'Cross Play' At Our Doorsteps

We’re a little late in getting to know about the Luminance Light Art Festival currently going on at *SCAPE, but we’re glad we didn’t miss it entirely, because there’s a wicked awesome exhibit where you can join in a massive projection of a game on the side of the *SCAPE wall .

That’s right. With a projector, a laptop, and visitors’ smartphones, local developer Explosive Barrel has put together nifty (and gigantic) games that can be played by visitors who download the controller app on their smartphones.

“We were supposed to do something related to urban projected [for the festival],” explained Ryan Chan, 21, who spoke on Explosive Barrel’s behalf.

Among the four available games that are periodically projected on the wall are a massively-multiplayer version of Snake as well as aeroplane shooter in the 1942 style. Explosive Barrel developed the four games and the accompanying system especially for the festival. The games are projected via a 1,000 lumen projector, and visitors join in the fun by first downloading the app for their Android or iOS phones. They then have to connect to the festival’s Wi Fi network before being able to join the game.

“Our intent was to create a game where youths can just jump in and play, instead of just staying at home. They can come outdoors and socialise, play together as a group… in a social setting,” said Ryan. Though the festival was quiet since it was a Friday night, the crowd over the past five days has been pretty healthy. Apart from the allure of being able to just whip your smartphone out to play, we think it might also be due to the leaderboard that comes out whenever a round ends in the game – seeing your name plastered at the top is really something to aspire to.

One thing Explosive Barrel has promised, though, is that we won’t see the last of these massively-multiplayer games with their crowdsourcing element. There is no user limit in the software, so an unlimited number of players will be able to log in. Ryan tossed out a few concepts – like a 50-manStreets of Rage style beat-em-up, or 20 people swarming a platformer like Contra – and we fell in love.

Explosive Barrel and their Luminance Light Art Festival games will be at the courtyard of *SCAPE (that’s behind the building) until Sunday night. Be sure to go check them out!