Father.io: first real life massive multiplayer FPS | Hacker News Reader

Father.io: first real life massive multiplayer FPS

father.io

76 pointsjoshmanders33 comments

Cool idea but there's no way this is going to be finished along their timeline and budget.

The CEO's resume doesn't make me think he has the experience to get this done https://it.linkedin.com/in/francescoferrazzino

Engineering and manufacturing are pretty tricky and hard. And building a fun augmented reality game like that is hard. You need a lot of very experienced people with the needed skill sets to successfully complete a project this ambitious.

Wouldn't player be able do become invincible any time they want by covering the "inceptor" with their hand (with some distance between so occlusion can't be detected using light detectors)?

Well, it's the same problem as laser tag: it relies on players being honest. For that reason, I can't imagine playing this with strangers.

They might devise a "karma" system where a player is kicked out once N players confirm the guy is cheating.

This reminds me of the books 'Daemon' and 'FreedomTM' by Daniel Suarez. Entertaining reads for those interested in what such a karma system might look like when installed as a ubiquitous feature of society.

Or the idea of "whuffie" in Cory Doctorow's _Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom_.

Parts of it strongly remind me of Ingress.

Some of the "promo images" on that page looks quite similar to what Niantec uses to promote Ingress, yes. But neither game really looks anything like the promotion pictures.

Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, the phone simply works like a scope? Apart from being less comfortable what's the difference between aiming through a scope and aiming through a phone's screen? For a game it's good enough IMO; it's not like you have to look through your phone for the whole time. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be that hard to port this to an augmented reality device.

Hey, it's like laser tag, but you have to look through a tiny screen while you run and jump and try to evade and attack! What could go wrong?

Plus, it has the Airsoft/Laser tag bug - it relies on people being honest. I can just place the phone under my shirt if I'm moving around and never die. So you can immediately scratch the "massive multiplayer" part off the slogan - if it's going to get popular, people are mostly going to play in small communities.

Just like you, I was about to write a rather pessimistic comment about how obsolete this will be as soon as VR goes mainstream, but I hate being the nay sayer so I will just go along and assume this would be great as a cheaper "hybrid" alternative to join the fun?

Honestly, it does look like fun. But also like a lawsuit waiting to happen? Like a future source of broken noses and arms and what-have-you when people trip or run into walls. Which, that's fine, if that's a risk you choose to take. But I think "what could go wrong?" is justified.

I don't see why they couldn't add VR headsets once they gain traction. If they started out requiring hardware that was expensive and almost none had then it would be difficult to reach critical mass. It would be even better I'd they didn't need anything but a phone to get started.

The next thing would be drone laser tag.

- the players sit at home(yeah latency issues) or at the venue - order the standard drone-by-the-minute service(future service, copyright no-one-yet) - drone goes to the venue spot - shoot other drones...(no AI cheating!) - best of 5 matches Or instead of laser, user physical objects, and they need to reload them at a station with real people that can shoot down the drones to, so they can defend the loading station! that would be cool. "Real" warfare in a play setting.

mix it up with the Father.io thing/normal laser tag. so the drones will be tactical vehicles that will feed info. and the players can shoot them down. to gain information advantages. Or just make the drones bomber planes, that can bomb the players. you know-normal military drones...

But if you have all that, why not do it virtually and with realistic graphics somewhere that does not look like anything on earth...

I'm skeptical about the fundraising goal. Seems a bit low. They could easily spend that much on another commercial.

It's more about the advertising than the money raised. If they fund then they also have proof of interest which future investors will want to see.

Dropped Phone: The Game.

I like the tech, but I feel like it could be a lot more successful if it could either be run with private local instances rather than MMO, or it was something more casual and creative than FPS.

If you want an app that brings strangers together IRL to be widely appealing, then the interaction should be a little more endearing than having people frantically mashing the screen of their phone at you. I can't imagine most bystanders being enticed by this kind of behavior.

The commercial got me so stoked - like a kid again playing games with only you imagination outside! I'm so excited to see the progress on this!

I feel like https://www.ingress.com/ wins on the creative use of "real live massive multiplayer"

You'd be surprised how many players are doing that game everywhere from the Middle east to the Midwest US

"Artificial intelligence has surpassed human intelligence, the IoT connects the whole world to the Net. Humanity created “Ethereus,” a super-cloud computer, able to re-design itself..."

I, for one, welcome our new buzzword-compliant overlords!

The tagline at least reminds me of the company posted a while back that was building virtual reality experiences where just enough of the environment was physical to make it feel actually real.

edit: speeling

Broken phones everywhere

Debating if this is safer than the BB Gun wars we used to have.

Ha!! When I saw the page, my first thought was, "This is still safer than running around the forest spraying everything that moved with BBs.."

Good memories...and damn, I really need to hug my poor Mom! :)

BB guns while sledding was fun. Do watch the barbwire fence at the bottom of the hill, though.

All we need now is a big fake plastic gun mount for our sensor, and a VR phone holder and we will be talking. Everywhere is a war zone.

I'm sure there will be no accidents with the local police.

Wake me when they made an augmented reality game where people actually have to do something creative together, instead of 'killing' each other in a million ways.

Isn't that what some like to call "employment"?

Much cooler if you play while riding a Segway.

I think I'd rather play Planetside 2.

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