Sponsored Feature: 1000: Find 'Em All! - GPS gaming for the masses

GPS in mobile games isn't new, but so far there hasn't been a killer GPS app - one that uses the awesome power of satellites to drag the player into the real world while also encouraging casual, conventional players to sample the delights of 21st century gaming.

1000: Find 'Em All! could be that game.

A glance at the screenshots will tell you that this isn't your usual GPS title. In fact, it looks for all the world like the offspring of Nintendo classics Zelda and Pokemon, and superficially that's how it plays. Viewing the action from the above, you have to drag a sprite around the screen exploring a lush 2D world filled with things to poke, prod, pick up, and talk to.

“You could say that the graphical style takes influence from some of the greats” says producer Gareth Mills, “and this was quite intentional. We wanted the game to look simple, fun and attractive to a wider audience.”

That it does. The object is to collect 1000 different 'presents', which you can do in three different ways, the first of which requires no internet connection whatsoever. The core game involves exploring a huge world populated by a variety of flora, fauna, and objects that may or may not yield a present if you tap on them.

Being in this world is a pleasure thanks to a range of neat graphical flourishes. Dandelion heads burst and scatter when you tap them, chickens flinch and squawk, piles of rocks shatter by degrees, flowers spring up in your footsteps, and as you venture into unexplored territory your surroundings turn from monochrome to colour, usefully letting you know where you've been and where you haven't.

Of course, the background is just the background - what really matters is the presents you spend your time looking for, and these are the game's beating heart. Spread across several categories, including Junk, People, BIG!, and Legendary, these items take the form of factoids, jokes, or simply surreal remarks.

“One of the challenges was the staggering amount of time that went into creating 1000 interesting items. Making the icons was just as time consuming as creating the interesting and funny text to go with them,” says Gareth.

It was time well spent. When opening a present can either enlighten you about a creature called the axolotl or confuse you with a bizarre rhetorical question about offal catapults in Japanese game shows, the search for these unpredictable nuggets quickly becomes addictive. You're always curious to see what you'll discover next.

Of course, 1000: Find 'Em All! is a GPS game, and there are two different ways in which you can use the connectivity features of your iPhone or iPod touch to bring variety to your experience.

Firstly, you can use GPS to identify 'gifters' - wi-fi hotspots - in the real world. These gifters appear as characters in the game that hand over presents when you tap on them. Travelling around in the real world will bring you into contact with other wi-fi hotspots, and therefore other gifters.

Secondly, using your iPhone's GPS capability 1000: Find 'Em All! can create presents for you to collect in the real world. Items appear on Google Maps, and when you walk over them the game gives you the gift to put in your collection. It's a neat use of GPS technology, letting you go for a stroll in pursuit of extra items when you feel like it rather than forcing you to play the whole game outside, at the mercy of the seasons.

Ultimately, the key to 1000: Find 'Em All!'s success is not that it's a GPS game, but that it's a game in which GPS-oriented gameplay is a possibility. “To bring this style of gaming to a wider audience,” says Gareth, “we’ve allowed players to choose how they want to play in a way that's most convenient for them.

"Because 1000 uses GPS as one of three options for item collection, players aren't restricted to the method of play and can still aim to complete the collection.”

1000: Find 'Em All! is a much more casual, undemanding experience than the GPS games that have gone before it, and this accessibility is what makes it work. It may not be the first game to use this technology, but it's the first to use it in a way that casual and hardcore gamers, technophiles and technophobes, shut-ins and rugged outdoorsmen can all play and enjoy.

In other words, this is what the future of GPS gaming looks like.