A couple of decades ago, augmented reality was a concept we’d be seeing in movies. With technological advancements, we’re experiencing it in day-to-day life. Augmented reality is likely to change the way we interact with one another.
It’s not only restricted to the gaming industry but has also been gaining momentum in the corporate world. AR replicates an immersive real-world experience by using computer-generated visualization. This technology can help train remote employees for real-life corporate challenges.
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What is Augmented Reality Gaming?
Augmented reality gaming integrates audio and visuals with the gamer’s surroundings, thus, creating an unforgettable yet real-life gaming experience. These games use GPS to manipulate the challenges according to the player’s location. Hence, players need to move around to finish their missions.
You can find different augmented reality games, such as ‘Zombies, Run’. This is a fitness game that superimposes the challenges with the surroundings. For instance, if you are going for a run in the park, the GPS will use your location. You can further engage and interact with augmented reality on your mobile device.
What do you need for augmented reality games?
Augmented reality games have spread like wildfire. That’s because you don’t need specialized equipment, like AR sets or consoles. But not a lot of people know this and expect to buy accessories to play these AR games. You can download the game on your smartphone, touchpad, or any other portable device and play.
Some games may use VR technology for a more immersive real-time experience, but it’s rarely the case. Hence, you don’t need to buy expensive equipment for limited gaming choices.
The Future of Augmented Reality
In 1992, the US Air Force used the first augmented reality system. Although an ample amount of time has passed since then, augmented reality is still in its infancy stage. There are many developers pushing the technology’s boundaries. They aim to create engaging gaming experiences and training protocols.
Hence, the importance of augmented reality will increase in the coming years. It’s expected to reach $285 billion by 2023, showing a compound annual growth rate of 152%.
Pokemon GO is one major success story for augmented reality games. It gained a lot of popularity back in 2016 and earned more than $1.2 billion in revenue. Globally, users downloaded it 750 million times, which is a groundbreaking record. This highlights the audience’s interest in trying new immersive augmented reality games.
Due to this newfound interest, the consumer market has potential for growth. However, there is no guarantee that the new ideas are well reciprocated by the target audience. It can also result in augmented reality receiving a major backlash from people.
Nonetheless, tech enthusiasts have high expectations from augmented reality projects. Augmented reality projects have 4 times the budget of the virtual reality market. That’s because more than 2.5 billion people are smartphone users, which means they can access AR.
Challenges of Augmented Reality
Since augmented reality is in its early stages, there are many milestones it has to achieve. To do so, developers and creators have to overcome many technical hurdles. Following are a couple of challenges of augmented reality:
Limited Content Creation for Augmented Reality
A major issue with augmented reality games is the limited gameplay. This impacts the user experience and engagement level. It is because no gamer likes playing the same thing over and over again. Hence, creators need to develop new content and gameplans to encourage gamers to adopt this new technology.
Lack of Public Awareness
Many people still confuse augmented reality with virtual reality. This is because there is a lack of public awareness. It may take time for this technology to become mainstream among users, like all the other technologies. Gamers play an important role to educate their audience about new augmented reality games by streaming online. This can help overcome social challenges.
Augmented Reality Games
Are you an avid gamer or AR enthusiast? If yes, then we would like to introduce a few augmented reality games that will blow your mind.
Pokemon GO
Pokemon GO has been the pinnacle of augmented reality games ever since its release in 2016. It has reinvented the childhood card collecting game for people running in the search of Pokemons on their mobile phones. Users are taking snapshots and trying to capture their desired Pokemons in an augmented reality environment. This can only be seen through a mobile camera lens, which makes it an engaging experience.
The concept of the game is very simple. You just need a smartphone with a working camera and GPS. A map of the current environment displays on your screen. Now you have to roam around and stop wherever you see a rustle of grass on your mobile screen, which would indicate the presence of a Pokemon. Once the Pokemon is visible, tap your screen and capture it before someone else does.
This augmented reality game has become revolutionary! Not only for the future of the gaming industry but also for how we will integrate AR into our daily lives and businesses. By handing over a cherished cartoon franchise to millions of smartphone users, they have given the general population a taste of augmented reality technology. As a result, they want to use it every day, for everything.
Jurassic World Alive
Jurassic World Alive has borrowed most of its gameplay and mechanics from Pokemon GO. They replaced their Pokemons with dinosaurs. People are not playing Jurassic World Alive because they are big dino fans but how it’s an improved version of Pokemon GO. It gives users the opportunity to get a taste of future gaming.
Jurassic World Alive helps gamers to bring dinosaurs back to life. The root cause of this dino return is to retake control of the world as they used to rule before. In some way, they have regained control. However, not in the real world.
Dino collectors are going crazy, the same way they were once for Pokemons. They go out to explore their surroundings in search of dinosaurs. Additionally, new worlds can also be discovered, where hybrids can be created by combining DNAs of various dinosaurs. When a perfect team of dinosaurs has been created, you can take them into a battle in real-time one-on-one matches.
Just like Pokemon GO, Jurassic World Alive has also enhanced the technology of AR. This was done by scattering dinosaurs all around the world, and giving gamers access to an augmented reality map, localized to their location. It allows dinosaurs to interact with the real world, with the help of the magic of augmented reality. Furthermore, Ludia.Inc, the developers of the game, have added a new AR feature called ‘sanctuaries.’ Sanctuaries are shelters where players can feed their dinosaurs. This new feature also allows users to interact with dinosaurs by giving them toys to play with. There has also been a slightly disturbing addition, which lets users purchase goats for feeding their dinos. This feature was added to give the game a more real-life experience, which is the ultimate aim of AR.
Zombies, Run!
The technology of AR has managed to transform jogging into a fascinating adventure. Zombies, Run does not take advantage of the visual capabilities of AR. Yet, how, Six to Start, has been able to incorporate audio illusions into their app. The gameplay is awe-inspiring. They have created an audio-augmented version of projection mapping by using gamification techniques.
Signing Off
If you are someone who enjoys playing video games, it’s high time you try augmented reality games. You don’t need any special equipment, download it on your smartphone and simply play. The real beauty of augmented reality games is that they adapt to your surroundings to create a memorable experience. There is still a long way to go for this technology, but gamers are in for some serious challenges.
