The Winning App


The winning location-based app is...City Warfare!

City Warfare was developed by Thomas Fletcher during the week-long Location Wild 2010 competition. He's only 19, and graduated last week from Bath University, in the UK!

It is a text-based game played in real-world locations against other players, where the aim is to cause mayhem using virtual waterbombs and waterpistols; it works on the back of Foursquare, a location-based social network.

At any location it is possible to set up timed waterballoons to soak as many people as possible - such as your friends, or the people visiting your regular venues - and earn credits from it to "buy" even better water-ammunition!


How does City Warfare work?

  1. Check in to your local pub, coffee-shop, or train station using Foursquare (as normal).

  2. Open City Warfare in your phone's browser (citywarfare.com).

  3. Set up waterballoons, or shoot passers-by with your waterpistol etc.

Note:  While you are away, those balloons remain where you placed them and will burst when the timer runs out, detonating remotely.

The aim is to get as many people wet as possible. You earn credits which can be used to buy better waterbombs, waterproof armour and a whole arsenal of water-based weaponry to wage war around your city.

The strategy of the game is in getting the waterballoons to burst when you think there will be a lot of people checked-in to that location on Foursquare, and avoiding places where you think people are likely to have set up waterballoons -- so stay dry by making use of your surveillance cameras!

The number of players and civilians you soak will be posted to your feed which is accessible from the main menu. You earn $100 for each player you soak, and $10 for each civilian (in virtual dollars).



About our Location Wild 2010 winner:  Thomas Fletcher

Tom recently graduated with a Mathematics and Computer Science degree, with "first class honours" from the University of Bath.

Lucky for us, Tom learned about the competition the day after finishing the last of his exams, and said to himself: "I've got a week to spare now that my exams are over, why not spend it developing [a new location-based app]?"

So what is next for Tom? As for City Warfare, he's told us to expect graphics, and more special features added to this fun app, as he continues further development work on it.

But designing apps isn't just a hobby for Tom, it's an obsession. With the prize money, he's going to use it as "seed money" as he continues on the career path of designing apps (as a freelancer now that he has graduated) which get people around the world connected, and in the case of City Warfare, virtually wet...and definitely location wild!