Augmented Reality and Gaming

Augmented Reality and the Future of Gaming

Augmented Reality is bringing revolution and introducing new innovations and creativity in the gaming industry. AR allows users to feel that they are interacting personally with their digital environment, and it uses the existing environment and creates a playing field within it.

AR gaming will replace the traditional gaming system like Xbox and PlayStation with new techniques and trends. In fact, applications are now being written in special 3D programs that allow users to play level up animation. In essence, AR has become the future of gaming.

Edge Realities can open doors to endless opportunities and solutions for both gamers and developers.

Not only can our system add digital representation and data of supplement views of the real world to give users outstanding gaming experiences, but Edge Realities can also bring many benefits to the gaming medium and allow developers to deliver gameplay experiences that cannot be reproduced in any other gaming medium.

One case of use is our solution for Deutsche Telekom, MobiledgeX, and forwARdgame. The latter is a Berlin-based company which combines AR gameplay with physical exercise. Essentially, the solution allows for gameplay to happen in indoor or outdoor spaces of any size. And, with augmented reality content that is persistent, synchronized, and for single or multiplayer experiences.

Augmented reality is certainly part of the future of gaming. However, gaming is not the only future for AR.

Edge Realities can also trigger the minds of gamers and non-gamers alike. For instance, the promise of digitally decorating an apartment, the opportunity to interface with smart gadgets, or even for a maintenance operator to complete an inspection checklist digitally. Truly, the functionalities are limitless.

Cooperation:

Deutsche Telekom
forwARdgame
MobiledgeX

Scope:

5G
AR Gaming
AR Outdoor Gameplay
Persistent & Anchored Content
Synchronized Multiplayer Experience
Mainstream Entertainment
UX

 

Challenge

The gaming ecosystem is continuously evolving. Creators and developers in the gaming industry are constantly developing new games, methods, and technologies to capture the imagination of gamers around the world. Not only has Augmented reality opened a totally new video gaming experience. Indeed, augmented reality is redefining the gaming industry.

Gaming is now bigger than ever. Driven primarily by the growth of mobile gaming, the smartphone has overtaken the PC as the main gaming device. This means that consumers who are not obsessive gamers are beginning to understand what it’s like to play games using smartphones.

An immersive AR experience can make games matter. That’s why today’s AR gamers are both intrigued by the promises of Augmented Reality and disappointed by the delivery.

The AR content may not be consistent. Or, the AR frameworks in mobile devices cannot support synchronization. The inability to synchronize AR objects leads to poor single and multiplayer augmented reality gameplay experiences.

From the perspective of the gaming companies, they don’t want to struggle with technology. They want everything to work seamlessly and on all devices. Plus, without any technical barriers such as having to develop something or synchronize content.

Besides, there are hardware challenges that center around battery life. If a gamer wants to play an AR game, they do not want the smartphone to overheat or have a dead battery after only an hour of gameplay.

Even still, AR gamers agree that augmented reality gaming will be more interesting with better and more immersive games.

They also want access to 5G, lower-cost AR glasses and better batteries. Augmented reality gamers list immersive experience as a key driver for playing AR games, and for these reasons, it will become a key component of mainstream entertainment.

Along with entertaining, AR games are also proving to be a great learning tool as well. Simulation games like new employee onboarding or training games for enterprise professionals can be used to enhance their skills.

Solution

The focus of the forwARdgame company is on developing “Active AR”. This is a unique niche where users can freely interact with AR and simultaneously participate in physical activity. To realize their vision, however, they faced several technical challenges.

Edge Realities solved those challenges. Our solution enabled them to smoothly deploy AR game experiences that bring multi-dimensional effects on human health. Learn more about Edge Realities here.

The first challenge was that they were using augmented reality capabilities that did not allow for multiplayer synchronicity in either their AR Air Hockey or AR Basketball games.

Second, the actions of the players were simultaneous, but users were having a separate augmented reality experience; the worlds of each player could not align. The smartphones were unable to recognize their position in the AR Air Hockey game and in the AR Basketball game the positioning of virtual objects would drift.

They also faced barriers with their Capture the Flag game. Based on the traditional outdoor sport, they wanted to organize gameplay in an outdoor park. In this large-scale environment, many gamers would be starting their AR experience at different points and the ability to share AR would be extremely difficult to synchronize using smartphones. It is impossible using smart glasses.

Across the board, these challenges can lead to a poor multiplayer game experience.

The prominent feature of Edge Realities is that the system makes it easy to map and add overlays to complicated, large-scale environments. Plus, our solution allows for many people to experience AR at the same time; the additional digital layer may be shared between users, and the system will locate users in real-time.

These unique Edge Reality features allowed forwARdgame to reap huge benefits.

Our system maintains the positioning of the 3D models so that the worlds of each player in their AR Air Hockey and Basketball games remain persistently aligned. Immersion is important, and each player wants the AR game to be a part of his/her world and with virtual objects that stay put.

It allows them to run AR gameplay on big outdoor spaces, where multiplayers can collaborate in an augmented reality experience, be physically active, and where the AR content is persistent, synchronized and precisely anchored in the real world.

Multi-user is another significant benefit. A party of people can all play a multi-user game, and by putting the AR gameplay in front of them they can interact in a fun, engaging, immersive experience that blends augmented reality with the real world.

Lastly, 5G and Edge computing will be major enablers in providing this AR experience since low latency is required to synchronize gameplay data. What’s else, 5G or Edge Computing availability will help capture even more benefits by extending mobile device battery life and gameplay duration.

In total, using Edge Realities to power gaming can combine with smart glasses support and much more to bring innovation and exclusive games. Gameplayers can view animated 3D content, and our system has vast potential when compared to other technology.

Edge Realities and gaming can make augmented reality part of everyday life, and when gamers start accepting digital objects in the real world these habits will lead to an acceptance in other areas too.






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