One of this year’s hotly anticipated movies is Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Ernest Kline book Ready Player One. As you would expect for a film heavily featuring virtual reality (VR), immersive technologies such as VR and augmented reality (AR) are forming a significant part of the publicity for the film, such as with the Snatch Ready Player One AR Portal.
The Snatch AR treasure hunt was released in November 2017, and used concepts similar to the modern geocaching hobby with an immersive twist that let players all over the world seek out and claim virtual parcels, which could be exchanged for high-value items from companies and brands, including Nike, Heineken, Samsung and Netflix.
The company behind the title have previously worked with those companies to create limited edition branded experiences within snatch, and have now teamed with Warner Bros to bring a Snatch AR portal themed around Ready Player One to Snatch users.
Considering that the movie and book are centred around and extended hunt for a well-hidden ‘Easter Egg’ hidden within the virtual world of The Oasis, tying in with a scavenger hunt app seems to be a logical fit.
What developers Draw & Code have created is an AR portal that allows users of the app to step into The Oasis, the virtual world from the book and film. Once ‘inside’ the space, the user can look back out into the real world through a virtual doorway. The player will also be able to engage with a number of mini-games within the virtual space, such as an arcade cabinet which can be engaged with to answer trivia questions about the film.
The developers used Apple’s popular ARKit toolset to create the AR portal, something that has become commonplace among developers, brands and companies with its ability to allow for marker-free AR experiences. The team at Draw & Code hopes the AR portal for Ready Player One will provide a fun, interactive experience for Snatch players and fans of the book and movie.
For further news on Ready Player One, along with VR and Ar experiences, keep checking with VRFocus.