The first 10 minutes of using Nintendo’s Swapnote might make you think that you’ve just drawn the most 3-D boners that you ever could want to. Yeah, now you can add in some sound clips of you burping, attach a photo of your dog catching a Frisbee, or make some snazzy digital invitations to your SuperBowl party, but you might be getting a little bored.
But oh-ho! There are many more things you can do with Swapnote than just swap notes! The Streetpass and Spotpass features really open up the app to some useful and fun concepts. I’ve compiled a wonderful list of some things that I’ve tried, and plan on doing, that have nicely extended what can be done with the fun little service. Feel free to follow along and do the same, or drop your own suggestions in the comments.
Self Promotion
Thanks to the app’s Streetpass capabilities, it’s very easy to promote your self. Think of it like a virtual business card with a few added benefits. Write in your website info, Twitter handle, gamertag, contact info, and more.
For musicians, including a short clip of your music with your contact info could be a nice viral treat for folks who walk by. The same can be said with photographers and artists, who can include their work (even with non-3D images that they’ve uploaded to their 3DS memory cards) like a mini portfolio.
Dating
More Streetpass usage abounds with the app that you can use to your advantage come the next gaming/comic/geek convention. Throw your photo, quick audio “hello”, likes and dislikes, and contact info in a few Swapnote slides and HOPE AND PRAY that some like-minded attractive person of the opposite sex has their 3DS with them and gets your ping. You could even carry on communicating, pen pal style, via the app afterwards. Who knows… it could be love.
Scavenger Hunts
The random cool things that pop up when Streetpass is turned on can be pretty exciting. Whenever a new Mii enters my plaza and gives me puzzle pieces, for instance, I feel like Santa just dropped by. Think of how cool it would be if you were out shopping when the Streetpass notification pops on for Swapnote, and inside is a photograph of a hidden stash of rare Skylanders figures at your local Target in the women’s shoes section? The next time you’re out shopping or at the movies, leave a (friendly) surprise for some lucky stranger. Draw a map and drop in a photo of a treasure that they could find. Or, maybe it’s a note of how to get a great deal at the store they are in. Say the “secret password” and get 10% off of your latte.
It’s kind of like a lite geocaching. With PAX coming up in April, there are plenty of opportunities to have some fun. I can already imagine publishers walking the floor at expos, sending out little notes for people to visit their booths to get free swag for mentioning a secret phrase.
Streetpass Flash Mobs
“On January 30th, everyone get in front of WalMart and do the Captain Lou Albano Mario Dance.”
Flash mobs happen all the time, even though they are soooo 2008. Swapnote can be used to set a time and place, using Streetpass to virally pass along the info. Instead of dancing, I suggest maybe getting people together to play Mario Kart 7 or Starfox 64 3D. Unless you actually DO know the Mario dance, then we’ll pretend to not know you. Ever.
Giveaways & Contests
This one is easy. Got a contest running or an extra code for Castle Crashers? Ask a trivia question to your friends, with the first correct answer recieved winning the code. Or, just give away stuff to random people on Streetpass.
Games… WITH FRIENDS!
I rarely used the DS’s Pictochat, but when I did manage to get a few friends together we almost always played hangman through it. There are a ton of games you can play through the app, depending on how involved you want to get. Tic-Tac-Toe, quizzes, “boxes & lines”, Hang Man, and even Battleship can be played.
For something like Battleship create a simple board of squares, 5 boxes tall by 5 boxes wide, and label each box from A-Y. You’ll probably need two of these boards, one to track your ships and one to track your hits or misses with your friend. Send your playing board to your friend via Spotpass. Now, sketch in 2 ships of 2 squares wide and 2 ships of 3 squares wide on the board (don’t send it this time) to use as your own board. Reply back and forth with the letter and the result — I use the messages “MISS” or “HIT” — until someone wins.
Drink & food recipes
This one is pretty enjoyable, and easy to do. Take a photo of something you’ve made — food or drink — and include it in the already provided “dish” stationary. On the 2nd page and onwards detail the recipe with ingredients and steps to make it.
Art contests
This one is probably the easiest way to interact with friends on Swapnote. You’re already sending sketches of 3D boners, so why not make an actual art out of it? Minus the boners. Pick a subject, send it to your friends, and let everyone sketch their interpretation of it. Or, take a 3D photo and have a caption contest. Daily doodles (like what Google does with their log) are fun to do, and can act like a simple visual journal.
Poetry & group writing
We’ve all done the “four word story” type of thing on message forums, so this should be no surprise. Start a sentence with 4 words on a slide, send it to your friends, and have them reply one by one. A second option: team poetry, with each person taking a line.
“Lite” animation
Even though the sketching is limited, there are ways to do some simple animation within Swapnote because of the way that the app renders the individual strokes in order. Falling water, shooting stars, and rockets exploding into fireworks are easy enough to do. My favorite: a fish jumping in and out of water, across both of the levels of 3D. With a little practice and a creativity animations can be really interesting.
ARG
Hosting an alternate reality game can be quite fun, and can get your friends to reply often, especially as a group. Start with an audio message that sounds like a phone call, and have your friends “call” back. Leave tasks for people to do, like take photos or solve puzzles, and have your friends work together to solve them. Think of this like a deeper, more narrative version of the scavenger hunt I mentioned above.
Dungeons & Dragons RPG
When we first heard of people hosting RPGs via Swapnote, we were somewhat intrigued. Could someone make an engaging experience in such a short form? Perhaps it may just require a different approach to accomplish, or a separate sheet of paper. The interaction could be done completely through Swapnote, with simulated dice rolls and group battles.
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We’re sure there are plenty more ways to enjoy Swapnote, and the uses will adapt and grow over time as more people begin to use it. We’ll just keep looking for more things to do that don’t involve sketching our balls.
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