I suspected I might be on to something special when I first saw Treasure World, in the form of a video Aspyr put out showing a couple guys bringing the game on a drive as it picked Wi-Fi signals out of the air and gave them in-game treasure in return.
It was like something out of the forum threads fueled by our fevered imaginations from five years ago, when we were trying to figure out what sorts of games we could expect to get from Nintendo's brand-new DS. And Treasure World delivers in a way that few people expected: a game that you don't play on your DS so much as you use your DS as a tool to play in the real world.
What makes Treasure World's exploration gameplay work so well is that it uses the unique identifier that every Wi-Fi signal in the world has, giving the same treasure to every comer and remembering every signal it's seen so that you can't use that same signal again. As a result, you can't just sit in your basement and grind—you need to go out into the real world, exploring new routes and new areas to get new treasure. It's also repeatable, meaning anyone with the game will get the same treasure from the same signal.
It's a lot of fun, too. I've done a lot of treasure-hunting twice now; once with the preview build I was sent back in June, and now again with my final retail copy. Both times, I've been taking Treasure World with me everywhere, moving through as many routes as I can find to maximize my treasure haul. There's a seemingly endless supply of treasure to be found, too; this second time around, I'm not quite ¼ of the way through, and I've been at it pretty much non-stop for nearly two weeks, treasure-hunting every time I've been on the move.
What you do with the treasure you earn is where, admittedly, some people will lose interest. Aspyr has built in a handful of creative display opportunities for your treasure. A significant amount of the treasure lets you customize the little robot who goes treasure hunting for you. You get a little glade that you can put a wide variety of displayable treasures into and arrange them as you see fit, which also displays on your Club Treasure World "My World" page (more on that later) if you've signed up. Each treasure has an intrinsic sound as well, and its position in the glade makes for a simple music tracker; several slots are available here that you can use to create more complicated songs, if you wish. There's also bonus treasures to be awarded for collecting various sets and such, as well as an in-game store from which you can buy some of the more elusive trinkets. All this is amusing to mess around with to me, though I realize that it's not going to be for everyone.
But I personally think that by going the collectibles route instead of trying to attach some other game, Treasure World becomes a better package than it would otherwise. The exploration-based real-world gameplay that the Wi-Fi hunting mechanic creates, I feel, is an ideal match for the simple act of collecting items. Had there been another game entirely layered on top, requiring me to go hunting all over town to unlock levels or gain experience, I expect I'd likely be more annoyed than engaged, having to go out and try to seek out more currency in order to progress. With collectibles, hunting is purely reward.
There's an online component involved in all of this, including the Club Treasure World website, which lets you show off your treasure arrangement and musical works as well as find friends with which to trade treasure and communicate—even searching by your locality so that you can share some of your most rewarding treasure spots. Even after finding friends, though, the trading and chatting seems a bit cumbersome right now. I think that if I were to play Treasure World with other people, it might work better with friends I already had... though the good news is that the website is certainly improvable, and Aspyr is soliciting ideas from their fledgling community on this front.
Treasure World is a pretty great idea and well-realized, something that I never imagined I'd be playing for real someday. If the idea of playing a game that rewards you for exploring your own real, living, breathing world instead of a simulation made of polygons and A.I. entices you, give Treasure World a chance. I think you'll be glad you did.
It was like something out of the forum threads fueled by our fevered imaginations from five years ago, when we were trying to figure out what sorts of games we could expect to get from Nintendo's brand-new DS. And Treasure World delivers in a way that few people expected: a game that you don't play on your DS so much as you use your DS as a tool to play in the real world.
It's a lot of fun, too. I've done a lot of treasure-hunting twice now; once with the preview build I was sent back in June, and now again with my final retail copy. Both times, I've been taking Treasure World with me everywhere, moving through as many routes as I can find to maximize my treasure haul. There's a seemingly endless supply of treasure to be found, too; this second time around, I'm not quite ¼ of the way through, and I've been at it pretty much non-stop for nearly two weeks, treasure-hunting every time I've been on the move.
What you do with the treasure you earn is where, admittedly, some people will lose interest. Aspyr has built in a handful of creative display opportunities for your treasure. A significant amount of the treasure lets you customize the little robot who goes treasure hunting for you. You get a little glade that you can put a wide variety of displayable treasures into and arrange them as you see fit, which also displays on your Club Treasure World "My World" page (more on that later) if you've signed up. Each treasure has an intrinsic sound as well, and its position in the glade makes for a simple music tracker; several slots are available here that you can use to create more complicated songs, if you wish. There's also bonus treasures to be awarded for collecting various sets and such, as well as an in-game store from which you can buy some of the more elusive trinkets. All this is amusing to mess around with to me, though I realize that it's not going to be for everyone.
There's an online component involved in all of this, including the Club Treasure World website, which lets you show off your treasure arrangement and musical works as well as find friends with which to trade treasure and communicate—even searching by your locality so that you can share some of your most rewarding treasure spots. Even after finding friends, though, the trading and chatting seems a bit cumbersome right now. I think that if I were to play Treasure World with other people, it might work better with friends I already had... though the good news is that the website is certainly improvable, and Aspyr is soliciting ideas from their fledgling community on this front.
Treasure World is a pretty great idea and well-realized, something that I never imagined I'd be playing for real someday. If the idea of playing a game that rewards you for exploring your own real, living, breathing world instead of a simulation made of polygons and A.I. entices you, give Treasure World a chance. I think you'll be glad you did.