I you’ve been following the Android Reddit for the last few days, you’ve probably seen a few concept screens for a lockscreen inspired by Bethesda’s RPG magnum opus, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Well, a developer going by “DaveRun” has finally gotten the ball rolling in earnest, developing a concept app that mimics the console and PC game’s lock-picking interface almost perfectly. It doesn’t actually unlock the phone yet since it’s at the proof of concept stage, but Dave’s getting a lot of support from like-minded users on his post. You can download the non-Market app and install it on any Android phone.
The in-game action goes something like this: the Dragonborn player is presented with a locked chest or door, and has to use his or her lockpicks and pry bar to get it open. Turn the pick around the lock to find the perfect position, then twist. If you’re off by a few virtual millimeters and twist too hard, you pick will break, forcing you to use another from your inventory. DaveRun’s app works pretty much the same way: turn the pick by sliding along the bottom of the screen, then turn the lock by swiping up. When you “get warm,” the phone vibrates.
Most of the previous concepts included either replacing the lockscreen entirely or “skinning” Android’s pattern-based unlock method so that the slide points are arranged radially around the lock. The app is powered by the cross-platform Unity engine at the moment, and probably won’t make a complete solution with its current code. That said, the gaming/geek/Android community is pretty hot on this one – I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a working version in the next few weeks. Now if only someone can create programming language that works like an arcane enchanter’s table…
Hehe, clever 🙂