Posted on: 26 October 2012
Gamers and smartphone users can hunt vampires this Halloween, using a new smartphone game – ‘Bram Stoker’s Vampires’. The brand new horror gaming experience was produced by Haunted Planet Studios Ltd headed up by Dr Mads Haahr, lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Statistics.
In the game which was launched at the inaugural Bram Stoker Festival on October 26th, players use their smartphones to solve a Stoker-themed vampire mystery set in the city centre, including the Trinity campus.
The location-based augmented-reality game turns players’ smartphones into paranormal detection devices which they use to travel around the city, uncovering a mystery that features historical and fictional characters related to Bram Stoker’s gothic classic “Dracula”.
Commenting on the new smartphone game, Dr Haahr said: “The technology combines highly realistic visuals, engaging gameplay and a unique location-based approach to audio with a sophisticated story-driving technology. The result is one of the most impressive user experiences in smartphone-based augmented reality to date. Haunted Planet Studios is building on technology developed within a collaborative project between Trinity researchers and the National Digital Research Centre.”
Picking up the player’s location using the GPS functionality on the smartphone device, the game was commissioned by Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin for the upcoming exhibition GAME, which launches on November 15th. It will take around an hour to complete, taking the player around literary hero’s old haunts, such as Trinity College and Dublin Castle. Pointing the camera at various locations, you will uncover ghosts, vampires and other terrorising elements of the city you never knew existed. The high-quality visuals and audio heighten the player’s experience, totally immersing the player in the game.
To download the game, first install the Haunted Planet app for Android or iPhone from the following address: http://www.hauntedplanet.com/stoker and follow instructions.
