ePawn Arena, a game gadget created by tech industry veterans (AR, mobile and flight sim sectors) offers an interplay between mobile and real world board gaming by enabling game apps to manipulate physical pieces on a flexible game board using a patented AI technology.
The gadget launched on Kickstarter last week and has received a “staff pick” by the Kickstarter folks after they checked out the demo.
The Tech
ePawn Arena consists of a rollup smart board and game piece tags that together communicate with mobile game apps. Using a patented object tracking technology, the Arena uses signals to detect the position, orientation and rotation of physical game pieces and sends control commands that move each game piece. Up to 32 objects can be tracked simultaneously with precision timing and Wi-Fi signaling 60 times per second. A version of this proven technology is already commercially available in larger scale trackable display screens and used by corporate customers.
The Games
The developers at ePawn have already created or partnered with indie developers on several game apps to showcase the platform including retro arcade action games like Bot Battle and Bot Race. With ePawn Chess you can actually play with an opponent on the other side of the world – when they move a physical pawn on their game board that same pawn moves on your board. Third party games like Wings of Glory (Ares Games) and Fleet Commander (Capsicum Games) are also available on the platform.
The Platform
To encourage even more content, ePawn is making the Arena open platform and offering backers the SDK and customizable components.
The Team
ePawn Arena is the brainchild of the 10 person ePawn startup led by Christophe Duteil (CEO) and Valentin Lefèvre (CTO). Christophe has led large scale, complex software development programs across three continents at telcos including Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent. Valentin is co-founder of Total Immersion an award winning augmented reality company which holds 20 patents and 60 employees across the US, Europe and Asia. Together Christophe and Valentin developed the first PC-based simulators for aerospace company, Thales.
Here is the official trailer:
If you liked what you saw then head on over to Kickstarter to help support ePawn Arena.
Source: Press Release
I have always enjoyed playing video games and am a programming team lead for a video game company. I co-founded Gaming Cypher because I enjoy the gaming community and would like to provide the best news service around. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will make sure to get back to you quickly.
More Stories
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land’s New Combat and Synthesis Details Revealed by KOEI TECMO
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 9 Final Season, Operation Collision Point Revealed by Ubisoft
Industry Giant 4.0 Launches Today via Steam Early Access