By Brian Thomas at Enlightened Digital

The gaming market has been on the rise for a long time now. The industry as a whole is projected to hit over 90 billion dollars by 2020. That will be 12 billion dollars in growth since 2017.

Strategy and war games, which have historically been more popular in Europe, have been gaining serious ground in the US
Share on X

It would seem that this rising tide is lifting all ships, including the TableTop industry. Strategy and war games specifically, which have historically been more popular in Europe, have been gaining serious ground in the US. Simultaneously, AR has been coming on strong since the launch of PokemonGo. Visual technology has advanced so much since then, that it was only a matter of time before designers from both worlds started coming together to try and create the most epic gaming experiences possible.

At some point in time, needing to be in the same space to play games may be a thing of the past
Share on X

Easier scheduling

One of the biggest struggles most gaming groups have is scheduling. For those groups (like mine) that consist of players in their 30s and 40s this little thing called “life” can get in the way of regular gaming sessions. Babysitters can cancel. Spouses can “correct” your understanding of the schedule for that week. There are many things that keep gaming groups apart for weeks or months at a time, which is a shame.

With some of the capabilities AR literally “brings to the table”, groups can play together online, and see the same game “board”. Check out this video from TiltFive, which, at the time of writing, has raised over $1Million on Kickstarter with over 21 days left on its campaign that had an original target of $450,000. The pad that players connect on can sync up so everyone can still see and interact with the same board wherever they are playing from. At some point in time, needing to be in the same space to play games may be a thing of the past.

With the capabilities AR literally brings to the table, groups can play together online and see the same game board
Share on X

@tiltfive has so far raised over $1Million on Kickstarter
Share on X

Increased Design Space

Along with an increase in connectivity, game developers will see a massive increase in design capabilities with the implementation of AR. Since the advent of board games, they have for the most part been stuck in two dimensions. The pieces and “meeples” are of course 3 dimensional but the board itself is typically flat. With AR, the design space goes from a sheet to a cube in front of the players, so even if the physical components of the game stay flat, UI elements like points and progress trackers can now be displayed in a 3rd dimension. We’ve all played games that end up needing way too much space on the table. With AR, UI and gameplay elements can start going up rather than out, saving lots of space and providing developers with new spaces to explore when building their games.

Along with an increase in connectivity, game developers will see a massive increase in design capabilities with the implementation of AR
Share on X

Cross-Functionality

New games will have a field day with these new designs, but don’t be surprised if some of your current favorites also get re-released with AR functionality. One of the major areas of focus is wargaming, and Dungeons and Dragons in particular. Any game that utilizes some sort of grid-based environment with combat mechanics would work beautifully with AR. DMs can conjure up their nightmare environments that are hard to replicate without incredibly expensive add-ons. They can even control fog of war for their players!

With AR, UI and gameplay elements can start going up rather than out, saving lots of space and providing developers with new spaces to explore when building their games
Share on X

Potential Problems?

Even with all the great things AR can bring to the table, there still could be some downsides to it. We talked about how awesome it would be to not have to miss sessions due to scheduling conflicts. But being connected online should never replace those face-to-face moments with friends and family. If your group finds itself getting together in the same room less and less for “convenience”, you may need to pump the breaks and realize one of the things you loved most about gaming in the first place was being together. So watch out for that.

Another thing we could lose is the tactile feel of manipulating pieces. There is a tangible difference between video and board games and that is the physical manipulation of pieces around a board. You pick things up and put them down, it feels good. With AR, those pieces can be represented digitally and moved through wands, joysticks, or hand motions.

Jeri Ellsworth, CEO of TiltFive told Engaget.com that “The things that people like about board games are connecting with people, storytelling, and working with physical objects. The thing that people love about video games is that you can jump in really quick, you can save your games, and you can play with people over a long distance. We’re kind of somewhere in between.”

So admittedly some of that tactile feeling will go away, and if we start to lose the “togetherness” of being at the same table, tabletop gaming may start feeling a lot more like just, well, video gaming.

I think that overall, AR will be amazing for tabletop gaming, the pros will far outweigh the cons. I for one can’t wait to try to DM for my D&D group and really show them the horrors I have planned! Mwahahaha!

Brian Thomas is a contributor to Enlightened Digital, long-distance cyclist, and lifelong advocate for women in business from Philadelphia.

The post Playing With XR appeared first on Tech Trends.

Mixed Reality adds a new dimension to tabletop gaming, but there’s more to this tank show-down than first meets the eye.

Yes, tabletop gaming is very much still a thing. But just because it’s been around forever doesn’t mean it’s not keeping up with the latest tech. This is what video game giant Wargaming are hoping to prove when they start demoing their latest offering at Gamescom in Germany this week. WoT AR Spectate is a Mixed Reality take on their popular title “World of Tanks” (WoT) which boasts over 140 million players worldwide.

Yes, tabletop gaming is very much still a thing
Share on X

Nobody we’re aware of us achieving 60fps PC GPU settings in super stable AR
Share on X

It’s really a proof of concept at this stage according to Wargaming Special Project Lead Matt Daly, who says there are no immediate plans for a formal launch. Yet it’s a very nice-looking PoC that opens up all sorts of intriguing possibilities for future use.

“Nobody we’re aware of us achieving 60fps PC GPU settings in super stable AR,” says Daly, who explains that although his team has been only been working on this project for the past six months, it wasn’t the first time they dabbled in Mixed Reality.

Their first MR project used Google Tango and the Microsoft HoloLens to bring a rare digital tank from their game to a real-life exhibit at the Tank Museum at Bovington, UK. They then took the learnings from that process to try and make something that was – at least in principle – scalable and accessible to the general public.

Their first MR project used Google Tango and the Microsoft HoloLens to bring a rare digital tank from their game to a real-life exhibit at the Tank Museum at Bovington
Share on X

In a nutshell, the way WoT AR Spectate currently works is that an iPad is connected to PC functions like a 3D mouse. The PC does all rendering and sends that data back to iPad as video. Using ARKit for iOS, iPad sends its constant position/orientation to the PC while an in-game camera in WoT matches that iPad’s position/orientation, and sends what it sees back to iPad as video.

We were attempting to do something pretty exotic, with tech not necessarily designed for this purpose
Share on X

Predictably, however, there were some serious technical challenges in getting that complex architecture working:

“We were attempting to do something pretty exotic, with tech not necessarily designed for this purpose. Since we’re offloading all GPU & viewer/player control processes to the PC, there was an inherent delay in that process which caused noticeable difference between reality and a sort of perceivably delayed set of AR objects & content, which was disorienting. Besides tons of local network and packet transfer optimization, we then also artificially delayed the iPads RGB camera to have the same (40-70ms) delay as the in-game feed appearing on the iPad screen. The end result is an experience is extremely stable, amazingly polished, and both sides of reality are dancing together instead of fighting each other,” says Daly.

The resulting full-blown 3D battle can unfold right onto your coffee table, but as fun as that sounds, the more exciting aspects of the technology are its applications beyond gaming. From eSports match observation to historical digital recreation (Wargaming just signed a deal with the History Channel to produce some of those) having an interactive second screen anywhere is a proposition that could potentially catch on as a consumer product. There is a clear opportunity here for whoever gets this sort of offering right – and brings it to market at the right price.

“Content creators are going to go nuts with this stuff,” Daly predicts. Visual believability is such a massively important part of allowing your brain to trust that something that is not actually there, is. So imagine the implications for theater, sports, socializing.

The kinds of filmic (linear and interactive) tools that can or have been built for the “virtual studio” is incredible. This will be significantly different enough from Skype video today that it will make this a much more natural and quotidian part of every-day life… an augmenter, not an encumbrance.”

Apple ARKit, Google ARCore and Facebook Camera Effects could deliver more than 900 million installed base by the end of this year, jumping to nearly 3.5 billion by 2022.
Share on X

The current addressable market is massive, yet still lacks two crucial things according to Daly: audience familiarity (and therefore desire to engage) and then the 5G infrastructure that will allow us to no longer need to depend on limited hardware specs on mobile devices.

Mobile is likely to be a huge part of the Augmented/Mixed Reality success equation going forward
Share on X

Mobile is likely to be a huge part of the Augmented/Mixed Reality success equation going forward, as Apple ARKit, Google ARCore and Facebook Camera Effects could deliver more than 900 million installed base by the end of this year, jumping to nearly 3.5 billion by 2022.

At the moment WoT AR Spectate only works with replays, but there is no technical reason why more interactive and live content couldn’t be developed for – and supported by – their platform. Wargaming are also interested in developing content that will work on headsets such as Magic Leap, who Daly says they’re currently “talking to.”

Wargaming are also interested in developing content that will work on headsets such as Magic Leap
Share on X

At the moment WoT AR Spectate only works with replays, but there is no technical reason why more interactive and live content couldn’t be developed for - and supported by - their platform
Share on X

Ultimately they are betting on the fact that just like we got used to having a mobile as a second screen most of the time, perhaps we will soon demand a second (and third-fourth, etc.) volumetric layer of mediated content dynamically appearing around us. Mix that with real-time social co-presence, and you start getting some seriously powerful experiences that we would consider paying for.

Just like we got used to having a mobile as a second screen most of the time, perhaps we will soon demand a second (and third-fourth, etc.) volumetric layer of mediated content dynamically appearing around us
Share on X

What Daly and his team hope is that projects like his will show people what is possible while hinting at even more amazing things to come, spurring the public to express more interest and ultimately encouraging content makers to bring about that future a bit faster.

This article was originally published on UploadVR

World of Tanks AR is something that we never knew we wanted…until now.https://t.co/uufxmXaVhj #VR #AR #WorldOfTanks @wargaming_net

— Upload (@UploadVR) August 21, 2018

For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Virtual Battles on Your Coffee Table appeared first on Tech Trends.