week2 — XR Experience Evaluation

• Application name and platform

StackAR — iphone, ipad, android application

• Description

Stack is a timing arcade game which you have to build a tower as high as possible by placing blocks on each other. You have to find the right time to place the current block on the previous one, but by every placement the next one goes even faster or slower by timing, so you have to pay attention. If you place the blocks too soon or too late, the part that does not hit the previous box will be shaved off leaving you with even less space to place the next block and building up your tower.

• Audience

This app is an arcade game aimed towards people (age 12+) who like to challenge themselves.

• XR Implementation

This games is an example of handheld AR. This app takes advantage of the platform by making the user find a flat surface to lay the foundation of the first tile on. Once the flat surface is detected the user can change perspectives my moving around the object and then simply taps the screen to place the tile.

• Supporting Technologies

This app requires camera input and has visual markers to indicate that you placed a tile down. Other then that it does not have many other supporting technologies. GPS is not required and haptic feedback is at a bare minimum.

• Strengths

I really appreciate that this app has both versions of the game (normal and AR) so you can easily switch back and forth between AR and the original version on your phone. I like that you can change the perspective of the stack by moving your phone around, so if one person didn't like or had a hard time with seeing it from the side they could easily change it to a top view. This is an ability that you can not do in the original game.

• Improvement

The only improvement I can think of is when the app gets interrupted by another phone application (i.e. alarm or text message) while the user is in the middle of a game the game will completely restart and the user will lose all the progress they have made.

• SLAM

This app utilizes SLAM by tracking the ground in order to find a surface that is completely flat in order to run the app. If you continue to play this game correctly the blocks donʻt really rise much until you miss a block. When you miss a block and fail the challenge the blocks then sky rocket to as many blocks you places creating an even stronger 3D experience.