Ever been 100 hours into a game, only to find yourself helplessly lost in the open world, with a million distracting map markers to navigate? A new iPhone app may make finding your way through giant game worlds much easier — and comes from a team with a great App Store heritage.
Co-founders of Chillingo, who brought games such as Angry Birds and Cut the Rope to the App Store in its early heyday, have been working on a new app called Splace.
There are plenty of games where exploring the vast landscapes can take a whole weekend, and for many of us, that's just too much time from our busy lives. So Splace lets users place screenshots and hints on maps from these games, so you can easily find weapons and power-ups.
Splace is currently available on the web and as an iPhone app. According to PreSeed Now, creators Chris Byatte and Joe Wee want to make a better method of connecting players through a bunch of games - from Fortnite to Forza Horizon 5.
It's akin to a modern version of the strategy guide that we would see in bookstores in the 90s and early 00s, but here, it's a second screen that you can access on your iPhone and Mac while playing the game on another device.
The next destination?
Watch the Turn by Turn run through of FH5 Urban Cross Country Circuit on Splace’s Forza Horizon 5 Game Map https://t.co/FJnqIHWIJC #Forza #ForzaHorizon #CrossCountry @Xbox @ForzaHorizon #FH5Rally #Splace pic.twitter.com/P6STU4Cjl2March 10, 2023
Creating an account and choosing your game is a simple affair - you sign up using your email and date of birth, followed by choosing at least 1 game you want to follow for help.
The app's design is straightforward, with a sidebar to follow your chosen games and a plus icon at the bottom of the app to add your own guide to help other gamers. However, there are so many swiping transitions that it could be dizzying after a while. The design is excellent, but perhaps don't check Splace on a road trip.
I went to the Fortnite section for weapon pickups and also found hints on where to land while my Battle Royale match was loading.
You can scroll through a feed of images and videos other users have posted to see how to find specific points of interest, and in Fortnite, where rare weapons may be.
The app may have just been released, but there is a lot of potential here already. With No Man's Sky in development for Mac and the seemingly endless train of content that is Genshin Impact, it could be a valuable companion to have as you game on any Apple device.
It's not without fault in this initial release, however. Going straight to the map in some games would also be nice. Currently, you're brought to a feed of content, but it would be helpful to have the map appear from the start, and then you could tap on certain areas to find the content you need.
With dedicated Mac and iPad versions on the way, and hints of a game publisher looking at integrating Splace into some of its games, according to PreSeed Now, there could be a bright future for the app and gamers alike.
Instead of looking at YouTube videos for guidance or wasting a lunch hour to try and complete some Fortnite tasks, you could open Splace and be shown how to complete challenges quickly. There's promise here, but in the sea of gaming content and live streams, Splace already has a high mountain to climb to be relevant in the gaming landscape.
