Historic Walk Cartridge

[+baloo&bd]

Looking at the builder tutorial, they talk about a tour, in this case Washington DC.

 

This got me thinking about replicating a historic house walk in a cartridge. Understanding that everything is subjective, I wanted to ask some questions and get some opinions.

 

1. The carts I have looked at and the couple I have done seem to be more along the lines of a "game" based theme. Are historic walk thrus to Wherigo what lpc is to caching?

 

2. The current one I am looking at doing, while in an area of about 5 blocks by 5 blocks would have about 40 locations if I used them all, Is this too many steps? should it be broken downto 2 or more carts?

 

History in areas and towns is one of the things that first attracted me to GC. Then again, I like micros in woods so I am not always in step with everyone else.

Edited May 29, 2009 by baloo&bd

[Ranger Fox]

I don't think we have established what a Wherigo "LPC" is just yet. In my honest opinion, perhaps an "LPC" cartridge would be one that the player could just click "Next", "Next", "Next" on and finish within a few minutes.

 

An historic walk would be nice. There are some history buffs out there and providing additional information about what you're seeing would be nice. To shave down how much information is displayed, perhaps you could provide an item or something with commands you can select to see more information about what you're looking at. For instance, who built the house, the significant history, famous occupants, and the house as you see it now. It just depends upon how much information you'd like to present the player. (Just don't overwhelm a player with page after page of information of the player may just not read it.) Also, keep in mind some Players tend to crash if you put a lot of words (perhaps 500) in one dialog box.

 

A forty location cartridge, if you had to visit them all, might be too much. Some Players have a difficult time displaying more than ten active zones at a time. The most I've tried getting to work at one time was close to fifteen. I also tend to think of Wherigo as a multi: the time involved to complete the cartridge, distance traveled, and number of stages can greatly affect how many people complete your cartridge.

 

If you'd still like forty locations, and I can understand why, what about making only the most important ten of those required to visit? The other thirty can be optional for those who'd like the full experience you'll provide. I'm not too worried about your local cachers doing the cartridge. However, when I travel to an area (my time is short and very valuable to me when I'm far away), the most I'm willing to invest in a multi or cartridge is an hour.

 

When I first thought of Wherigo, I considered its value in providing information or even a tour of historic sites. You can walk around to different areas and the cartridge would provide you with more information than the signs or displays provide. Something like a personal tour guide.

 

Just keep in mind this is only my opinion. Others may rightfully disagree because their interests and values are different. I would suggest you considering everyone's opinion, but in the end going with your own and what you find enjoyable.

[matejcik]

i think that historic walk cartridge is OK

then again, i think that what hurts Wherigo most is that only geocachers play it, because they (you) are a very very specific kind of people

(when i asked on our local forum whether it's viable to create a cache-less cart, they told me that sure, go ahead, but then don't be surprised if nobody plays it mostly because they'd never find out about it if they don't see it on their almighty GC map or pocket queries)

 

anyway, you might consider not restricting the player to a specific path, just make all zones active (using some techniques it's possible to keep active only a small number of zones and make the others auto-activate when you get near) and let them explore.

[+baloo&bd]

i think that historic walk cartridge is OK

then again, i think that what hurts Wherigo most is that only geocachers play it, because they (you) are a very very specific kind of people

(when i asked on our local forum whether it's viable to create a cache-less cart, they told me that sure, go ahead, but then don't be surprised if nobody plays it mostly because they'd never find out about it if they don't see it on their almighty GC map or pocket queries)

 

Yea, I know that was a big part of the reason Waymarking isn't making it. I had thought about combining it with a cache, but the few carts that are around me seem to be getting visits without them. Again, that may be impacted by the fact that the carts appear in the count.

 

I think getting into GC and having a the feature included by default on some GPSr's may make the difference here.

 

anyway, you might consider not restricting the player to a specific path, just make all zones active (using some techniques it's possible to keep active only a small number of zones and make the others auto-activate when you get near) and let them explore.

 

So by doing it this way, are all the zones required to complete or is that something I set?

[+baloo&bd]

I don't think we have established what a Wherigo "LPC" is just yet. In my honest opinion, perhaps an "LPC" cartridge would be one that the player could just click "Next", "Next", "Next" on and finish within a few minutes.

 

I would be surprised if "lame" has not been attached to some carts, if not here in local forums. We tend to be a very judgmental group.

 

An historic walk would be nice. There are some history buffs out there and providing additional information about what you're seeing would be nice. To shave down how much information is displayed, perhaps you could provide an item or something with commands you can select to see more information about what you're looking at. For instance, who built the house, the significant history, famous occupants, and the house as you see it now. It just depends upon how much information you'd like to present the player. (Just don't overwhelm a player with page after page of information of the player may just not read it.) Also, keep in mind some Players tend to crash if you put a lot of words (perhaps 500) in one dialog box.

 

What I have in mind is already a yearly tour. There is even audio available. I was planning on a paragraph on each. What I was not sure was if I should try to devise some sort of mechinism to make it more interactive or just leave it passive.

 

A forty location cartridge, if you had to visit them all, might be too much. Some Players have a difficult time displaying more than ten active zones at a time. The most I've tried getting to work at one time was close to fifteen. I also tend to think of Wherigo as a multi: the time involved to complete the cartridge, distance traveled, and number of stages can greatly affect how many people complete your cartridge.

 

If you'd still like forty locations, and I can understand why, what about making only the most important ten of those required to visit? The other thirty can be optional for those who'd like the full experience you'll provide. I'm not too worried about your local cachers doing the cartridge. However, when I travel to an area (my time is short and very valuable to me when I'm far away), the most I'm willing to invest in a multi or cartridge is an hour.

 

If using the audio the walk takes about 90 minutes or so, if you keep moving. That's one reason I was looking at splitting it into two parts or even three.

 

When I first thought of Wherigo, I considered its value in providing information or even a tour of historic sites. You can walk around to different areas and the cartridge would provide you with more information than the signs or displays provide. Something like a personal tour guide.

 

Just keep in mind this is only my opinion. Others may rightfully disagree because their interests and values are different. I would suggest you considering everyone's opinion, but in the end going with your own and what you find enjoyable.

 

And with only two replies so far, my thinking has already started to go different directions. Thanks.

[+MickEMT]

I'll toss in my two cents.

Check out the "Wellsboro Walking Tour" cartridge from PA, It takes 90-120 minutes to run on the ground, and is pretty much just what it sounds like, a walking tour of Wellsboro.

Having played the cartridge ( and there is a cache at the end) I thought it should have been broken in to 3 parts. First part would be a quick tour of the town green to get players familiarized with the player, the second and thrid parts would be the walking tour itself.

Remember, people will have kids along, keeping things short plays to their attention spans.

I also thought the cartridge could, and should, have been more interactive. All it was was get to point "A", be given info on the building, click "OK", go to Point "B", repeat for 90 minutes. Well written, very informative, but could have been much more.

 

Remember, Wherigo is supposed to be interactive! Create a tourguide charecter, maybe a famous resident, ask questions of the players, even if it is along the lines of "what is the name of the Doctor who has his office in the building next door" or "how many arched windows are on the front of the second floor". And again, keep in mind the attention span of children. I'd suggest keeping the "play time" to a max of 30-45 minutes. If that means you have to split the tour in to 2 or 3 parts, then so be it. Have a cache associated with each cartridge, that will draw more players in. You could even have a "clue" in each cartridge that will lead to a "mystery final" for those that finish the series.

You might also want to consider getting your local historical society involved, they will probably be more than happy to give you more information, and may well have contacts with property owners who would be willing to allow you to place a cache on their property.

[+MickEMT]

OH, one more thing, set up the cartridge(es) so that zone become active as needed, and set previously "used" zones that are no longer needed to inactive as the player moves along, the fewer things the unit needs to process, the smoother your cartridge will run.

 

As an example, the cacher arrives in zone 2, and the completes their task. Zone 3 becomes active and visible, zone 1 becomes inactive and invisible ( if no longer needed ).

Remember, Wherigo is new enough that we do not have a "right" or "wrong" way of doing things, everyone has their preferences, this post and my last one only show my personal preference for this sort of cartridge.

[matejcik]

So by doing it this way, are all the zones required to complete or is that something I set?

depends entirely on you. you might program it so that the player needs to walk through all the zones (e.g. create an invisible task for each zone and then check whether all of them are complete).

or, better (imho), you could leave the zones as a "tour guide" and put some characters in some of them, who might want to know something about buildings in other zones, or you'd have to carry items from one zone to another ...

simply put, you could make a game with a subset of the zones.

and if you want to keep the "historic walk", just place a "guide" item/character in each zone (or in your inventory) that says only "to follow the walk, continue to <zone name>". plus it could have a command "follow" that would call ShowScreen(<the next zone>)

 

---

 

anyway, you might consider not restricting the player to a specific path, just make all zones active (using some techniques it's possible to keep active only a small number of zones and make the others auto-activate when you get near) and let them explore.

As an example, the cacher arrives in zone 2, and the completes their task. Zone 3 becomes active and visible, zone 1 becomes inactive and invisible ( if no longer needed ).

Remember, Wherigo is new enough that we do not have a "right" or "wrong" way of doing things, everyone has their preferences, this post and my last one only show my personal preference for this sort of cartridge.

...aaaand this is exactly the kind of cartridge that I consider poor. it is nothing beyond "multicache-goes-Wherigo", just blindly following a predefined route. that's what i meant when i said that Wherigo is hurt by being GC-exclusive ;e)

on the other hand, people tend to create a lot of those. at least they're familiar with the game mechanics. some time ago i was thinking of a web-based constructor for this kind of cart. you'd just prefill the zones, maybe some questions in them, and all would be set.

[+MickEMT]

One known issue with the Wherigo player on garmin units is that having multiple zones active can cause the player to crash. I've heard estimates of 5 to 7 zones being the maximum the player can handle. That limitation is something to keep in mind. The idea of having a "go where you want as long as you eventually go to all the zones" cartridge is a nice one, but with the current system limitations, is not always practical.

[matejcik]

yeah, but that limitation can be overcome rather efficiently. i've seen it done - it's not easy to program, but it works pretty well.

 

what you need to do is create the zones, group them by approx. five and then create "superzones" that cover each group.

then, everything except the starting superzone is left inactive.

and whenever you enter a superzone (OnEnter event), you activate zones from its group, its neighbouring superzones, hide the current superzone, and deactivate everything else.

 

that way, you never have more than ten zones active (and you can cut that number down by reducing group size or modifying the rules for neighbour superzones)

[kvhollis]

 

What I have in mind is already a yearly tour. There is even audio available. I was planning on a paragraph on each. What I was not sure was if I should try to devise some sort of mechinism to make it more interactive or just leave it passive.

 

Keep in mind that audio does NOT work on Garmin units - just the PPC.

[kvhollis]

One known issue with the Wherigo player on garmin units is that having multiple zones active can cause the player to crash. I've heard estimates of 5 to 7 zones being the maximum the player can handle. That limitation is something to keep in mind. The idea of having a "go where you want as long as you eventually go to all the zones" cartridge is a nice one, but with the current system limitations, is not always practical.

 

One of my latest cartridges has 15 active zones to start and the Colorado and Oregon worked great. I was VERY suprised and happy too!

 

Performance did improve (it wasn't terribly bad to begin with) once zones began getting disabled too.