Monsarrat, a video game maker in Los Angeles, continued to expand its presence in outdoor video games by winning its 5th and 6th patents. Meanwhile, competitor Niantic (Pokémon Go) has a stalled strategy in outdoor gaming and is in talks to sell off its game division.

Pokémon Go puts one simple type of gameplay outside ($1B/year), but its scattered map points don’t support the contiguous landscapes needed for proven, blockbuster PC genres like action and roleplaying. Who will bring those giant game types outside ($10B/year)?

Monsarrat is already doing it. Their technology lays out a 3D fantasy world across a real world space, which you walk through to play like the Holodeck on Star Trek, and is now available as a demo game, Landing Party, on Apple App Store and Google Play.

Monsarrat’s first 4 patents relate to placing a fantasy world into a small space such as your back yard, or a local park, or even playing indoors. That is vital to the future of outdoor video games because most players don’t live next to a large park. They want the convenience of playing in small spaces.

The 5th patent, fully granted this month by the US Patent and Trademark Office, relates to vehicles. As children we all played with toy cars and airplanes, walking around pretending to drive them. This new invention from Monsarrat brings that joy into AR walking games, outdoor mobile games, supporting for the first time a racing car game or airplane simulator game outside. This follows Monsarrat’s strategy to port the biggest and most successful PC game genres outdoors.

The 6th patent relates to hills and valleys. In augmented reality, normally a flat virtual world is overlaid onto the phone camera view of the flat real world. But what happens if you want the player to descend into a crater in the game world? What happens if the real world space, perhaps a public park, has tiny hills to walk up and down? Monsarrat has already coded a first take on this algorithm and it’s surprisingly immersive. It really does feel like you’re walking down into a crater in the game world, even when in the real world you’re walking on level ground.

Like its other patents, these two new patents have broad claims that cover “any algorithm” and stake out even more intellectual territory for Monsarrat in the future of outdoor video games. See videos and more at monsarrat.com.

Journalists love our demo game! Landing Party is the world’s first outdoor roleplaying, a free game on app stores now with 12 missions. It’s our stepping stone to our future full game.

Charlie Fink from Forbes praised the game twice, calling it “a remarkable outdoor roleplaying game” and “one of the best parts of AWE, a compelling demo”. At Augmented World Expo, Forbes chose us as one of only 16 companies to praise, from 5,000 attendees and hundreds of exhibitors.

Dean Takahashi from Venture Beat wrote an 1,800-word feature on the game, noting its patented technology, and how competitor Niantic (Pokemon Go) has struggled to evolve from its “collecting stuff” gameplay outdoors.

Tom’s Guide wrote “I just saw the future of mobile gaming“.

At GDC, journalists loved the demo game, noting:

• How it works well in small spaces, calling it “breathtaking easy”,
• How surprisingly immersive the game felt, more than you would expect from a small mobile phone screen, and
• That nothing like this has ever been done before.

Here are the GDC press videos with testimonials praising the game:

• Overview video
• Jasmine Lehrman, AtomBombBody
• Don Hopper, Upload VR
• Giovanni Colantonio, Digital Trends
• Kahlief Adams, Spawn on Me
• Erik Hartley, XREAL Insider
• Alex Wawro, Tom’s Guide

And fans have loved the game, too. See ecstatic reactions in these videos by:

• Professional game makers at Game Developer Conference, some of whom called it “the best innovation at the show”, and
• Ordinary game players at Fan Expo Boston, who went even more nuts for the game.

About Monsarrat

Based in Los Angeles, Monsarrat makes the world’s first Outdoor Roleplaying Game. Their first demo game, Landing Party, supports deeper, MMO-style storytelling and player interaction than previous outdoor games, which have all been collecting games.

Monsarrat is now seeking business partnerships, and funding to build out their future full game.

Press kit: https://monsarrat.com/presskit

Videos: https://youtube.com/@monsarratgames

Contact: Johnny Monsarrat, CEO, jmonsarrat@monsarrat.com.

We had a blowout success at GDC! Game Developer Conference, a week in San Francisco, is perhaps the world’s most important video game conference, with many calling us the “best innovation at the show”.

Our partner XREAL, the world’s biggest selling of consumer-priced AR glasses, brought ten journalists to meet us, and we gave demos on both regular smart phones and on the XREAL glasses. We also explored the expo hall and grounds, giving demos to attendees and taking investor meetings and partnership meetings, with Roblox, Samsung, Meta, Amazon, and others.

Our new mini-game, Landing Party, is just a first step to our final full game with a Hollywood franchise. But it has 6 missions and shows how it works. It’s a brand new category of video game. People loved it!

See videos of press reactions to our demo, and reactions from other attendees.