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Introducing Studio Mar

Who WE ARe

Hey there! We are STUDIO MAR, a mobile AR development team. “Mar,” in addition to standing for Mobile Augmented Reality, is the Spanish word for “sea” — hence our low-poly whale logo. You can also check out our separate development site here.

Studio Mar’s team members are:

Game Concept

We are developing a tabletop AR multiplayer 3D drawing game (title still in development). Drawing inspiration from Tilt Brush, Pictionary, and Taboo, in our game players take turn drawing an object in 3D. One player views a pre-made 3D model, like a bird, and describes it without using the name of the object of itself; the second attempts to draw the object based on their description. Players can also draw in different colors and with different brush styles, and possibly save their drawings to view later in a gallery. Players can have fun drawing and watching their friend draw in 3D space!

Hardware + Software

We plan on using Holokit or another head-mounted AR headset so that the player’s hands are free to draw. Player’s hands will be tracked using Manomotion, for drawing and interacting with the game. We are also working on developing an alternate tracking method, using a one-dimensional clicker or a two-sided marker.

All development will be done in Unity. Software-wise, we plan on incorporating the Tilt Brush SDK so that players can draw in a range of colors and brush styles. While we have various constraints in using eitherĀ ARCore orĀ ARKit, at present we plan on developing in ARKit because our only devices that support mobile AR are Apple devices. And finally, we’ll use Vuforia for tracking markers, placing one on a tabletop to anchor players’ drawings in space.

We are currently exploring the possibility of acquiring Android devices to support ARCore, as well as acquiring additional Macs to support building to iOS in Unity.

Mvp + end goal

Our Minimum Viable Product (or MVP) is a game that:

  • Can be played from beginning to end without crashing
  • Supports drawing a line in 3D space in AR
  • Supports another player viewing that drawing AR

Our ideal end goal, however, would also include:

  • Extending the game to support more than two players
  • Drawing in color and with different brush widths and options
  • A fun set of prompts to base drawings on
  • The ability for anyone to download and play our game (given they have supporting devices)

Tentative production Schedule

Based on the class schedule and our own milestones, we have tentatively developed the following production schedule. At present, our primary concern is acquiring and experimenting with our technology (Tilt Brush SDK, Holokit, Manomotion) to make sure that we can use it in our game. Besides that, we are confident in our planned schedule until Week 10, but expect the plan and our features to change during development.

Week 5 / Feb 16 Research & experimentation Test Holokits, hardware/software capabilities
Week 6 / Feb 23 Begin development Have hardware/software settled, begin designing UI
Week 7 / Mar 02 Prototype due Drawing a line in 3D space
Week 8 / Mar 09 Multiplayer [Mid-sem break] Other players can see the drawing live
Week 10 / Mar 23 Alpha Stable release of multiple people taking turns drawing
Week 11 / Mar 30 Prompts Limited set of prompts for player to base drawings on
Week 12 / Apr 06 Progress presentation due Beta: Stable release of drawing + objectives
Week 13 / Apr 13 Brush options If not yet incorporated, color + line width + animation
Week 15 / Apr 27 Stable release Pre-final: No new features to be added
Week 16 / May 04 Final presentation due Flex week, presentation/final release prep

 

We are excited to work on this project and look forward to how it will develop! For more updates on our game development, check back here every week!