Wherigo Cartridges FAQ

What is a Wherigo cartridge?

A Wherigo cartridge is a file that contains the entire logic and media for a self-contained Wherigo experience.

Why do you call them cartridges?

We're paying homage to the original console-based games. You don't actually have to purchase a physical cartridge to play.

photo by Yogi

What do you mean by "self contained"?

Once you download a Wherigo cartridge you do not need to have access to a network to play it. All you need is a device with GPS technology and the Wherigo Player application.

The future possibilities of Wherigo include networking for multiplayer gaming. However, the current focus is on creating disconnected games to support many devices with varying form factors and capabilities.

How is a Wherigo cartridge created?

Although we recommend using our Wherigo Builder application, with some engineering know-how you can create your own cartridge with only a Lua file.

So, cartridges are built in Lua. What is Lua?

Lua is the programming language Wherigo uses to define the logic for an experience. Lua is a powerful, fast, light-weight embeddable scripting language. Games such as Simcity 4 and World of Warcraft use lua to allow users to build on top of their platform. We're doing the same thing except we're using the world as our playground. See a list of projects using Lua.

What is the process for creating and downloading a cartridge?

There are several steps in creating a cartridge:

  1. An author creates the media and logic for a cartridge and puts it in a GWZ file - A GWZ file is essentially a zipfile of this data. The author uploads the file to Wherigo.com where the author enters information about the experience.

  2. A user signs in to Wherigo.com and visits the listing for the Wherigo cartridge

  3. The user clicks to download the cartridge - At this time the site "compiles" the experience into a custom GWC file. This file contains some user information such as the username and download date of the cartridge. It is also compiles for user's specific device. Although these cartridges can be shared the experience may look different if not compiled for the correct device. For example, the Garmin Colorado has a piezo speaker and has beeps while most Pocket PC devices can support WAV files.

How do you compile a cartridge?

There are several ways to compile a cartridge - either to play or to test the experience:

  • Through the Wherigo Builder - This is a good place to compile and test your experience without sharing it with the rest of the community.
  • With a Web Service - For those who are more technical we have exposed a web service you can use to upload your creation and compile without creating a cartridge listing.
  • Via a web form - If you have a GWZ file handy you can use a web form to upload and compile your cartridge.

What kind of media can cartridges use?

Pretty much any media could potentially be used in a Wherigo cartridge. However we decided, at least initially, to focus on sounds and static images for the Wherigo Player. During the Wherigo cartridge creation process you should program your experience to work with as many devices as possible. This means accomodating lower resolution screens and/or having alternate images and sound for the higher end systems. The Wherigo cartridge compile process accomodates differences in a Wherigo cartridge.