Table of contents

• Background
• What I want to develop
• Architecture
• Next Step

Background

I am a postgraduate student at Kingston University in the UK. I am studying games, AR, VR and AI. I have researched AR development through the previous posts. Based on that, I have been implementing an AR game. In the upcoming posts, I will introduce the process of AR game development in them.

If you are interested in any posts, I would appreciate your reactions.
If there are any companies involved in game or AR development, please feel free to get in touch.

What I want to develop

In these days, AR is used in many different fields. It is not only in the entertainment industry, but also various industries such as education and tourism. The AR game I have been implementing is primarily designed for use in the tourism industry. By making effort of AR, the game offers a more immersive experience compared to traditional games. Additionally, it enables users to have experience that would be physically challenging, by using digital objects.

Objective

The objective of the game is to enable players to learn about Kingston University while enjoying to play through an AR.

This game will be available exclusively at Kingston University.

Story

The story of the game sets users as a new student arriving at Kingston University for the first time. When they arrive, they discover a book. In this book, it is written that there are seven mysteries hidden at Kingston University. If someone solve them, he/she will get a treasure. Additionally, when the user touched the book, they get a mysterious power. ( It is inspired by Death Note... )

Game Flow

Below is the flow of the game.
It has three main phases, which consist of the 2D section for game progression, the map scene, and the AR scene.

Game Progression

The game progression will be based on a 2D character.

Map Scene

As I mentioned early, this app is available at Kingston University and requires that users are guided to specific locations. To achieve this, I have created a map scene using the Google Maps API. Like Pokemon Go, the character's movements depend on the user's location. I used the following book as a reference.

https://amzn.asia/d/jctLB7T

AR Scene

As the game progresses, there is an AR scene for each mystery. They are from simple puzzles to mini-games. Users can collect and use items during AR scene. These items will help users to progress the game.

By solving all the mysteries, players will get the final treasure.
The details of each mystery and the scenes will be shown in the upcoming posts.

Architecture

This image shows the general architecture of this game.

All process run in Unity. In terms of AR, AR Foundation is used. Also, various APIs like Google Static API are called in Unity.

Map Scene

In this scene, the user's consent to data acquisition is assumed. Based on the user location data, the Google Static API is used to display a map of the user's surroundings.

AR Scene

AR objects are displayed by using AR Foundation.

No require location

If location data is not required to solve the mystery, only AR Foundation is sufficient for implementation.

Require location

Since this game aims to create an AR experience within the campus, location data is necessary. Therefore, AR objects are placed at specific locations using the Geospatial API. Additionally, to improve user experience, the Streetscape Geometry API is utilised by using of surrounding's buildings and terrain.

Next Step

In this post, I introduced simply the game content and the architecture. In next post, I will show the 2D section for game progression.