Gbanga Famiglia
Encyclopedia
Gbanga Famiglia is a mixed reality
, mobile phone
game published on the Gbanga
platform. Players take on the roles of Mafioso and can join an existing Mafia Famiglia or start their own. Players must first locate establishments whilst walking around the city before they can be taken-over. Establishments are virtual however they are linked to real-world bars and nightclubs. A successful take-over depends on the Famiglia's power, determined by the number of members and the cash total for special items collected. The most successful Famiglia are listed on the top-ten leaderboard of the Gbanga
website.
, may have a virtual counterpart in the game, which players can take-over by visiting the location.
App Store, in the form of a series of power-up
s that boost player abilities for taking-over rival locations around the world. Purchasable items include the Bouncer, Police Megaphone, Respec’ Da Bass and World Domination Satellite. The added value of these items is that the player doesn't have to walk to each Cell location before challenging it.
The Police Megaphone increases the players chances of taking-over a Cell to 100%, which is comparable to a booster or a weapon upgrade in traditional videogames. With Respec’ Da Bass players can challenge ten Cell at a time without having to physically go to each location, which is comparable to FarmVille
's Auto Harvesters that save you time and the effort of clicking. For heavy users Gbanga offers the highly priced World Domination Satellite, which allows the player to take over 450 random Cells around the world. Another interesting purchasable item is the Bouncer which players can place in any Cell reducing the chances of losing it to 1%.
Mixed reality
Mixed reality refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time...
, mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
game published on the Gbanga
Gbanga
Gbanga is a mixed reality, social gaming platform for mobile phones developed by Zurich-based startup, Millform AG. The platform runs on real-time locative media, developed in-house, which means that the gaming environment changes relative to the players real-world location...
platform. Players take on the roles of Mafioso and can join an existing Mafia Famiglia or start their own. Players must first locate establishments whilst walking around the city before they can be taken-over. Establishments are virtual however they are linked to real-world bars and nightclubs. A successful take-over depends on the Famiglia's power, determined by the number of members and the cash total for special items collected. The most successful Famiglia are listed on the top-ten leaderboard of the Gbanga
Gbanga
Gbanga is a mixed reality, social gaming platform for mobile phones developed by Zurich-based startup, Millform AG. The platform runs on real-time locative media, developed in-house, which means that the gaming environment changes relative to the players real-world location...
website.
Famiglia
Players can either start their own Famiglia or join an existing Mafia Famiglia, which may consist of one or several other players. A Famiglia Boss is automatically created for the player on starting the game. However players can also break with their Boss and join a new Famiglia by inviting a new Boss to their friends list. The six featured Famiglia Bosses in the story include: Don Viktor, Crispy Carl, Valentino, Alka-Pony, Nutcracker and Eleonore. Players can also visit the Famiglia leaderboard for a listing of the top-ten Famiglia. Famiglia power is increased by adding new members and collecting special items.Establishments
Virtual establishments are linked to real-world establishments such as bars and nightclubs. For instance, a bar located along Bahnhofstrasse, ZürichBahnhofstrasse, Zürich
Bahnhofstrasse is Zurich's main downtown street and one of the world's most expensive and exclusive shopping avenues. In 2010 a study has named the Bahnhofstrasse the third most expensive street for retail property in Europe, and the fifth most expensive worldwide. It came into exsistence when the...
, may have a virtual counterpart in the game, which players can take-over by visiting the location.
Characters
The characters in Gbanga are called Gbangoos. Each player is automatically given a Mafia Gbangoo (see screenshot) at the beginning of the game. Gbangoos and collected items are carried around in the players inventory, which is called the Pocket. Items in a players Pocket can be traded with other players. To take-over a Famiglia establishment, the player must drop the Mafia Gbangoo from the Pocket into the local "Cell". The Cell changes depending on the players real-world location.Special items
Collectible items are scattered randomly throughout the game. Items should be traded with the Famiglia Boss to increase its power. In March 2011, Gbanga introduced purchasable special items available through the iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
App Store, in the form of a series of power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s that boost player abilities for taking-over rival locations around the world. Purchasable items include the Bouncer, Police Megaphone, Respec’ Da Bass and World Domination Satellite. The added value of these items is that the player doesn't have to walk to each Cell location before challenging it.
The Police Megaphone increases the players chances of taking-over a Cell to 100%, which is comparable to a booster or a weapon upgrade in traditional videogames. With Respec’ Da Bass players can challenge ten Cell at a time without having to physically go to each location, which is comparable to FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
's Auto Harvesters that save you time and the effort of clicking. For heavy users Gbanga offers the highly priced World Domination Satellite, which allows the player to take over 450 random Cells around the world. Another interesting purchasable item is the Bouncer which players can place in any Cell reducing the chances of losing it to 1%.