14 DAY TRIAL // The popularity of video games created by From Software has been constantly increasing and a team of fans has created an application called Soapstone, which allows gamers to create and read messages written in the style of Dark Souls 2 using their mobile phones.
The app is now live on both Android and iOS devices, and the core features are designed to tap into the GPS of the phone in order to write messages anywhere on the planet, as long as it is in cell phone range.
In order to read them, gamers need to be physically close to where they were written.
Soapstone is also offering the option to rate messages, and it is designed to be entirely anonymous.
The entire concept captures the way Dark Souls 2 and its associated titles encourage players to communicate with the community using messages written in the world.
The full release of Soapstone allows gamers to choose the lexicon they are aiming to use in their messages, from among Earth, Lordran, Drangleic, and Yharnam.
The team adds, "Soapstone uses a phrase builder in the style of DS2. We removed some of the souls specific stuff (hollow, stabbing in the back, etc) and added a few things that we hope will fit the real world better, but we’re open to suggestions for expanding/changing the available vocabulary. Don’t worry, 'Praise the Sun!' is still there. :)"
The official Reddit associated with the app can be used to offer feedback and to talk to the developers about how the concept can be improved in the future.
Sony can easily use Soapstone to run some interesting ARGs
On its own, the application is little more than a curiosity, something that even fans of the From Software titles will probably forget about after they get past the initial cool factor.
But Soapstone offered a very cool opportunity to Sony, as the publisher of the games, to create complex Alternate Reality Games based on Bloodborne or other experiences.
So far, the most recent From Software title has managed to move more than 1 million units on the PlayStation 4.
But the exclusive title can easily remain relevant for the rest of 2015 as long as Sony finds both in-game and real world ways of showing the unique experience that Bloodborne can offer.
