Charm - A magical AR experience

Explore your magic powers in augmented reality! Erling Qvale, Robin Bøe, Helene Høylandskjær and Henrik Singstad Nordberg are master students Media- and Interaction Design, and has developed an AR prototype in the course MIX301.
Publisert: 9. desember 2022

Unleash your inner wizard!

Charm is a magical AR experience - a portal into the magical world of wizards and creatures. In this AR game, players can explore magic in their own real world environment. The application enables players to cast spells, conjure or modify virtual objects by hand movements captured by the device camera. To be immersed in this altered experience, the user only needs an Android or iOS device with a camera. Currently the prototype requires two users for gaming which emphasise the collaborative aspects of Charm, and encourages users to explore their powers within the magical world of AR together. Solve tasks and challenges to strengthen your magic powers!

The complete prototype Charm.

The functioning prototype was developed in Unity, a game developing tool, while the visual profile was designed in Figma and Adobe Photoshop. The visual representation shows the concept and functions, whilst the part in Unity is the practical part of the prototype with the core features of playing the game.

Full-body interaction

Charm: app-logo

Charm was developed to immerse the user into a magical world full of mysteries! We wanted to reintroduce the fading aspect of play; physical activity! Users must be creative when exploring what type of movements will activate spells. Unlike Pokemon Go, the students have developed a prototype using full-body interaction to further explore the possibilities and the future of AR games. Whereas the other mobile games are limited to one user per device, Charm enables co-operation by making the users into subjective game objects of the game. In this way, the possibilities of user interaction go beyond the limitations of two-dimensional interfaces.

Magic items will require different interactions. Foto: Helene Høylandskjær

Charm uses the devices camera to track the players movements with their right hand, which will activate spells or conjure objects. The yellow glow appearing on the user's right hand indicates that their hand is being tracked. We designed this glow not only as an indication for tracking, but also as guidance for what part of their body the user can interact with. Currently there are two placeholders for objects, representing how these objects could be magical creatures or new items to collect. Lastly, by raising your arm for combat, sparks and smoke will intensify!

Social features

The current prototype has a chat button, where users are given the opportunity to communicate with other players. The in-app communication feature is the main component for social engagement. This can possibly help users build communities where users are united by their common interest in Charm. Here, users can accomplish challenges together and make new friends.

Social features. Foto: Helene Høylandskjær.

Demo video

 


Publisert: 9. desember 2022
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