Day Terrors: Testing 'Night Terrors' pt1

After what felt like a century but was only a few days, I finally tried out my beta copy of "Night Terrors," an Augmented Reality Horror Survival Game (ARG). 

What you see in the video above is what Novum Analytics expects the final product to be like. However, like any other game, this smartphone-based ARG has to be tested in different stages in order for the final product to become a reality.

With that in mind, I have not gotten my hands on a complete build.  I did get to chase a fairy through the woods for a bit, though.

Testing It Out During the Day

Build 1: Stationary, optical tracking with augmented element. Element will move around player, approach and retreat in view. Works (and was built) for dark testing, but will work in light.

Nothing outside of the word "light" in the description of the 'Night Terrors' build I received encouraged me to use the device outdoors. It was out of curiosity and necessity. I wondered if it would work outside, and I had to borrow my friend's iPhone to use TestFlight. 

Strolling through a park in Central Indiana, my friend and I loaded the game onto her phone and decided to see what the build offered. And that was a great example of why you should read what exactly you are testing before you test it. Part of me expected some of the map building to be in the build, but at least I got to check out some of the primary functions of the game. 

Finding the Fairy 

There was a placeholder for the ghosts and goblins, that, essentially was a bright fairy that would follow you. Sometimes you followed it. 

Due to the fact we were outside in the bright-ass sun, I was unable to capture us using the beta copy. The video above, however, more or less captures what we saw. It also features some of the spatialized audio. 

Current Thoughts

I plan on testing this build out during the night sometime soon.

​Ghosts and goblins are yet to be seen, but I'm assured they are coming along shortly. Along with the beta copy, I received a letter explaining what to expect: "Its mostly a tech demo to ensure the optical tracking is working for everyone, and the following builds will continue to get scarier and scarier :). "

Here's to the future builds, as I look forward to testing out the next copy I receive. It might be a moment before I have a ghost scaring me shitless, but I'm excited to see how it comes along. Maybe I'll have a video or two next time. 

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