Scientists around the world are working day and night to protect the animals living in the last wild places on earth, but there is very little time left, and not enough people on the ground, to turn the tide.
A conservation scientist in Kenya built a revolutionary technology that beams the remotest wild places to any city in the world, allowing anyone to track real animals, creating a global army of urban conservationists.
Chat with the team of scientists on the ground in Congo and Borneo, go on missions into the wild and come face to face with wildlife. Collect food traces, footprints and poop, place camera traps, and report illegal activity, all in the name of protecting their, and our future.
Next month, we’ll reveal the cast of human and animal characters.
Stay tuned!
Gautam, Jake, Raff, Mbugua, Evans, Abhilash, Kiragu, Anne and Jeff!
The big reveal!
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, May 02, 2019 at 01:26:17 AM
Dear friends,
It's time to start revealing more details about the big game release this summer.
First up: the name! We're happy to introduce you to Wildeverse.
Stay tuned as we release more details over the coming weeks.
Craving more? Watch Gautam and Raff's video reportage of their trip to the Congolese jungle to cast a real gorilla and gibbon to star in Wildeverse.
Next up: more details about the game play and characters.
Will you help us test the game?
almost 7 years ago
– Tue, Apr 09, 2019 at 03:59:09 AM
Dear friends, collaborators and supporters!
We are working around the clock to get the game out into the world this summer. In two weeks we are ready to open up the beta version for testing. We are looking for one hundred test players to help us make the game the best it can be!
You don’t need any special skills, you can join in no matter where you are, and it will take about one and a half hours of your time. All you need is a recent smartphone.
Do you know someone else who might want to help us test the game?
Please feel free to extend the invite! The more people test the game, the better it will be. You can forward this message or the link to the sign up page.
We hope you can join. We can’t wait to play together!
Gautam, Jake, Abhilash, Mbugua, Evans, Raff and Anne.
Development update: new team members and tests!
about 7 years ago
– Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 10:24:19 AM
The game development is in full swing now! Here is what’s going on behind the scenes.
Game legends join the IoE herd
Rob, Raff, Neil and Oscar at UKIE for our game design workshop.
What are a game developer and a data scientist doing together in a Bornean rainforest, you might wonder? The first instalment of the upcoming game will feature apes, and how can we create a game about their every-day lives and what it takes to conserve their habitats, without having experienced it ourselves? Read about the expedition on our blog.
Sneak a peek at our tests!
How do you design the the experience of tracking a gibbon on foot?
Mother nature is the best designer ever, and replicating her work digitally is a tough challenge. Therefore, we are currently running prototype tests of critical features of the game. While he was in Borneo, Jake, our head of product, noticed that the movement of the branches and leaves gives the location of the gibbons away. Above is a test by Evans and Mbugua of what that experience could look like digitally, using a shader in unity3d.
AR prototype, testing orang utan movement in indoor mode.
Even though our game will take you outdoors to track wildlife in your own city, we do want to design for rainy weather, people with lesser mobility, and plain old lazy Sundays. That means we have to figure out how the game works in indoor mode. In the video above you can see a split-screen prototype that tests orang utan movement in indoor mode. On the left, you can see an overhead map view zoomed in on a single home, and on the right, how Fio and the player will navigate if anchored on one location.
What's next?
We are currently working on the User Interface, conservation stories and brand for the game. We will unveil the new name, art and game concept early this spring. Stay tuned!
Thanks for following us on this journey!
Anne, Abhilash, Evans, Gautam, Jake, Jeff, Mbugua and Raff
Safari Central v2 will kick off with Great Apes in 2019
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 06:43:22 AM
Dear backers,
We are super excited to inform you that we are now in the process of building the full fledged version of Safari Central, and we are kicking it off with great ape stars.
This new phase of work is made possible through a grant from the Arcus Foundation. We will be partnering with the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) and the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project (GTAP) to bring the stories of these apes, and the conservation work needed to protect them, to the world.
The game will have you out and about tracking orangutans and gibbons from Indonesian Borneo and lowland gorillas and chimpanzees from the Congo Basin. It will feature unique characters like Fio the orangutan, Chilli the gibbon and Theresa the lowland gorilla. These animals and the forests they live in are under extreme threat, and so there could be no better place for us to start bringing their stories to you.
We’re still very early in the concepting phase, and Jake, our head of product and Raff, our wildlife and data scientist, just got back from immersing themselves in the Bornean rainforest with the BNF team to get a deep understanding of the animals, the communities that live around them, the threats, and the conservation sweat and blood that goes into protecting them.
The game experience
What we are for now calling Safari Central v2 is intended to be a platform for many more animals and conservation organizations to come, including some of those from the preview app like Rockstar the pangolin and Mweturia the elephant. But for right now, we are kicking off with apes.
Here’s the gist of the game experience: you are a wanna be conservation scientist training for the big time. New technology allows for the experts in the Bornean and Congo rainforests to ‘beam’ you live representations of Fio, Chili, Theresa, and other animals from the forests, which give you the chance to practice your chops at tracking them, getting them comfortable with your presence, and collecting data within the familiarity of your own neighborhood or park. By proving yourself at home, you’ll be ready to take on more difficult and complex missions to find new animals in new environments. The game brings together stunning Augmented reality, location based game play, the ability to play indoors, and the chance to be part of a larger group effort around the conservation of apes in the wild.
The Timeline
We’re still refining the storyline and game mechanics, but we’ll be sure to keep you up to date on the progress along the way. Look for a beta release sometime around March/April of 2019 and a larger release in July/August.
Follow the progress on our blog and all our behind-the-scene action on our Twitter feed.
