An augmented reality game for Google's much-hyped Glass technology, called Swarm!, looks to turn players into virtual ants.

Google Glass

The game is being developed by Daniel Estrada, a professor of Illinois State University and Jonathan Lawhead of Columbia University and while it may cast you as an ant, Lawhead believes it is much more than that:

"We're both big believers in using games to facilitate the learning process, but Swarm! is more than just a game. It's a framework for engaging the crowds as they navigate shared public spaces. Swarm! is a radical experiment in self-organisation," he said.

Swarm! is said to cast the player (Google Glass owner) as an ant in an ant colony. The Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game tracks the user's activities and how they go about their daily routine.

With the help of the GPS data collected by Glass, the trails of the players are marked in different colours on a map. It is said that Estrada and Lawhead, instead of focusing on an individual, are focussing on where most people spend their time, how much ground they cover and how often their paths intersect with each other.

Learning process

"Glass has challenged developers to think about social environments in a new way. A big part of that challenge is in helping people imagine how this technology will impact their daily lives in the near future," said Estrada.

"No ant tells any other ant what to do or where to go, but they still manage to accomplish impressive feats of planning and coordination through highly organised collective action. Swarm! is an ant simulation game designed to help people understand how such a thing is possible," Lawhead told the Telegraph.

Swarm! will be released by Lawhead and Estrada with the help of Interdisciplined, a non-profit organisation. The game will be released under an open source licence.

Google Glass is also said to cost more than $299 at the time of its release, according to Yahoo News.