The Hackable Wand
Some fun news in this update that was just announced by Wired – http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/05/incantor-wand-duels/...
You're probably realizing by now that Incantor is a passion project for us. What you may not know is that it is serving at least three different passions. Our gaming geek, our inner story telling geek and our gadget geek are all being fed by Incantor.
Today's update concerns the latter. It's get-your-gadget-on time!
The Incantor Wand will be a hackable device.
What do I mean by that? Just like the Kinect, you'll be able to use your Incantor wand to do all kinds of fun and freaky stuff we never imagined.
Like everything else in Incantor, we wanted to go one step further than the obvious. Bear with me because this takes a bit of explaining, but it'll be worth the wait, I promise.
A good place to start is a simple question:
Q: Wouldn't it be awesome if your wand could control real world stuff?
A: HECK YEAH!
So that's what we've made possible.
Every time a spell is cast correctly, it generates an OSC (Open Sound Controller) command. What the heck is that? Well, it's the 21st century equivalent of MIDI. If you don't know MIDI, it was born in the early 80's and is a way of controlling one musical instrument from another. Pressing a key on one musical instrument generates a note that controls another connected instrument.
And that's what OSC does. You generate an OSC command and then use it to control something else. OSC was created to serve the needs of Video DJ's who wanted to control sound, multi-media, synthesizers and lighting rigs for live performances all from one place.
So casting spells will generate OSC commands and those commands can be used to control ANYTHING that can be controlled by OSC.
What might that include???
- Multi-media devices of all kinds, including music & video playback
- Any MIDI compatible musical instrument
- Your laptop/desktop, including triggering scripts e.g. http://www.osculator.net/
- Your Roomba (see https://github.com/whoisjake/roboJake)
- Theatrical lighting and stage effects, from strobe lights to fog machines (http://www.lightjams.com/)
- Any device that can be used with a home automation system – TV, stereo, furnace, thermostat, lights, hot tub, door locks...
- And your Mom (if she's OSC compatible)
You can see a complete list of OSC compatible stuff here: For a list, look here: http://opensoundcontrol.org/implementations.
One of my personal favorites is Osculator http://www.osculator.net/ because you can make it do all kinds of crazy things and it's free to try out (and cheap to buy).
So we see two primary use cases for this
1. At Home
When you're not playing the game, you might choose to set up a lightning bolt to switch your TV on or off. Maybe a Fireball dims your living room lights and a Ward fires up iTunes.
Not to go too deep on the technology, but several folks are working on an OSC to Zigbee bridge i.e. control any Zigbee device from OSC. That includes all kinds of home automatic, even door locks!
2. At Home in-Game, or at a Special Venue
A bolt could trigger a strobe light. A spell summoning fog will fire up the smoke machine. And the wall of fire triggers this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rCnpZ6lB-E (my personal favorite).
There is new stuff happening all the time with OSC, so the sky is the limit as to what we'll be able to do. Once the game is live, we will also make APIs available so that the hard core programmers among you can code custom apps and interfaces. We will make it free for non-commercial fun hackery (and probably offer licenses for commercial uses).
So your Wand will be a universal remote that can be hacked to control all kinds of devices. Does that work for you?
P.s. We've had a lot of requests for a less expensive backer option that gets a non-custom wand, so we've added an option for a standard production wand at $65. It won't have the custom look or the extra in-game features of the $100 wand, but it's still a magic wand!
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Funding Unsuccessful This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on June 8, 2012.
Funding period
May 11, 2012 -
Jun 8, 2012
(28 days)
- First created · 9 backed
- Has not connected Facebook
- Website: MoveableCode.com
Pledge $10 or more
23 backers
Incantor Primus: Be recognized as an early supporter of Incantor for all time inside the game! Increase your odds of getting the player name you really want with early access to our site. You'll be able to build your profile before it launches to the public. You'll also receive a digital badge and title showing your status as a Primus Incantor.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $25 or more
32 backers
Incantor Primus: Get all the privileges from the previous level of support and get to skip to the front of the line and have first access to order your very own Incantor wand!
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $50 or more
11 backers
Incantor Primus: This includes everything in the earlier tiers of support plus early access to our digital comics and the Lore that is the basis for Incantor. Early access to Lore may significantly improve your success in the game!
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $65 or more
5 backers Limited (195 of 200 left)
Incantor Primus: Just the wand. Includes everything in the earlier tiers of support plus you will recieve one of the very first production wands. Please note: this is not a limited edition wand like the $100, but still, it's a magic wand people!
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $100 or more
52 backers Limited (448 of 500 left)
Incantor Nobilis: Get ready to play. You get all of the Incantor Primus benefits, and you will receive a customized production Incantor wand exclusive to early supporters. We'll be shipping these at the end of 2012, before any other wands go on sale! Please see our shipping details before pledging (in the FAQ).
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $250 or more
9 backers Limited (91 of 100 left)
Incantor Nobilis for 2! Playing Incantor with friends is a great way to experience the game. Receive two of the limited edition Incantor wands scheduled to ship at the end of 2012. Both will be armed with a special spell that is exclusive to wands that were ordered as a pair. You'll both also receive the benefits of Incantor Primus supporters. Please see our shipping details before pledging (in the FAQ).
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $500 or more
2 backers Limited (48 of 50 left)
Incantor Regium: Participate in the early development of Incantor! In October we'll send you a beta Incantor wand, you'll also get early access to the Incantor community and be able to participate in forums to provide feedback with the Incantor team. Receive all of the benefits of Incantor Nobilis supporter, so you'll get the production Incantor wand at no additional cost when it becomes available. Please see our shipping details before pledging (in the FAQ).
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $1,000 or more
0 backers Limited (30 of 30 left)
Incantor Potens: Own a piece of the Incantor Lore with a limited edition, signed, museum quality Giclée art print. You'll additionally get free wand repair for life should your Incantor wand ever become damaged (please see the details in the FAQ before pledging). You'll also receive all the benefits of being a Incantor Regium supporter.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $2,500 or more
0 backers Limited (30 of 30 left)
Incantor Regulus: Join the world's first official Incantor battle and be a part of the development of Incantor. We'll be hosting a weekend in September in Providence RI, where we'll be holding our first real world trials of Incantor on the battlefield! Not only will you be amongst the first invitees to the Incantor community, you'll also pick up a pre-production Incantor wand in person! Give feedback to the production team and have a blast trying it first. You'll also get all the benefits that Incantor Potens supporters receive, which means you'll get a production wand too! Note that travel is not included with this benefit.
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012Pledge $3,500 or more
0 backers Limited (20 of 20 left)
Incantor Rex: Become an ultimate supporter of Incantor. Not only do you get all the benefits of being a Incantor Potens supporter, you'll also get some very exclusive privileges to go with it both in game and in real life. Any wand technological, functional or aesthetic revisions we make will be sent to you for life, so you'll always have the latest and greatest Incantor wand. Please see our FAQ for details.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $4,500 or more
0 backers Limited (10 of 10 left)
Incantor Regium for 10 people! If you have a group or guild this is for you! In October 2012 we'll ship a set of ten beta wands, that represent the ten classes of Incantors, for you and your team to play with. Participate in the community of other early testers and provide feedback and shape the experience! Every member also gets all of the Incantor Regium benefits, which includes a production Incantor wand. Please see our FAQ for details.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers Limited (10 of 10 left)
Incantor Conditor: Play a very important role in the development of Incantor by working with the design team to create a unique spell for the game. For all your hard work and creativity, the spell is yours to name. This also includes all of the benefits of the Incantor Rex status. All of the spells attributes and name are subject to the final approval of the Incantor team, but dream big!
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $7,500 or more
0 backers Limited (5 of 5 left)
Incantor Magister: Receive all of the same benefits as an Incantor Conditor supporter, but the spell you create will only be yours to use as it's bound exclusively to your Incantor wand. This is a chance to not only design part of the Incantor experience, but have something that separates your Incantor wand from all others.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $10,000 or more
0 backers Limited (2 of 2 left)
Incantor Imperialis: Create something that's one of a kind! Work with the design team at Incantor to modify our existing wand sculpt into something that's unique and custom for you and you alone. This also includes all of the benefits of the Incantor Rex status. All designs are subject to the approval of the Incantor team and must be based on existing designs. If you have questions, let us know!
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
Comments
Creator MoveableCode on May 24, 2012
> You have no idea how usefull that can be at a Larp-Con!
Oh yes we do ;-)
I put a link to the update on the home page. Thanks for your support!
Creator Markus Kostarczyk on May 24, 2012
This is awesome.
You have no idea how usefull that can be at a Larp-Con! I am usually on some really big Con's, thousands of people....controlling the stage with a wand just would add alot to the atmosphere! And of course, controlling stuff at your home with them is REALLY awesome.
You gotta advertise this part way more!