Most iPhone games don’t require a lot of cool new technology. They just need to be fun. But Fusion Creative Studios has come up with a unique technology stunt that gamers may find amusing: real-time weather. The idea is to make the environment of the game world change to reflect the weather in the real world.
With its Foxie Hunny 2 game released this week, Fusion Studios offers what it claims no other game can do. It incorporates real weather conditions in your local area into the game itself. It also includes transitions between night and day so that you can see sunrises and sunsets.
Before you ask why gamers would possibly want something as nutty as this, hear us out. Pablo Arenas, chief executive of the Branford, Conn.-based company, has created a patented technology dubbed Atmo5 which he will license to other game developers. The technology takes the location of the smartphone and determine the weather. It will then incorporate that weather into the game, giving the gamer variety. Every time the gamer comes back, the environment will be different; gamers may come back more often as a result, just out of curiosity.
“We take location and pull in real-time feeds,” Arenas said. “And that creates real-time animations.”
Arenas had a hunch that games would need real-time weather a couple of years ago. He’s been making games since 2007. The original Foxie Hunny Arctic Adventure was a mobile game inspired by drawings that Arenas, an artist, made for his daughter. The game was downloaded 700,000 times.
The sequel continues Foxie Hunny’s adventures. The company is also working on an Android version and plans to bring the full adventure to Facebook as well. I have no idea if this game will do well. I figure it won’t do so well where the weather is boring, like in a desert or a snow-bound country.
But the idea is goofy and unique enough to stand out among the 44,000 games on the iPhone. Some game companies such as Electronic Arts, which makes time-driven titles such as The Sims 3, might want the real-time weather to make its simulations more realistic.
The company’s staff varies from four to 10 employees. Fusion Creative has done dozens of apps since its founding. Rivals include makers of other mobile games such as SGN, Rovio or Digital Chocolate. Fusion Creative has raised $750,000 in its history from angel investors.
Apple approved the 99 cent game in just four days and it is out just in time for Christmas. Check out the video of the game’s first level below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffTn5iso6a4&w=480&h=385]