Laser tag is something that we might have played before in the past. The premise of laser tag is simple: aim for the enemy, pull the trigger, score some points. However a Kickstarter project b y the name of Skirmos is hoping to take a relatively simple game like laser tag to the next level by making it an open source project.
At the moment what makes Skirmos different from your average laser tag game is the fact that the guns come with LCDs mounted on them. The LCDs will be updated in real time and will show information such as health, kill count, time left, shield, ammunition, and so on. Like we said it will update in real-time.
According to Skirmos’ co-founder and software designer, Richard Rice, “If somebody gets killed, somebody takes the flag or the score changes, it will update live on screen, meaning that the radio keeps all the scoring and game events automatically updated, just as they are when playing a game on the internet.”
So by taking Skirmos open source, they are hoping that developers and game designers will be able to come up with some truly unique scenarios that would take laser tag to the next level. Skirmos will be Arduino-based and developers will be able to alter the software, such as to change mission objectives, enabling/disabling certain weapons and so on.
For the less tech savvy, this means that you will be able to download certain presets depending on what kind of laser tag match you want to have, like a free for all game, team deathmatch, and etc. The guns themselves are transparent and are outfitted with LEDs. Not the best idea if you want remain stealthy, but a great way to identify different weapon types or to assign team colors so you don’t get confused.
The gun will also have its own sound card that allows users to upload their own sound files like .WAV or .MP3. This will allow the user to choose what kind of sound they want their gun to sound like. “This allows you to give the gunfire different sounds, so your gun could sound like its from Star Wars or it could sound like an AK47. The sound card also adds to the game experience in that it allows gameplay announcements, for example an alert when your team’s flag has been taken,” according to Ibrahim Pasha, Skirmos’ co-founder and hardware designer.
All in all Skirmos sounds like a really fun way to play laser tag and definitely sounds like it could be taking things to the next level. If you’d like to learn more or pledge your donation (the project has since exceeded its original goal of $60,000), hit up its Kickstarter page for the details.
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