APD - Wk04

Theme

Play and Place

Context

ARkit Hide and Seek Virtual city, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIYCgqVgeu8. Using AR to create a a large 3D model city to play hide and seek in using phone. There are sounds accompanying it to indicate if the player are getting closer or further away from the target.

Where's Waldo. 

Method

Using Spark AR to create an image tracker, where it will show a specific animation gif when it’s pointed at a specific sticker shape.

Response

Considering space while living in a small studio space, there wasn’t really much that I could do. I had to create some sense of play using very limited space. I had initially thought of two ideas, one is by creating some animation or gameplay on top of the buildings that I can see through my window, or having a small very simple scavenger hunt using my studio apartment. I chose the latter. It came from a simple idea, almost like a hide and seek but it’s with stickers, as my bedroom is loitered with stickers that I had made for previous comic con event. I decided to have a play with Spark AR, I guess, to make the game more interesting. It wasn’t as simple as, if you find the sticker you win. There are a lot of stickers that I put up and hide around my work space, and the only hint that I had issued is ‘fine THE sticker’, which means the player is required to use their phone to try and scan all the stickers until they find one that resulted in the animated gif.

Reflection

It was my first time using Spark AR. I think it’s quite a fun twist for hide and seek. Of course it would be better if I could have someone played it rather than myself, who knows exactly where the sticker are placed in my workspace. Giving a very vague idea to the player would hopefully evoke the player’s curiosity. Maybe at first they would be very confused as to what kind of sticker, but as they look around the space it should be obvious enough what’s strange sticker around the walls. The stickers are with different varieties and so they won’t be able to tell just by finding the sticker placements, but they have to use their phones and scan the sticker to find one that actually resulted in something. In an ideal world I would make a different animation that says ‘WRONG’ when pointed towards them. However, I decided to just stick with one simple animation first.