Today is a sad day for many AR enthusiasts. Just yesterday I’ve asked how would Layar’s new 3d feature affect Gamaray. Now, I unfortunately know the answer. Clayton Lilly, the man behind the Gamaray browser, has decided to quit developing it. In a mail to Gamaray’s developers mailing list, Lilly writes:
After hearing the announcements made by Layar and Mobilizy yesterday I’ve decided to stop developing Gamaray any further. I’ll still support the existing version of Gamaray as best I can, although I would suggest applying for a Layar developer key or learning ARML. The main competitive features Gamaray had were 3D objects and its open http/XML architecture. Since Gamaray couldn’t compete against the other companies when it had these advantages, there’s no point in continuing now that both these features will be covered by the other browsers.
Gamaray was one of the first mobile AR browsers, and took the original approach of embedding 3d virtual objects from the get go. I first interviewed Lilly in June, when he had high hopes for Gamaray. However, even back then, Lilly was woried about the developing a platform:
Right now we are focusing on the creation of multiplayer AR games for Android, our first one being a tank combat game. Beyond that, it will depend on how the market looks, although we have lots of ideas.
We know that AR is going to be very big in the near future, but the challenge is knowing what to focus our efforts on. For a while we thought of creating a more general purpose AR platform, but I’m concerned that Google may already be developing a first person AR viewer for KML data and 3D models.
I hope that in a world where new AR browsers are created by the minute (I learned about two new ones just today), Lilly and Gamaray would find their niche, and maybe create that tank game.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Gamaray, GPS and Compass, Handhelds and Cellphones, Tourism and Outdoors |
Games Alfresco 
Agreed, this is sad, but I have to admire Lilly’s pragmatism here – rather than maintain another AR browser he has opted to strategically reposition his efforts.
I think this further serves to unify the AR industry and show a common focus on bring AR to the mainstream in an effective way.
Very sad indeed.
I often felt Gamaray was being unfairly ignored/downplayed by most of the mainstream/specailist press.
Aside from being the first with 3d, they had a lot of other ideas (interactivity, sound support) coming, as well as having an open dimension-format anyone could write in.
(Before Layer did, I think).
[…] Source Code is Free to Download Posted on October 14, 2009 by rouli As I blogged before, the work Gamaray, one of the prominent early AR browsers, has stopped. At the time, I was […]