Seedling, a game company known for playtime innovation, has created something new and fun. They call it Maze. At a glance, it looks like one of those old-timey tilt mazes, but it’s like no gaming experience before it.
(Source: vrscout.com)
For the record, games have always been awesome. It’s just, in the last couple of decades, games have suffered growing pains. There were board games then there were video games, ne’er the two did meet.
When gaming took center stage in the 1980’s, older folks were sure this meant armageddon. We were facing the end of time. As bad as TV was for us, video gaming lowered the bar even further.
By the 90’s we were in full gaming mode with immersive games like Tomb Raider. Board games went the way of the baby boomer. It seemed the gap would never close between digital and analog.
Flash forward to today, wearables technology is closing the gap. The people at Seedling get it.
Maze stimulates kid’s minds like nothing else out there, bringing families together at the same time.
The roots of this platform reach into the fundamentals of game playing, a simple maze, bolting on the most advanced in modern gaming, virtual reality. Seedling lashes the two together with children’s creative minds, making beautiful gaming poetry.
Gaming Evolution
(Source: 1000awesomethings.com)
Games have always been about bringing folks together, usually families. Even the evil platform of video games, as gamers have aged enough to have children of their own, brings together families.
The limitation of video games, lost from their board ancestors, is how board games allowed more social interaction than many screen-based games.
Families or friends used to lose hours huddled over board games, competing, laughing and sharing time. It allowed space for stories, ribbing, and memory making.
What neither were able to offer, was creativity. Not like Maze.
Maze
(Source: linkedin.com)
The platform reveals itself in the name: Maze.
The centerpiece of this game is a maze that kids can customize. They not only design a maze, but they can customize it. We’ll come back to that.
They take a picture of their maze with a smartphone, using Maze’s companion app. That loads the maze into their phone.
Then they put together and decorate their own Google Cardboard VR headset.
The companion app, utilizing what it knows about the maze, coupling that data with the VR output of cardboard, allows the wearer to navigate the maze virtually.
Mazes are shareable with anyone who has access, so the family can play along.
Customizations
(Source: seedling.com)
This is where Maze breaks away from gaming history. Few games allowed for creativity. The playing pieces were the same every time.
There were the rules, then there were the rules. You played the game by said rules, consulting the official list whenever questions would come up. Not so with Maze.
Kids customize the headset, and they customize the maze. Because the maze goes from the real world to the digital, they can bake in fun aspects you don’t see in the physical maze, like selfies or obstacles.
The game customizations aren’t visible until one straps on the VR headset. Some kits include headphones that are also customizable.
(Source: seedling.com)
Kits from Maze come in several different package options, where you can buy just the individual parts or packages of different parts, headsets, headphones, and decorations.
Presumably, the folks at Seedling would like you to start with the actual maze, adding pieces and parts to your collection over time.
We imagine that if their product is as successful as we think it will be, your can expect those packages to grow in diversity. Expect your kids to grow commensurately
You should see Maze in action… Check out Seedling’s promotional video: