Independent developers The Pixel Crushers showed off its slightly different take on the immersive escape room experience at E3 last week, with ARia’s Legacy taking the idea into the augmented reality (AR) space.
Galal Hassan of the Pixel Crushers development team spoke to Nina Salomons of VRFocus about ARia’s Legacy and how the title came about.
The team at The Pixel Crushers are all self-admitted fans of escape rooms, and also noticed the rising popularity of AR technology and experiences which came about due to the launch of Apple’s ARKit. The team put their heads together for an idea which combined the best of both, and thus Aria’s Legacy was born.
“Everyone doing augmented reality right now, they’re projecting stuff on the table in front of you. What we’re trying to do is project stuff all around you in the room.” Hassan explained, defining the idea of an AR experience which is more about exploration and discovery than the majority of currently available AR apps.
“We want to create an interactive environment with you,” Hassan said, “So this is how we’re trying to integrate AR with the escape room experience.”
The title includes local multiplayer, and utilises newly introduced AR technology to allow them to see the same AR environment, as Hassan explains: “You’re walking around the same room and you’re having the same experience together, trying to unlock the same puzzles – just like you would in a real-world escape room.”
ARia’s Legacy has fifty levels, which the development team say will equal over eleven hours of content for users to explore.
The development team hopes that ARia’s Legacy will be available in early 2019, for iOS and Android for any device which supports ARKit or ARCore, including tablets and smartphones.
The full interview can be viewed below. Stay tuned to VRFocus for more coverage of new and upcoming AR experiences.
via Mint VR