Google Play Instant – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

March 21, 2018

Ralph Hauwert Discusses The Future Of Unity On New XR Platforms

Following Unity Technologies’ keynote at the Game Developer Conference, VRFocus sat down with Ralph Hauwert, Director of Development at Unity to talk about the future of XR platforms.

Unity use the term XR as an umbrella term, encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). As the company continue to empower content creators by providing them with the tools they need to deliver breath taking experience to consumers, Unity have now expanded their range of supported platforms to include more XR products.

Unity have revealed big plans to their platform range and expanded it with the announcement of multiple new XR platforms. This includes Magic Leap, Google Play Instant, Oculus Go and Google Daydream Standalone. The support for Magic Leap One was revealed alongside the release of a Technical Preview for Magic Leap’s creator portal. This comes not long after Epic Games revealed that their Unreal Engine 4 would also be supporting Magic Leap in a similar manner.

Games Developers Conference / GDC 2018 - Keyart The other platforms announced by Unity see new, exciting opportunists for content creators to reach out to new hardware and audiences around the world. The Google Play Instant support means that Android users will be able to try a small demo of an app or videogame made within Unity near instantly without the need to download anything before hand. More details on Google Play Instant can be found here.

Oculus Go was unveiled last year at Oculus Connect 4 and now with the support in Unity developers can prepare their titles for the platforms release this Spring. With a similar workflow to creating Gear VR content, developers can get to work right away on preparing their products. The Google Daydream standalone platform is another that developers can get to work on right away, adding support for the new six degrees of freedom (6DoF) feature into their already existing Daydreams applications or for a brand new application. VRFocus were able to get hands-on with the Lenovo Mirage Solo earlier this month and experience Daydream standalone.

VRFocus‘ Nina Salomon sat down with Ralph Hauwert, Director of Development at Unity and talked about these new XR platform announcements which you can view in full below.

The Game Developer Conference is running all week long so be sure to check back regularly for more on VRFocus.

March 21, 2018

Unity Move To Expand Their XR Platform Range

When it comes to the number of platforms that Unity Technologies support with their ever-developing Unity engine, they are, to put it mildly, rather prolific. From older videogaming platforms like Nintendo’s Wii U console and the Nintendo 3DS, to both Google head mounted displays (HMDs), Microsoft’s Hololens, the PlayStation VR, the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR. It even provides support for both Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore augmented reality toolkits.

It’s a fact they are also very proud of.

“We provide access to the greatest number of build targets, and we’re always adding support for the most desired and relevant platforms.” Explained the firm on their official blog. “When important new devices enter the market, we want to ensure we have day-one support for you.”

As such, they are always looking to for the next platform to come, and in the case of this year’s Game Developer Conference (GDC) four new platforms were announced as being added to the mix going forward. The first was, in many ways, perhaps both the most and least surprising, Magic Leap and its Magic Leap One HMD.

Magic Leap

Announced in the same week as Unreal Engine was revealed to the supporting the mysterious headset which continues to beguile investors everywhere. Unity revealed that among other things a Technical Preview for Magic Leap’s creator portal. As Unity themselves put it, “Unity believes the world is a better place with more creators in it, and platforms such as Magic Leap will unleash new forms of creativity which we can’t wait to see.”

Google Play Instant

Revealed yesterday during the Google Developer Day, a traditional GDC Day One event, the new service from Google is being rolled out to developers some time later this year. Trialled with partners in a closed Beta at the end of 2017, Google Play Instant involves the creation of a short demo of an app or videogame that can be near instantly loaded. Giving users a quick taste of what the software entails and inviting them to download the full version. ‘Instants’ are made available by an additional Try Now button added to store pages. You can find out more here.

Oculus Go headset

Oculus Go

Unveiled last year at Oculus Connect 4, and being released this Spring, the standalone HMD neither requires a PC to run it nor a compatible smartphone in order for it to function. Unity has confirmed that developers will be utilising the same workflow methods that they currently employ when developing for the Samsung Gear VR, which is made in partnership with Oculus.

Google Daydream Standalone

Also adding to the existing range of headsets comes support for the line of Google Daydream Standalone HMDs, which in this instance means the Lenovo Mirage Solo – something that VRFocus went hands-on with earlier this month. As with the Oculus Go this is somewhat utilising the support already in existence for its predecessor, adding 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) support on to the existing Daydream platform.

VRFocus spoke to Unity further about their continued push across immersive platforms following their GDC keynote speech and you’ll be able to see what they have to say on the site very soon.

March 20, 2018

Google Play Instant: Demos ohne großen Aufwand erstellen

Die GDC 2018 ist im vollen Gange und auch Google ist auf dem Event für Entwickler in San Francisco. Das Unternehmen hat in diesem Rahmen gestern die neue Funktion Google Play Instant vorgestellt. Mit ihr lassen sich schnell Demos erstellen, die Spieler vor dem Kauf ausprobieren können. Das ist besonders interessant für Virtual-Reality- und Augmented-Reality-Inhalte, denn ein Hineinschnuppern in die Software bei VR-Content ist wesentlich wichtiger als bei Monitor-Spielen. Schließlich kann ein 2D-Video nur eine grobe Vorstellung vom Spiel selbst geben.

GDC 2018: Google Play Instant für Demos

Mit Google Play Instant erhalten Entwickler die Möglichkeit, eine Demo bereitzustellen, die mit dem gleichen Code wie das Hauptspiel erstellt wurde. Somit können Entwickler den zusätzlichen Aufwand für eine Demo minimieren und trotzdem in den Genuss der zusätzlichen Werbemöglichkeit kommen. Der Vorteil für die Interessenten liegt darin, dass die Demo schnell und ohne großes Datenvolumen zu verbrauchen auf das Smartphone kommt und, wenn wir von VR- und AR-Anwendungen ausgehen, wichtige und notwendige Einblicke vor dem Kauf gewährt.

Dass die Verbindung von AR-Apps und Google Play Instant keine Vision ist, sondern bereits funktioniert, zeigte Google während der Vorführung mit Zombie Gunship Revenant AR. In dem Spiel sollt ihr mit einem Helikopter die Menschheit vor der Zombie-Invasion bewahren. Da es sich nicht um einen Streaming-Dienst handelt, sondern lediglich um kleinere Download-Dateien, sollten wir demnächst auch einen „Try Now“ Button im Google–Daydream-Bereich des Stores finden, sofern die Entwickler die neuen Möglichkeiten nutzen möchten.

(Quelle: VR Focus)

Der Beitrag Google Play Instant: Demos ohne großen Aufwand erstellen zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

March 19, 2018

Google Look To Bring Instant Gaming Gratification With Google Play Instant

As has become something of a tradition at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), GDC 2018 also begins with Google and the Google Developer Day. Front and centre being a number of announcements relating to the release of the tech giant’s augmented reality (AR) platform ARCore. Several of which you may have already seen on VRFocus today and more of which can no doubt be expected throughout the week ahead.

ARCore However the first new service from Google on display at the talks was actually regarding the Google Play store – and, though whilst not expressly related to immersive applications, it certainly has the capacity to affect any AR app or virtual reality (VR) product for Google’s head mounted displays (HMDs) – the Google Cardboard and Google Daydream.

Called Google Play Instant, it essentially adds the ability for app developers to include an native experience demo, created using the same code as the main app which is faster for users to download and play. Allowing them to get a taster of the experience, make a judgement on whether or not it is something they would like to look at further, and are given an option to then download the full application from within the Instant experience.

Appearing as an additional ‘Try Now’ button next to the Install one in the store listing’s page, Instant has already been implemented for some apps. Now, however, it will be coming to video games in the Play Store. Instant also brings the same ‘Try Now’ button to Google ads, the Play Games app and in links sent through social invites. Availability is expected to be rolled out beyond choice partners later this year, according to Google with support being added to Unity also due to come down the line.

Zombie Gunship Revenant AR “What we’re seeing from the Play Store is a 4-19% increase in new players. Those are new installations, that are incremental to that which was happening previously.” Jonathan Karmel, Senior Product Manager at Google Play said, explaining some very early data from the live experiments which the company had been quietly running since December last year. “Step One was to make sure this is technically viable. We weren’t even sure if it was possible. So, we had a closed Beta, we brought in game developers and it’s very much possible. They’ve proved it to us, and we were really surprised how many developers were able to develop an Instant app in a relatively short period of time.

In a later demonstration using the title Zombie Gunship Revenant AR, a base defence title in which you take on the role and viewpoint of a helicopter gunship patrolling the skies and acting as an aerial defence against the hoards rampaging below, Google showed that even with AR apps Instant can be utilised. A version of the title appearing in only a handful of seconds.

There was no exact timetable given for the tool to be rolled out to developers but Google aims to make it accessible to all. VRFocus will bring you more details about this, and an ETA on the expected Unity support when we have them.