Human Element players earn resources from location check-ins

Robert Bowling's apocalyptic survival sim Human Element will allow players to use their knowledge of real world resources to assist them in-game.

Bowling told GamesIndustry that aspects of Human Element change dynamically, depending on the player's gender, identity and location as well as what device they're playing on - and that this "cross-genre, cross-platform experience" is what excites him most about the project.

"We're overlaying the world of Human Element onto the Google Maps API, FourSquare business API, we're taking your real world and merging it with your game world," he said.

"So now you're checking into places in the real world and you're scavenging in those locations for supplies that are dynamic to those locations. We can do that anywhere there's GPS map data."

Bowling gave an example of an injured character unable to find medical supplies in the game world at home on their PC, but solving the problem by checking in on their iDevice while at a nearby, real world pharmacy.

"You're feeding those supplies back to your character in Human Element - these are not independent experiences, they're additive to each other," Bowling explained.

"The cool thing is you can form alliances. So, say my girlfriend doesn't want to play the console experience but she wants to play on iPad - she likes that experience. If we have an alliance she can play the resource management game, that scavenging mechanic, and she can be benefitting my game by sharing supplies with my survivors."

Human Element is expected in 2015 for next-generation consoles, PC, and obviously, mobile devices. it's the first game from Robotoki, a company founded by the former Call of Duty creative strategist.

Thanks, Joystiq.