Cindrsoft's Relica: fusing trading cards and video games

LOS ANGELES - June 9, 2015 - PRLog -- Los Angeles, CA – June 9, 2015 – Startup Cindrsoft revealed today a glimpse of what the company hopes will be the next big thing in trading card gaming.

Cindrsoft refers to the system as the first Trading Card Operated (TCO) video game, a fusion of card games and video games that uses wireless enhanced trading cards to control on-screen action in lieu of conventional game controller human machine interfaces.  "The concept of using trading cards to control live action video games is so fresh that even explaining it has been challenging, but when people see it in action, they get it immediately", says Technology Director Randy Dunn.

Trading Card Games (TCGs) use decks of specially designed cards with various features and capabilities that players take turns invoking against their similarly equipped opponent.  Traditional gaming uses classic tangible cards but in the past few years there has been an explosion of online 'digital' versions of TCGs.  These games operate like their tangible counterparts, but all game play is simulated within the confines of a video game.  Digital TCG games run on PCs, consoles, and mobile devices, and link players together over a gaming network.

"In a time of video game dominance, there is something that remains attractive about card gaming, seeing them in front of you, and manipulating them against your opponent," according to Dunn.  Indeed, tangible TCGs as well as their digital video game equivalents, are more popular than ever, a multi-billion dollar market experiencing over 30% annual growth.

Cindrsoft hopes to deliver the best of both worlds with its TCO system, players using tangible game cards to control an online video game and compete against opponents linked over a gaming network.  The game is mobile-centric, compact and portable to encourage gamers to sit across from one another and battle it out in old school TCG and RPG style.  Gamers can also engage anywhere they have network access, and the carding system of TCO can even be played without a flat surface, making it possible to play virtually anywhere.  Cindrsoft wants to push things even further.  "The action in a TCG, whether tangible or digital, is typically nothing more than numbers changing on a scoreboard," notes Dunn.  "We've developed a novel control system for arena style first person shooters based on trading cards."

Shooters dominate console and PC markets, with games like Call of Duty generating $1.7 billion a year, but haven't successfully penetrated a mobile market that is approaching $25 billion.  Often cited barriers to successful FPS development on mobile are issues related to 3D graphics and fast data networks.  Cindrsoft claims their control system sidesteps some of the issues related to successful shooter deployment on mobile devices without dropping down the graphics quality or responsiveness in their system.

"It's a combination of programming techniques and our wireless game card control system that makes it all possible", Dunn added.

The company's game cards are smaller than most (standard business card size) for portability, in keeping with the mobile nature of the game system, and fitted with Near Field Technology (NFC) tags that contain rewritable memory and wireless communications support without need for a battery.  The base technology is similar to that used for mobile payment services in smartphones and tablets but with enhanced range and support for simultaneous communications with many NFC tags.  Many smartphones and tablets lack NFC support altogether, and those that do have severely limited range and cannot read more than one tag at a time.  To overcome this, the company developed a device they call the CindrBox, a battery powered BlueTooth to NFC scanner the size of a thick game card.  The CindrBox can be placed at a convenient location up to many feet from the mobile device.  In operation, the device scans the gaming grid where the cards are in play and links that data to the mobile device.  This allows the video game to read data from and write data to the cards, according to Dunn.  "CindrBox enables natural, free form card play that works with virtually any BlueTooth capable mobile device."

The company is currently in work on Relica, its first release using the game system.  A fast paced mixed multiplayer online and first person arena shooter where alien avatars battle over control of dimensional energy.  The game is not turn-based, in keeping with a shooter paced game, players slap cards down as fast as they can to take down opponent defenses, energy, and life.  Move game cards around the gaming grid and the on-screen video game action responds instantly.  Action never stops during game play, even while swapping out or adding cards to the fight, the video game action continues.  With continued use, game cards gain experience points with use, level up, gain powers and increase in value, and can be fused with other cards and combine to produce different and more powerful effects.

Visit www.cindrsoft.com for more information, including a more detailed description of the technology and the Relica game.

Cindrsoft was founded in 2015 by those who love card games, video games and technology, and dedicated to exploring the possibilities of merging card and video games using novel technologies with devastatingly awesome results.

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