E-LARP Development Journey

Get on the Waitlist 

 Be the first to receive updates about the e-LARP technology (Please wait for the form to load.)

Our Story So Far...

Our First Playtest: September 2018

e-LARP began it's journey as an idea several years ago. The Battlefield Sports' team is full of nerdy characters (as you might imagine!) and we dreamed of bringing our favourite games to life. For the 21st birthday of one of our staff, we did just that!

Now this game was rough around the edges but we saw amazing potential! In addition to the medieval themed food, golden cups, and live music curtesy of a family friend (shout out to Kathy!) the Battlefield Sports' team run a few games of "Fantasy Laser Tag". We had attachments strapped onto LARP swords, toy crossbows coverted into laser tag weapons, and wizard staffs.

Despite the chaos of an entirely unbalanced game everyone had a ball!

Having experienced what e-LARP could be life for ourselves, we started developing the system to work commercially.

        Second Playtest: August 2019

After the first playtest, we knew we needed to fix a lot to get the game in a workable state. For the next playtest, we introduced an adventure scenario, dubbed "Evil Sorcerer", where the hero team had to defeat a villainess sorceress and sneak off with the dragon egg she was guarding.

Adventurers formed small parties and everyone had a "character". There were seven characters to choose from.

We played this a Thunderbird Park, a local adventurer park and allowed anyone in the public to join this playtest. This adventure was played in the fading light of dusk. The longer the game went, the darker things got!

We ran a few warm-up games of "Treasure Hunt".

In this game, adventuries parties attempt to collect gold from a central chest. Whichever party has the most gold at the end of the game wins!

Unlike with a lot of traditional LARP games, this happens with a fully integrated system. Once a adventurer is dead, they loose all their gold.

In this mission the adventurers fought several monsters! There were four stages:

Stage 1: The adventurers must steal a key from a wondering monster.

Stage 2: The adventurers had a choice: walk up the centre of the battlefield and fight the monsters there. Or sneak around the monsters. If they were too loud they would alert the monsters, who attacked them! (Our intrepid adventurers choose to sneak along the illuminated path). 

Stage 3: Either the adventurers snuck pass the monsters or defeated them. On the paths up to the lair, there were Treasure Boxes, from which the adventurers gained better defences.

Once they have these items, they can attempt to gain entry into the lair. The key to enter had to be carried by an alive adventurer. Inside the lair was the dragon egg. 

Before they pick up the dragon egg, the rogue will need to disable the traps around it! If the rogue character was not in the area of the lair, a trap was triggered!

 Stage 4: Once the adventurers had picked up the egg, an alarm was sounded (we used a whistle). All monsters were alerted and the evil sorcerer appeared. The adventurers had to take the egg back to the start. Only alive adventurers could carry the egg.

All this was set to last about 30 minutes.

This game was fantastic to play but has some significant weaknesses, which we learned from player feedback. Some characters had several abilities they could use (such as the Rogue removing traps), but needed to hold a button down to switch between the options. This wasn't easy in the middle of a fight!!

We concluded that these things needed to be automatic.

Playtest: December 2019

After this big fantasy event, we hosted the birthday party for a family friend's kid. We transformed our office into an arena for crossbow battles.

At this stage, we still didn't have viable wand prototypes, so instead all the kids were archers using crossbows. Unforunately for the crossbow plan, the toy base we were using to build the enclosure just wasn't up to standard. The trigger especially broke easily.

Thanks for letting us celebrate with you, Erin!

Playtest: November 2020

        For another staff's birthday party, we ran more fantasy games. This time it was for Ben. Right now he builds the taggers for our laser tag business.

For these games we had our very first wands. Though due to the limited number of prototypes, most of the players still had crossbows.

What could you do with "Battlefield Fantasy"?

We had a long list of ideas for what capabilities the system should have!

• monsters (Wraiths, Hobgoblins, Werewolves, etc.), 
• ranged weapons (Knives, Shortbows, and Axes), 
• fantasy shields (Wooden and Iron), 
• spells (Cure Light Wounds, Bless, Fireball and plenty more!), 
• magic items (Ring of Protection, Healing Potion and Regeneration Ring)
• melee attacks (Battle Axes, Halberd, Pitch Fork and more), and 
• special effects (Remove Traps and Pacifism Charm)

Players could also collect a variety of keys from different boxes.

Playtest: December 2020

We wanted to make this game viable for kids too. We worked on creating a new, simpler theme called "Magic Academy". Erin had use back for her birthday party again to experience the fun of "wand battles".

For this test, our spellcasters finally had WANDS! Yes, we'd finally get a prototype for a weapon, triggered by a flick of your wrist, to cast spells. These even glowed your team's colour.

Playtests: December 2021

Using the same set up, we ran games with our staff and friends for our annual Christmas Party. 

These games featured another narrative adventure. Each small party of heroes delved into a dark dungeons on the upper floor of our office. Somewhere within was hidden a cache of GOLD! Players needed to sneak through the area (guarded by undead monsters) to find the treasure. Their next challenge was to get out alive.

If they alerted the monsters their only option was to fight their way out, which often ended in a lot of deaths (haha!)

One conclusion we came to from these monster vs adventurer games is that it would be difficult to run and staff. Most people want to play as adventurers! So our focus has been on developing party on party battles where everyone gets to play the hero.

Playtest: May 2022

 For the next event, we ran indoors. We converted our warehouse into a dungeon with inflatable walls.

We ran a series of short adventures. 

To start off with we played "Clash": kill the other team more than they kill you! That way we could test that the game was actually working.

We also experiements with LARP swords with straped on attachments again as well as a gauntlet for the "Monk" character's punch attack (an unexpected MVP of the games!).

After the first game, we jumped into a Treasure Hunt. Adventurers on each team had to collect (virtual) gold from the central treasure chest and return it to their team's base. To collect gold they swung their wand at the sensor on the chest.

In this version, we made dedicated electronic boxes to reduce the size. That way the wand was a little be easier to carry and use.

TIKTOK Viral

For this playtest we posted some gameplay clips to TIKTOK and wow was the response impressive! People from all around the group wanted to join in the fun.

One video got 2.2 MILLION views and 80K likes. 

Another video popped off with nearly 50K views. A later view we posted from a different event did similar numbers again.

Have you followed us? We're on TIKTOK @magictag

One issue that we'd found with our wand experiments was that we needed to strink the technology to fit it inside the wand itself. For these tests, we'd stored most of the tech, including the batteries, inside a box straped onto the player's body.

We also decided that for the sword to work, we needed players to swing their arm freely. Previously all our equipment came with wired sensors, but we realised through this playtest we need wireless ones instead. This poses a technical challenge.

        In a few months later, we ran another event for Erin's next birthday party.

In this event we were strongly focusing on the specifics of the game-play. Questions we asked:

• How easy or hard is it to cast a spell using the vibration switch (answer: it was too difficult, we've come up with a different solution since then)
• Can kids this age use the different character types found in Adventurers Arena? (yes, but we found that it was mainly the older siblings who got the most enjoyment from the characters)

The kids LOVED it!

Playtest: August 2024

After seeing our videos online, a local family approached us about hosting an e-LARP party. While the technology was still pretty haphazard, they had a fantastic time. You can see the videos on our TIKTOK channel: @magictag

We started looking into creating a fully integrated wand (AKA spell staff).

We went through a series of concept designs and came up with this initially. The building blocks are all there:

• LEDs on the main staff
• Curved end (to prevent eye injuries)
• A "wood pattern" and grip
• hole to insert a wrist strap

One key element that we needed for an e-Wand is a large lens. If the wand's tiny is very small then the beam will be extremely tight and lack range. Especially when you can't easily aim (it is a wand after all!) players need a broad beam in order to land hits.

In late 2024, we decided to implement addressable LEDs with a broad range of colours. Different spells, attacks, and game moments are represented with different light effects on the wand. Due to this, we also concluded we needed three light modes: Light (standard), Stealth (for night fighting), and Dark (no flashing). We also included LEDs on the chest box design, allowing for interactive lighting.

Into 2025...

Going into 2025, we've been at our desks plenty, using our test boards to integrate many new ideas.

We've also come up with several different themes that fit different groups:

• Magic Academy (for kids 5+)
• Mage Quest (for kids 9+)
• Tourney of Magic (for experienced players)
• Adventurers Arena (for teens & adults)

At this stage we are looking to develop the Magic Academy and Mage Quest options before expanding into the other themes!

One of the great things about our system is that player's get feedback when they land a spell on their opponent. We've spent a lot of time over the year mulling over the different words to use. In Magic Academy, when you tag a player but they haven't lost all their shields, you hear the word "Jinxed". When you knock out their last shields, you hear "Hexed" instead. Finally, if they were already out, you hear "Already Spellbound".

Here's the wand design as it stands right now. It sure has changed a lot!

Games to Play

Another key feature of our laser tag system is the "Battle Box", we're developing a fantasy version for e-LARP. 

Battle Boxes (called "Chests" in e-LARP) facilitate a wide variety of adventures. To begun with, we'll be adapting our standard missions. Each theme has a different array of options that suit the age group. 

For example, in "Magic Academy" you can play Bullseye while in "Mage Quest" you can play Domination.

At its most simple, the Chests will revive players when they are out of lives. 

In "Magic Academy" each player is called a Wizard and they have 5 Magic Shields from which they draw magic. Every time someone jinxes them, they lose a shield. When they are out of Shields they cannot cast any more spells until they return to their team's chest box.

In "Mage Quest" the players are called Mages and have 100 Health Points. When someone hits them with a spell, they loose some health points until they reach 0. At which point they are dead and need to return to their team's base to get resurrected! Mage Quest also allows players to collect items and power up their spells from a Loot Chest.

Tourney of Magic will introduce a mana system and advanced casting with gestures. 

Adventurers Arena will introduce a cast of characters: Healer, Rogue, Monk, Flame Mage, Sorcerer, and Fighter!

Other Highlights

In between the various playtests, we spent time in our office tinkering away with the technology. Getting under tables, ironing out gaming balance in excel, and sometimes having a great big laugh!