball so any app developer with no hardware knowledge can build their own games or applications and bring them to the real world. For instance:
Office Golf – Where a swipe on your phone (or swing) is a hit. Like Wii Golf but with a real ball that rolls around your office.
Curling – Where you would physically roll the ball with your hand and then do the brush with your finger on your phone to try and hit a target.
Cat App – People buy apps for themselves but with the cat app they are buying the app for their cat. Cats will love playing with the ball and you can just sit on your couch and control it with your phone. Could be a community in itself.
Ambient Data – While the ball is sitting in its charger on your desk you could map the LEDs in it to different things. If you get an email it could glow red. If you get a Facebook message, it glows blue. Or weather…. if it’s cold out it turns blue, warm it’s red, high chance of rain/snow it’s green.
Those are just a few ideas, and some, like the ambient data, aren’t just in the gaming space. It’s really up to a developers imagination what the possibilities are. Please hit us up with feedback!
