Pokemon GO is an augmented reality game that became a worldwide bestseller overnight. Let's try to figure out what it is, what it is eaten with and what is the reason for its tremendous success …
Foreword
At the moment, the game has officially been released only in a few countries, Russia is not yet included in their number. Nevertheless, almost any user can download and start playing. On Android it is done literally in two clicks, on iOS everything is a little more complicated. Finding an apk file will not be a problem, it is generally advised to download from apkmirror, if you wish, you can find the game on many other resources, for example, w3bsit3-dns.com.
Android for dummies # 21. Viruses and antiviruses. Installing programs from third-party sources
As for the official release in the Russian Federation, it will not be long before the end of the month, the game will definitely appear on Google Play and the AppStore.
Who are Pokemon
Our Pokemon are known primarily from the series of cartoons that many watched in childhood. But it actually started with two Game Boy games that Nintendo released in 1996 in Japan. In the Land of the Rising Sun, they quickly became iconic, laying the foundation for one of the most popular media franchises in history. Over the next few years, the games will be released in the USA, Australia and European countries, where they will also be very successful.
The universe of games is in many ways similar to ours, the main exception is the presence of the Pokémon themselves. The word 'Pokemon' (Pokemon) comes from the combination of the words Pocket Monster, that is, 'pocket monsters'. These funny creatures are quite intelligent, some even know how to talk. There are a huge number of different Pokémon, in total there are about 800 types of them in all cartoons, comics and games. Each species has its own strengths and weaknesses, special types of attacks and other unique characteristics.
Players and protagonists of comics and cartoons usually act as trainers. They search for, tame and train wild Pokémon, and then compete with each other, arranging fights between them in special arenas. To capture Pokémon, a Pokeball is used – a ball-shaped device that can accommodate Pokémon of any size.
First start
After logging in with your Google account, the character creation window opens. Here you can choose his name and gender, and at the same time customize the appearance. True, there is nowhere much to roam – the vast majority of options differ from each other in only one color.
Then the player is explained the rules of the game, introduced to the main objects on the world map and offered to catch one of the three starting Pokémon that appear a step away from the player.
The game has a small Easter egg that refers to an episode from the first episodes of the cartoon. When, during training, you are asked to catch one of the three Pokémon, you should wait a few minutes or just move 100-200 meters away from this place. They say that after that, a Pikachu will appear on the screen, which can be caught without any difficulty.
Game world
The game world of Pokemon GO is a reflection of our world with us, and you have to navigate through it in the most real way. That is, on foot. The map that you see on the screen is a slightly simplified analogue of Google Maps, and even game objects are located not just anywhere, but in places of real-life buildings and attractions.
The figure of the game character that you see on the phone screen is no more compliant with the navigator arrow. Persuading him to go to the next street or run around the area in search of rare Pokemon will not work, it will always be in the same place where you are. So, if you want to get to some kind of virtual object, you will have to leave the house and stomp your feet towards it.
The blue dice on the map are PokéStops. This is the name of the vaults in the game, where you can get useful in-game items like pokeballs, healing potions, pokemon eggs and others for free. By tapping the blue icon with your finger, you can see a photo of the place that corresponds to it in the real world. If we are talking about the city center, then it will certainly be some kind of local landmark. In other cases, it is just an interesting or conveniently located object, and for some reason, graffiti and playgrounds are especially popular.
Sometimes a short description is added to the photograph of an object, but at the moment this is more the exception than the rule. It's a pity, it would be even more interesting to explore an unfamiliar area.
After you get close enough to the PokéStop, the blue cube will open up, turning into a kind of target. Tap on it to go to information about the object, and then rotate the icon around its axis using a horizontal swipe. If you did everything correctly, then honestly earned items will appear on the screen, which you will need to touch with your finger before they disappear from the screen. At the early levels, some Pokeballs drop out, but then other items are added to them.
No one forces you to run around the city in pursuit of the necessary things – after five minutes, the same pokestop can be activated again. Apparently, this is a kind of compensation for players with children – while the child is playing on the playground, the parents will have time to use the PokéStop five to ten times.
The PokéStops map makes you look in a new way, even at a long-familiar area. It may well turn out that you did not even know about some of the objects, and you have not walked along half of the streets and paths for many years. And that's funny in itself.
Finding and catching Pokemon
You can meet Pokémon almost anywhere. Sometimes you come across them not only on the streets of the city, but even in your own apartment or office. Another thing is that basically these are the most banal and primitive animals – rats, pigeons, bats. But more rare specimens will have to look, such Pokemon do not live anywhere. Each species has its own favorite places of residence (some are drawn to water, others to trees, and so on), respawn points and sometimes even favorite time of day. Although sometimes, in order to stumble upon some rare species, it is enough just to slightly change the usual route from home to office, go a couple of stops on foot or look into the park located along the road.
A list of all nearby Pokémon is shown in the lower right corner of the screen. Next to each animal there is an indicator in the form of footprints, which shows how far the Pokemon is from you. One track is very close, two tracks are at medium distance, three are far away. As soon as you get close to the Pokemon at a distance of several meters, his figure will appear on the map. To try to catch it, you need to tap it with your finger. Then it all depends on your agility, patience and the level of the wild Pokemon.
Thanks to augmented reality technology (Augmented Reality, or AR), the image of the Pokemon is 'completed' right on top of the real picture, which is broadcast through the smartphone's camera. You need to direct the camera so that the 'pocket monster' is on the screen, and then use a swipe to throw a Pokeball ball at it. The chance of hitting depends not only on the accuracy of the swipe, but also on the size of the circle around the Pokemon figure, the smaller it is, the higher the chances of success. The difficulty of the task can be estimated by the color of the circle, green is easy, orange is more difficult, and so on. Particularly fast Pokémon can get out of the Pokeball and run away – in this case, they will have to be hunted again.
Before throwing the pokeball ball, you can spin it, in case of a successful capture of the pokemon, this will give an additional increase to experience. The trajectory of a twisted throw differs from the usual one, in this case it is worth aiming a little to the side. The more accurate the hit, the more bonus experience you will get.
Some Pokémon have the ability to dodge or shoot down Poké Balls. In most cases, the algorithm for the behavior of creatures is quite simple and after watching it for half a minute, you will understand everything.
Eggs and incubators
Another way to get a Pokémon is to find its egg and place it in an incubator. You have one incubator from the very beginning, additional ones can be purchased in the store.
I don't know why, but the incubator only works while your character is moving. This means that for the birth of a new Pokemon, you will have to take a walk. Depending on the type of egg, the required distance is 2, 5 or 10 kilometers. The best way to go is on foot – when 'hatching' an egg in the game, there is a limitation on the maximum speed of movement, the path that you travel by car may simply not be counted.
But the most unpleasant moment is different – as soon as the game is minimized or the screen is turned off, the calculation of kilometers stops. Which is extremely inconvenient.
Evolution and gain
Many Pokémon can evolve into more advanced forms. The pleasure is not free and for each evolution you will have to pay a whole mountain of sweets. And not anyhow, but exactly the type to which the Pokemon belongs. And earning the right type of candy is difficult, for this you need to catch a bunch of Pokémon of the same type.
In addition, a Pokémon can be enhanced by spending a certain amount of Stardust. Unlike candy, dust is a versatile resource that works for all Pokémon. But this does not make it less valuable.
Experienced players are advised not to rush to improve Pokémon to at least level ten. It’s a painful shame to spend half the state on pumping a weak pet, and a couple of levels later to catch a much cooler Pokemon. As for evolution, each form of Pokemon is considered a separate species and is also found in the wild.
Unnecessary Pokémon can be transferred to the Professor. This will not only free up storage space, but also allow you to earn a couple of extra candies.
Arenas
In addition to PokéStops, arenas can be found on the area map. Outwardly, they resemble towers, on top of which you can see figures of Pokémon guards and team icons. To view additional information, just touch the arena you are interested in. So you can see where she is, who captured her, how many and what Pokémon are in the guard, and so on.
Participation in battles for arenas is allowed starting from the fifth level, but before that you have to choose a team: yellow, blue or red. It will no longer be possible to change this choice in the future. It is assumed that each team should have its own pronounced characteristics, but at the moment the differences are purely cosmetic and have little effect. So when choosing a team, it is worth starting from who your friends are playing for and what is the current situation in your city or area.
Each arena can have multiple guards. If the arena is already under the control of a player on your team, then you can add your Pokémon to its guard. If the arena is under the control of the enemy, then in order to capture it, you will have to defeat all creatures located there. For training in the arenas of his team, the player receives experience, for the defense of the arena – coins and stardust. You can get income from ten Pokémon per day.
The battles are simple enough. Tap on an enemy Pokemon – attack, swipe across the screen – dodge. After the blue scale is filled, you can apply a special move. The key to success here is not so much the click speed as the characteristics of the Pokémon.
Items
Pokeballs are far from the only items in the game. In addition to them, Pokemon GO has enough other important and useful things. Here is some of them:
Health potions and stones of resurrection. Fights are dangerous, and the health of Pokémon is not restored by itself. So, in any case, you can't do without potions in the middle stage of the game.
Incense is a decoy whose scent attracts one to three Pokémon to your location every 5 minutes. They say that it can lure even those creatures that are not found at all in the current location. After 30 minutes, the effect of the bait ends.
Lure is a module that is installed in PokéStops. It works similarly to Incense, but works immediately for all players who are nearby. It costs a little more.
Additional incubators allow you to grow multiple eggs at a time, but have a limited number of uses.
Razz Berries help soften the temper of especially strong Pokémon, making them easier to catch.
Technical problems
The current version of the game has enough technical problems (just in case, let me remind you that we are talking about its early and unofficial version). The worst is the situation with the stability of work and game servers. Sometimes the game cannot be entered for a couple of hours, sometimes it loses connection with the game servers and freezes literally out of the blue. Most often this happens at the moment of throwing the pokeball, which is doubly offensive. The solution here is only one – to wait a couple of minutes, then reload the game and hope that the captured Pokemon was counted.
The second point is energy consumption. The joke that phones have become wired again takes on a second wind with Pokemon GO. The application all the time requires Internet access, a working GPS, a screen turned on, and periodically also a camera with three-dimensional AR objects and other things. As a result, the battery charge flies away just before our eyes and without an external battery, you can safely forget about a long hunt for Pokemon, walks between PokéStops and 'incubating' eggs.
The last moment is the territory of the game. In Moscow, everything is done very well: a bunch of PokéStops in interesting places, a lot of different Pokémon, clearly thought out locations for respawns and arenas … but in some cities the situation is many times worse and you need to walk forty minutes to the nearest game object. And of the Pokemon, there are only rats.
Game and reality
Nintendo has succeeded in what Google has failed with its Google Glass – to make augmented reality understandable, interesting and relevant to consumers. The game was officially released only in a few countries, but now we can say that augmented reality has entered our life seriously and not for long. Banks and insurance companies are coming up with special types of insurance for players, governments are trying to decide where AR games can and not be played, giants like Microsoft aloud dream of adding support for their 'smart' lenses and glasses to Pokemon GO , robbers plan places for robberies based on a map of the virtual, not the real world … and all this is just the tip of the iceberg, the first reaction to one single game.
Pokemon GO cannot be called a breakthrough from a technical point of view – there is nothing unusual about it, games with AR have been around for a long time. But it was this game that had the effect of a bomb exploding. What is the secret of success? First of all, in a simple and understandable concept. The fusion of gaming and everyday reality turned out to be very successful, for many people Pokemon GO became an occasion to change their usual route from work to home, once again walk around the area, take the time to turn aside and find a new pocket stop. This is an exploration of not only the game world, but also the real world, which also turns out to be full of surprises and surprises.