Is Wherigo dead?

[+fiz]

No updates since May 2008, over a year and a half ago? For a buggy player and builder considered in beta development? It's a neat idea but I wonder if its worth much trouble if its dead, development wise.

[+kf4oox]

Sounds like it to me.

 

kf4oox - Paul

[matejcik]

the community lives

there's an alternate less buggy and actively maintained player

and an alternate way less buggy and actively maintained builder

the Wherigo.com site mostly works, although it has its quirks.

 

so i wouldn't say that it's dead.

[+fiz]

I'll bite. Where is this less buggy player and builder of which thou speaks?

[matejcik]

the player -> http://openwig.googlecode.com/ (won't work on garmin units for obvious reasons, but seems to work pretty well with PocketPCs)

the builder is called Earwigo and it's web-based. link is http://www.earwigo.net/ but you won't be able to register automatically. some interesting reading is here: http://www.earwigo.net/WWB/wiki/doku.php?id=how_to

expect sTeamTraen (the author of Earwigo) to chime in on this thread within the next couple of days, or just contact him via PM and ask for access.

[+MickEMT]

Nope, not dead by a long shot.

[+sTeamTraen]

the builder is called Earwigo and it's web-based. link is http://www.earwigo.net/ but you won't be able to register automatically. some interesting reading is here: http://www.earwigo.net/WWB/wiki/doku.php?id=how_to

expect sTeamTraen (the author of Earwigo) to chime in on this thread within the next couple of days, or just contact him via PM and ask for access.

Replace "PM" with "e-mail via my profile" and that would have been perfect.

[+Road Rabbit]

the player -> http://openwig.googlecode.com/ (won't work on garmin units for obvious reasons, but seems to work pretty well with PocketPCs)

the builder is called Earwigo and it's web-based. link is http://www.earwigo.net/ but you won't be able to register automatically. some interesting reading is here: http://www.earwigo.net/WWB/wiki/doku.php?id=how_to

expect sTeamTraen (the author of Earwigo) to chime in on this thread within the next couple of days, or just contact him via PM and ask for access.

The earwigo.net links will not connect on IE or Firefox. Sounds like it may be dead after all.

[matejcik]

The earwigo.net links will not connect on IE or Firefox. Sounds like it may be dead after all.

the problem is on your end. works just fine here.

(see the DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com service to check)

[+sTeamTraen]

The earwigo.net links will not connect on IE or Firefox. Sounds like it may be dead after all.

What's your error message?

[+smallblockfuelie]

May I please gain access to earwigo?

[+sTeamTraen]

May I please gain access to earwigo?

Please send me a mail via my Geocaching.com profile.

[+GeoLobo]

Wherigo was a great concept...however, I wish it would just be a cache type and not a separate entity. Same thing with the Waymarking. Both of these projects just take away from geocaching.com.

 

The Wherigo Editor is not intuitive (Not user friendly), buggy, and has a very LARGE learning curve.

 

I know many people, including myself, he have attempted to get into it, but have become less interested in it because of most of the reasons I described above.

[+sTeamTraen]

Wherigo was a great concept...however, I wish it would just be a cache type and not a separate entity.

The more I play with Wherigo, the more I'm convinced that the opposite is true. I think that the cache type, which was "bolted-on" after the launch, distracts from the potential of Wherigo.

 

Within a couple of years, half the population of most "Western" (do we use that term anymore?) countries will be walking around with a Wherigo-compatible device in their pocket. Many of those people would play location-based games but are not interested in finding boxes.

[+MickEMT]

Wherigo was a great concept...however, I wish it would just be a cache type and not a separate entity.

 

The more I play with Wherigo, the more I'm convinced that the opposite is true. I think that the cache type, which was "bolted-on" after the launch, distracts from the potential of Wherigo.

 

Within a couple of years, half the population of most "Western" (do we use that term anymore?) countries will be walking around with a Wherigo-compatible device in their pocket. Many of those people would play location-based games but are not interested in finding boxes.

 

I agree with you up to a point. I think that if it weren't for the Wherigo cache type, the project would be DOA due to a lack of users. Anyone remember the location based game "sidewalk squirrel" for a couple years back? Similar concept.

[+sTeamTraen]

I think that if it weren't for the Wherigo cache type, the project would be DOA due to a lack of users.

Oh, I completely agree with this. It makes it even harder for me to argue that the cache type is a bad idea. It's kind of like saying that we should all eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, then finding someone on a desert island who's been eating nothing but fish and criticising him for not having a balanced diet.

[matejcik]

this one guy was talking about how Garmin is hurt by their bad Wherigo players ;e)

 

apparently, there used to be a location-based game called Labyrinth (or something like that) on older Garmin GPS units.

many people played that game - simply because it was on the unit and they had nothing better to do.

 

now we can make many location-based games, both play anywhere and tied to a specific location. and if Garmin players weren't so crappy, and they preloaded, say, three nice play-anywhere cartridges, people would just play them. because they'd be right on the unit. because the feature is there.

and if the cartridges said "get more games at Wherigo.com", people would come and download them and create new games.

and it could've been a solid selling point - "many location-based games available" :e)

 

oh well. no use crying over spilled milk.

(but still! garmin can still do it! )

[+ChileHead]

Nope, not dead by a long shot.

 

Not dead, but lonely. As far as I know, there is only one guy in the Western New York area who creates carts. I think you know him.

[+ChileHead]

The more I play with Wherigo, the more I'm convinced that the opposite is true. I think that the cache type, which was "bolted-on" after the launch, distracts from the potential of Wherigo.

 

Within a couple of years, half the population of most "Western" (do we use that term anymore?) countries will be walking around with a Wherigo-compatible device in their pocket. Many of those people would play location-based games but are not interested in finding boxes.

 

I've always thought the true potential of Wherigo lies with setting up tours. I'd love to have a tour guide built into my iphone or other device that would take me around amusement parks, historical areas like DC or Boston, temporary events like street fairs and festivals.

 

Ideally, you:

- start up the app

- automatically see the nearest tours

- select a tour

- see the list of rides/attractions nearby (with wait times if this could be fully dynamic), attractions that are time based sorted by the current time for things like bands on street festivals, suggested walking tours for DC & Boston, etc ...

 

That seems to be much more interesting to me than creating a cart for finding a box.

[+MickEMT]

Nope, not dead by a long shot.

 

Not dead, but lonely. As far as I know, there is only one guy in the Western New York area who creates carts. I think you know him.

 

Actually Chillie, there IS a second cacher who has created one.

[+ChileHead]

Actually Chillie, there IS a second cacher who has created one.

 

I don't think I've seen any other than yours! I know you have a couple in Buffalo and one in Rochester. The whole problem with Wherigo is the audience. Very small, and getting smaller now that it seems Garmin has not included it (?) on their newer models.

 

If there was an iphone version, I'd definitely be more interested.

[+JohnE5]

I hope it doesn't die before I go to Monterey Beach May 1st for a Wherigo spree and a 10 Years! Event.

 

I keep trying to make more cartridges but it is hard to get all the pieces to line up.

 

Some times it's fun to make the wizard generated cartridge and add a few zones in interesting places.

 

How great would it be to hire someone to build a cart for you? You give him all the details and how the story will go and any art you want included. And he could make the game for you. I'd pay....say $20 to save 20+ hours of cart building.

[matejcik]

haha, i'm in ;e))

for some of us here (being programmers), actually building the cartridge is the easy part.

the hard part is getting all the art and writing all the dialogue and descriptions and figuring out what happens when.

if you get all that right, i'm sure that you'll be able to get someone from your area or from this forum to help with the coding - and quite likely for free

 

there were even proposals on the forum to do a mechanism for this - "coder seeking script writer", "script writer seeking coder". start a thread for this on Building Wherigo and see what comes up

[Ranger Fox]

Yeah, there was that proposed, wasn't there? One of the payments discussed was alternating between each person's home area to do a cartridge. That way both areas benefited.

 

I agree, though. It's really easy for me to kick back and churn out a cartridge, but creating something engaging and fun (and a place in my area to hide it, where quality space is at a premium) takes more time and energy than I can put forth at the moment.

 

Yes, creating a Wherigo cartridge-building team was and still is a good idea.

[+MickEMT]

Actually Chillie, there IS a second cacher who has created one.

 

I don't think I've seen any other than yours! I know you have a couple in Buffalo and one in Rochester. The whole problem with Wherigo is the audience. Very small, and getting smaller now that it seems Garmin has not included it (?) on their newer models.

 

If there was an iphone version, I'd definitely be more interested.

Where's Sid #1 Westwood Park Pretty good one for a first cartridge.

Other than that, all the Wherigo's from The Watertown/ Wellesly Island Sate Park area east are mine. If you come down to the ASP geobash, there will be a new one in the park. Hook up with me after the Wherigo seminar Sat. morning and I'll be more than happy to let you run through it.

 

Garmin didn't include any outdoor GPS games with the Dakotas, (they do list the 60 series as having them) I think it was a memory issue and trying to present that line as an "entry level" line.

[+MickEMT]

 

Yes, creating a Wherigo cartridge-building team was and still is a good idea.

 

Didn't TPTB have one at one point? I seem to remember a link on the site where you could request one be built for your area.

 

I'm more than game to be part of a cartridge/cache building team. If anyone does want one, all they need to do is contact me.

[Ranger Fox]

Yes, Groundspeak had a group of Lackeys building cartridges. That was to get Wherigo off the ground. Once the community began building more cartridges, they were no longer needed. As far as I am aware, J2B2 is no longer a group, nor building cartridges.

[+MickEMT]

I know Shauna has left Groundspeak, wasn't too sure about the rest of the J2B2 group.

Perhaps it's time we started another such group.

[+dfx]

so what's the official status of Wherigo? a while ago i was working on a cartridge, but i heard rumours about GS abandoning Wherigo, so i never finished it. how true is it all?

 

i know the pocketPC Wherigo player has long-standing problems and it hasn't been updated for years. that alone makes me hold off putting any time and effort into it, even though i like the concept itself.

[+MickEMT]

I can't state any "official" position, but I'd wager good money that Wherigo is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

I think in the next few years we will see fewer and fewer "stand alone" GPS units such as the Colorado, PN-40 and 60 CSx in use and more smart phones, many of which will be able to use the Wherigo player app.

One of the reasons that the Wherigo cache type has been so slow to be put in use in some areas, IMHO, is the builder program. It's a bit daunting for the first time user, and the tutorial could be a bit clearer.

[+dfx]

I think in the next few years we will see fewer and fewer "stand alone" GPS units such as the Colorado, PN-40 and 60 CSx in use and more smart phones, many of which will be able to use the Wherigo player app.

One of the reasons that the Wherigo cache type has been so slow to be put in use in some areas, IMHO, is the builder program. It's a bit daunting for the first time user, and the tutorial could be a bit clearer.

i have no problem with the builder, my problem is the player. the official player is broken and doesn't work right on my PDA (most of the text is unreadable), and there haven't been any updates to it for years. the only other player i know of is java based and i couldn't find any java vm for my PDA that works, so i don't have that option either.

 

why don't they just open-source the player and let someone else take over maintenance?

[+sTeamTraen]

There are two better builders and one better player available for free.

[+Fish Below The Ice]

so what's the official status of Wherigo? a while ago i was working on a cartridge, but i heard rumours about GS abandoning Wherigo, so i never finished it. how true is it all?

 

Groundspeak's official status is the same as it ever was: "Groundspeak's goal is to reintroduce the adventure game genre by making it easy for anyone to create and play location-based adventures in the real world. Using Wherigo, the physical world becomes the background for engaging story lines and location-specific virtual entertainment."

 

In practice, though, there hasn't been an update to the builder since May 2008. There hasn't been an update to the PPC player since May 2008. There hasn't been an update to the Garmin players since July 2009. There are severe bugs in the Garmin players (inability to use non-English characters, no support for Tasks) that have remained unaddressed for years. There are no official players released for iPhone or Android. No hand-held GPS receiver since the Oregon has had a Wherigo player. I have never seen any traffic on any of the official grоundspeak-supported Wherigo mailing lists, and of course lackeys never communicate here in the forums.

 

The closest we have to an official grоundspeak update is Ranger Fox's report from his trip to GS headquarters last August,

here. Ranger Fox seemed pretty upbeat about Wherigo's future, although the facts of the matter as he relayed them are that there was at the time no active development for Wherigo and no commitment to start it. There was talk of discussions of plans to maybe restart Wherigo development at some unspecified point in the future, so who knows, maybe something is happening by now.

 

That said, there is a lot of activity in the Wherigo community. There are two non-GS builders available and one non-GS-branded player. The forums here are active and you will get an expert response to pretty much any technical question you have.

 

In my opinion, Wherigo will continue as a niche product for the foreseeable future. Earwigo and Urwigo will continue to get better, and people who enjoy writing Wherigo cartridges will continue to write them. But without Groundspeak making at least as strong a commitment to Wherigo, there won't be a player available on new handheld GPSrs, there won't be an app available in the iPhone or Android stores, there won't be improvements made to the Wherigo API, and there won't be awareness in the community at large about what Wherigo is all about and how to play it.

 

Maybe GS is aware of this and have lackeys working away in their underground bunker developing improvements to Wherigo that will knock our socks off. Maybe they're secretly working with Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance, etc to make the player widely available on GPSr systems at pricepoints all the way up and down the scale. Maybe they've clarified the status of LUA with regard to Apple's licensing terms and we'll see Wherigo in the app store any day now. Maybe.

[+sTeamTraen]

There are severe bugs in the Garmin players (inability to use non-English characters, no support for Tasks) that have remained unaddressed for years.

Not quite:

- Tasks work fine on the Garmin players; you just can't click on them, but that's no big deal, there are reasonable workarounds

- The Garmin players can display accented characters like éçàèùßñ - but not UTF-8 (you're limited to ISO Latin-1), and you can't get them with the Groundspeak builder.

[+Tilhet]

there were even proposals on the forum to do a mechanism for this - "coder seeking script writer", "script writer seeking coder"

 

As a potential (group of) script writer(s), I'm looking for a coder... Haven't found any signs of a mechanism of the mentioned kind during my search... Simply put: Is there anyone interested in coding a couple of relatively simple Wherigo caches to be published just before the Mega-Event in Finland in 2011? I'm pretty sure that the same storylines would be of some use in some other locations, as well.

[Ranger Fox]

I'm willing to help out with some of the cartridges, Tilhet, if you have trouble finding people. I'd rather others gain some cartridge creation experience, but will help if you need. I'm sure there are others. The best place to ask, though, is in the Building Wherigo Cartridges area.

 

As for finding the topic that introduced the idea of pairing coders with designers, I'll have to do a little digging. I think there was a site that someone tried to start for that (I'm typing this on my netbook, so I don't have access to my email on my laptop, but if I find the link later, I'll post it).

[+MickEMT]

Tilhet,

I'm also willing to help out with some of the cartridges.

[+avgraphics]

Ranger Fox & MickEMT -

 

Its great that you're willing to assist others with coding their Wherigo adventures! You guys are exactly what I've been looking for. Would one or both of you be so kind as to lend me a hand also?, to help me bring my concept to life??

 

Since I'm on a Mac, I've been using sTeamTraen's "Earwigo" web-based tool to define zones, upload media files, etc. - but I'm getting stuck on some fairly basic things.. which I could really use some help with.

 

Additionally, I think the aforementioned "script writer seeking coder" idea is great - especially if there are experienced people out there who are willing to assist newbies like myself.

 

Happy New Year everyone!

Cheers -

avgraphics

[+sTeamTraen]

Since I'm on a Mac, I've been using sTeamTraen's "Earwigo" web-based tool to define zones, upload media files, etc. - but I'm getting stuck on some fairly basic things.. which I could really use some help with.

Earwigo support is mostly done via the Google group for which you should have received an invitation. There are several helpful people in there. There's a fairly good tutorial in the Earwigo Wiki as well.

[+avgraphics]

Thanks sTeamTraen. Yes.. I did get the invitation - but it wouldn't work. Something about it being expired. So I just requested access again.. hopefully I'll get in soon. I've stepped through the tutorials for Groundspeak's builder and WWB's "Tiny Adventure". I was so bummed when it suddenly ends - just as it's getting good.

 

[Ranger Fox]

When helping people create cartridges, avgraphics, I usually ask for a script. It's a document telling the flow of the cartridge, location of all zones and objects, and everything that should be displayed to the player. Once I have that to work from, I can usually get something done pretty quickly. Whenever you need help and know what you want to create, feel free to contact me.

 

Even if you're on a Mac, you should be able to get the Builder working in Parallels, right?

[+avgraphics]

When helping people create cartridges, avgraphics, I usually ask for a script. It's a document telling the flow of the cartridge, location of all zones and objects, and everything that should be displayed to the player. Once I have that to work from, I can usually get something done pretty quickly. Whenever you need help and know what you want to create, feel free to contact me.

 

Even if you're on a Mac, you should be able to get the Builder working in Parallels, right?

 

Thank you Ranger Fox. I'm happy to report that I completed my cartridge, uploaded it to Wherigo.com & GC.com, and have already had an FTF. The script for my concept was very simple.. the tour leads the player from place to place - challenging them to locate a bit of info from each place & enter it into the GPS to continue on. Nothing too fancy.. but it was what I wanted in the first place. Check it out:

 

"East Jersey Olde Towne (a Wherigo™ cache)": http://coord.info/GC1NJAV

 

I learned a lot creating this cache & cartridge. I'm looking forward to creating more - now that I (sorta) know what I'm doing.

 

Thanks for the offer to help.. don't be surprised if you hear from me one on these days.

 

[+sTeamTraen]

Thank you Ranger Fox. I'm happy to report that I completed my cartridge, uploaded it to Wherigo.com & GC.com, and have already had an FTF.

It would be cool if you could mention the name of the builder software which you used, on the cartridge or cache page. I use a Google search ("site:geocaching.com earwigo" or "site:Wherigo.com earwigo") to keep track of how many caches/carts people have made with Earwigo. (It's a lot fewer than Urwigo, I'm betting.)

[+avgraphics]

Thank you Ranger Fox. I'm happy to report that I completed my cartridge, uploaded it to Wherigo.com & GC.com, and have already had an FTF.

It would be cool if you could mention the name of the builder software which you used, on the cartridge or cache page. I use a Google search ("site:geocaching.com earwigo" or "site:Wherigo.com earwigo") to keep track of how many caches/carts people have made with Earwigo. (It's a lot fewer than Urwigo, I'm betting.)

 

The listings on Wherigo.com & Geocaching.com have both been updated.

 

Thanks again!

 

[+sTeamTraen]

I use Windows, so I sometimes forget about the benefit to Mac/Linux users.

[+j-annie]

No updates since May 2008, over a year and a half ago? For a buggy player and builder considered in beta development? It's a neat idea but I wonder if its worth much trouble if its dead, development wise.

GOOD NEWS from Bryan ( Groundspeak) on the FADs Event in Sweden 2011 nov 5th.

We had a information meeting and could put questions to him and his colleague Jeremy

I put the question about the future of Wherigo and an update of the official builder and he informed us that they just the other day had a board meeting and made an action plan with 50 items and sayed that a new Wherigo editor are due in 2012 (he said that I should contact him if they did´nt!)The new Wherigo editor was on place somewhere 10-20 on the list and their plan was to create an editor with reduced functions as the problems with the one from 2008 was that they aimed to high and made it with too many functions that did not work and made many people frustrated using it.

I guess that this really good news for us that has struggled with the beta version!!

j-annie

Kungsbacka

Sweden

[+courdi95]

No updates since May 2008, over a year and a half ago? For a buggy player and builder considered in beta development? It's a neat idea but I wonder if its worth much trouble if its dead, development wise.

GOOD NEWS from Bryan ( Groundspeak) on the FADs Event in Sweden 2011 nov 5th.

We had a information meeting and could put questions to him and his colleague Jeremy

I put the question about the future of Wherigo and an update of the official builder and he informed us that they just the other day had a board meeting and made an action plan with 50 items and sayed that a new Wherigo editor are due in 2012 (he said that I should contact him if they did´nt!)The new Wherigo editor was on place somewhere 10-20 on the list and their plan was to create an editor with reduced functions as the problems with the one from 2008 was that they aimed to high and made it with too many functions that did not work and made many people frustrated using it.

I guess that this really good news for us that has struggled with the beta version!!

j-annie

Kungsbacka

Sweden

 

That is very good news .... but indicating only 2012 is quite disappointing, I would have prefered a clear date !

 

Nevertheless, is it possible to get more precised information ? and from who ?

 

- will the new Wherigo use a script engine ?

- if yes, LUA or PYTHON ?

- if I understand, the functions will limited : down to which level ?

[+CedarPointFreak]

Well, I have an iPhone, and the Wherigo player for it works just great for the one cache I tried out near home at: "Bell Buckle is Wherigo for GeoWoodstock VII" GC1RGTZ.

 

This has inspired me to create a few of my own, as there are only 8 in TN. I have signed up for the urwigo website, and I'm sure I'll have more than a few questions, but I've done some computer programming, so this shouldn't be too hard, just a matter of learning the interface, and how the functions work.

Edited January 6, 2012 by CedarPointFreak

[+Jaz666]

Not sure if this has been discussed here recently, but Jeremy gave a talk at the recent Annual UK Mega Event, and he said Wherigo is back on his radar with something coming before the end of the year.

I think he said Groundspeak want to make the whole process of creating and playing much more staightforward, with a greater emphasis on playing on Smartphones, as they've realised Wherigo has lost ground to other smartphone GPS games (or words to those affect).

[+Carsti29]

As far as I'm concerned: I simply do love Wherigo. Not the version where you put some multi-cache Q&A that you normally would answer on a sheet of paper, calculate offline and be done with it, into a cartridge and call it a Wherigo. What I love are those that tell a story, and adventure, dragons maybe, or evily witches. Those that have actual task in it, like colleting water from a nearby fountain without getting you hands wet. Those that reminds me of the times, when we all played "Kings Quest" and "Galaxy Quest" and "Larry Laffer." Look right, get item, use item. Woohoo!

 

Keep it alive, make it better, investigate into usability. And everyone will be plaing it.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

//Carsti