Short linkfest this time, due to some prior engagements. Still, I think you’ll find some treasures among today’s links:
- A very fine piece on Adbusters, debating whether augmented reality gives us a false sense of activism while we actually succumb to the cruelty of reality.
- Facebook my be working on mobile augmented reality features (which is probably only going to be a tiny part of their location based services).
- You don’t need to be a programmer to create a layer for Layar. Hoppala brings layer creation to the masses.
- JC Penney & Seventeen Magazine tap metaio to create back to school AR app.
- I’ve never quite understood why would anyone play a 3d version of Tetris, but if you enjoy such an activity, you may want to augment it a bit.
- If you are a CS graduate you may have encountered ACM. Usually they put their articles behind a pay-wall, but not this one – Mainstreaming augmented reality.
Video of the week is of a new AR game just released for the iPhone, Android, Symbian operating system (yes, such a thing exist), called AR! Pirates. Created by Optricks Media, best known for those augmented Bamzookis, the game play is not much more sophisticated than ye olde paratrooper game, but heck, it’s probably your best option to drown pirate ships with your phone. It costs £0.99, and you can read more about it on Augmented Planet.
Have a grand week!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Facebook, Hoppala, Layar, linkfest, Metaio, Optricks Media |
Games Alfresco 
Thanks for including our game, AR! Pirates, on your weekly linkfest.
However, I think your reference to the game play being not much more sophisticated than the paratrooper game is misplaced. The game play is a lot more sophisticated than the paratrooper game!
You may have got this impression because the earliest levels in the trial version are not too difficult (by design) and I think our conservative limit on the number of trial level plays may not give a real taste of what the game is like beyond a few levels. There is a lot more depth and challenging game play further into the game.
Firstly, there’s the obvious difference that the AR perspective adds to the game play. AR! Pirates is a first-person 3D game that puts you right in the action. You have to physically move yourself around to dodge cannonballs as they come flying in towards you. Paratrooper is nothing like this, being a 2D game with your gun in a fixed location.
Secondly, there is a lot of variety between levels as new types of enemy ships with different speeds, fire-power and damage models are introduced and attack in different formations. There is strategy to be employed in balancing the need to protect yourself by damaging or sinking the largest threats and dodging incoming cannonballs and protecting the island from too much looting by the lighter, faster ships.
We are currently considering how to restructure the trial version to give a better taste of the full game. Comments welcome and I’ll keep you informed.The new trial version will install over the old one so there’s no reason not to download the current trial one from arpirates.com now ;)
Thanks Dylan for the comment.
AR! Pirates is probably one of the best AR games money can buy at the moment, and frankly I don’t think that AR games (or mobile games at all) ought to be sophisticated. For example, Angry Birds is a very fun and profitable game that has a very simple premise.
Anyway, I wish you best of luck with AR! Pirates, and hope to see the iPhone version soon.
I think this also illustrate how hard it is to show some AR gameplay concepts in video form, or even with trails.
For all those interested, we’ve updated the trial version to give players a better taste of the game. The trial now lets you play levels 1, 3 and 6 of the game so you can get to grips with the AR and see a little more into the game. We have also put some of the instructions upfront in the trial version to help newcomers to get started.
If you have any problems, questions or suggestions feel free to contact us through arpirates.com
UPDATE: AR! Pirates is now, finally, available on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad from the app store!