The SteamLink

The Steamlink is a real-time mobile outdoor game.

The Steamlink is a real-time mobile outdoor game. The current version is multiplayer (team vs team). In this location-based game, the goal is to create transmission links between sources of music (transmitters – represented by antennas) and sinks of music (receivers- represented by audio devices) by making physical chains with players. Players are placed on a virtual map according to their real position transmitted by their phones' GPS. Ideal playgrounds are city parks and natural areas (countryside, beach, mountain). When the player enters the game, he can join an existing session or create one. By creating one, he will be placed at the center of the map and several transmitters and receivers will appear randomly in a radius defined by the player. To create a link, the player and its friends have to be placed physically between the transmitter and the receiver. Players have a range of transmission around them and when all ranges overlap between the source and the sink it starts to deplete the source and gather points. When the transmitter is fully depleted, players have to create a new transmission with another source and so on. The game ends when the time limit gets reached and the winning team is the one with the biggest amount of points. The games are not persistent, shortly limited in time and in a limited area. It is steampunk themed (hence the name).