• The Lille studio Hootside is releasing a video game in the world of Asterix & Obelix.

  • On the same principle as Pokémon Go, it is a geolocated game in augmented reality.

  • The app is available in a playable beta version for smartphones.

Are these people from Lille crazy?

Certainly not because, by releasing a video game based on the universe of Asterix & Obelix, the Hootside studio, based at Euratechnolgies, should be a hit.

Especially since their product, Vidi Vici, uses geolocation and augmented reality, the two keys to the success of the Famous Pokémon Go.

There are recipes that agree with the greatest number and that, the founders of the Lille start-up Hootside, specializing in the creation of augmented reality games, have understood it well.

“For a small studio like us, it is difficult to exist among the big ones like Ubi Soft or Warner.

Exploiting licenses gives us visibility that we wouldn't have by developing own-name games, ”explains Charlotte Landry, co-founder of Hootside.

And the Asterix & Obelix license can make you dream, the 38 albums by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo having sold 385 million copies worldwide.

Geolocation and augmented reality

This is how Vidi Vici was born, a “massively multiplayer open-world mobile game”. Like Pokémon Go, game elements blend into the real world through the user's smartphone thanks to geolocation and augmented reality. "We have worked a lot on the content of the game. We already offer a dozen mini-games, which is what differentiates us from Pokémon which only offers three or four," continues Charlotte Landry.

While walking, the player must reach geolocated points of interest which generate objects or characters to recover or even the famous mini-games.

Thus, one can come across a Roman camp in front of the prefecture of Lille or a quarry of menhirs in the middle of the citadel.

At the bend of a street, the player can also come across a patrol of Romans in the formation of the turtle that he will have to destroy with menhirs.

The common thread in all of this is helping Obelix find all his friends who have been scattered around the world.

An algorithm to avoid being in the water

To avoid the hiccups experienced by some Pikachu fans, such as finding themselves chasing a Pokémon in the middle of a lake, Hootside has developed its own POI search algorithm.

“It is based on things that exist, such as shops, bus stops.

There are also exclusion zones to avoid finding oneself looking for objects in the middle of a police station, for example, ”jokes the co-founder.

While it is only available in beta, Vidi Vici has already attracted more than 3,500 players.

"The official release date is not yet known, but the application is playable and downloadable for free in France, Germany and soon in Canada," says Charlotte Landry.

In terms of lifespan, no worries, Hootside has already planned almost two years of updates.

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  • Lille

  • Augmented reality

  • Asterix

  • Video games