I joined my first Hackathon at Devpost to create a Facebook AR world effect. The requirements were as follows; see my entry here
'What to build: Using Spark AR Studio, create a World AR effect for Instagram. World effects layer AR experiences on surfaces, objects and people in your environment, and are viewable using the world-facing camera on your smartphone (not the self-facing camera). We can’t wait to see how you augment your world!'
My Submission
The concept of the Safety Net Game is to raise awareness and support for small businesses. The mom and pops are really important in a thriving community and many of them as I'm sure you know are struggling. So that is the basis of my AR game, now let's get into the actual content of the game.
So when opened, the viewfinder will display the safety net at the bottom of the screen. Tapping to start the game will initiate the play as the elements rain down from the sky. As you can see, the user will rank up in score each time they successfully catch the falling small businesses. But be careful because unfortunately, as we all know too well, covid is still very much relevant and caution is necessary. So we must avoid catching it or else it's game over. But tapping will let you replay.
In Spark AR, the score is displayed via canvas utilizing a script and counter. The 3d elements are a loop animation with a random function set to the duration to make their movement speed up and slow down making it more tricky and less predictable. Initiating the pulse is done by carefully setting values to interpret the device motion of the gyroscope and sending the pulse through a series of and/or functions when the phone is pointed at one of the 3d objects and finally, the ending card is a small texture sequence animation.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I hope you enjoy it!
Inspiration
The Safety Net Fund
What it does
A catch falling objects game
How I built it
Spark AR Studio
Challenges I ran into
Scripting and my first game
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I come from VFX and a pretty visual background and the structure of Spark AR is very similar in most terms to 3d software, but I don't know any coding. I saved the Devpost page the day I saw it, knowing that I wanted to participate in what would be a big step for me and I am proud that I was able to follow through and achieve what I set out. It has been a life goal of mine to make a game and I honestly never expected it to happen here in 2020 during a pandemic, but here we are - and I think it's been a great opportunity for me to grow.
What I learned
Scripting for a score count and location targeting for when objects are caught.
What's next for Safety Net Game
Spreading awareness for all the small businesses out there!