GPS Gaming with Pokemon Go

In our game design class, we decided to jump on the bandwagon and all start playing Pokemon Go.

If you don't know about Pokemon GO it is an Augmented Reality game that takes advantage of everyone and their children having cell phones, by allowing anyone with a capable smartphone to go out and catch some Pokemon. Just like Ash right? Well maybe not...

About Pokemon Go

Personal Experience:

I Started playing Pokemon go when it first came out as a way to kill time, but the game really lost base with me. After a week or so of play, I was tired of the limited amount of activities you could do with the app besides catch Pokemon's and decided to uninstall it for other apps. 

When I got the app again to play for this class, little to my surprise the app had not changed at all. The company that made the game has yet to create any extra gameplay for users and the game is not much better in a crowd. Being with friends to play Pokemon Go is probably better than playing the game by yourself, yet the act of playing Pokemon Go in a group makes me want to stop playing and just be with the people around me.

Mechanics:

1) Exercise - This game gets people outside and moving, in order to play the game well. If you are stationary, there will be less Pokemon to catch or Pokestops to collect from.

2) Use of Location/GPS - Depending where you are on earth, there can be more/different Pokemon around or more concentrated areas of Pokestops.

3) Social - People can help one another out by putting lures that attract Pokemon to an area. This makes it so people can work together to play the game better. 

4) Challenge - People can battle one another at gyms, to earn in-game currency and experience. People want to collect them all before their friends.

5) Collecting - The main mechanic of the game is to capture and collect Pokemon, in hopes to collect every single one!