Earlier this week at the Magic L.E.A.P conference developer Insomniac Games revealed a new mixed reality (MR) experience that is being created for the Magic Leap One. Going by the name of Seedling, players take on the role of Scout who must nurture, grow and customize an alien lifeforms – one that exists on your kitchen table or any flat surface you have available. As players grow and evolve these lifeforms they will be rewarded with for being diligent caretakers with plenty of surprises.
Seedling is described as being more of an experience than a traditional videogame and it represents the team at Insomniac Games thinking differently about their design approach. The title is the result of Insomniac Games asking, “How can we use MR to bring a bit of sparkle, a bit of wonder into the world around us.” and if the released images are anything to go by it really shows.
Magic Leap invited some of the team at Insomniac Games to visit their headquarters and see early prototypes of the Magic Leap One. Because of this the team witnessed an approach that would change how people interact with reality and the team saw this as an opportunity to design experience that they couldn’t of done before. To help make Seedling possible Magic Leap actively involved the team at Insomniac Games in the hardware development phase which allowed them to have an early understanding of what it was capable of and begin work early on.
“LEAP conference attendees were able to play a Seedling demo today, and their response to it was gratifying. Several folks were mystified and intrigued by our mini biome, taking great pleasure in helping the alien life flourish.” explains Seedling Creative Director, Nathaniel Bell.
The team also reveal that Seedling is not the only project they have in the works for the Magic Leap One, with the company looking forward to showing these other projects off in due course. In the coming weeks the team will also share more on Seedling and the experience that it will provide players with. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on the title in the future, so stay tuned for more as it becomes available.