Orbu is the first Augmented Reality (AR) game developed by VR and AR startup Dream Reality Interactive. In Orbu, you use ‘slingshot’ touch controls to roll cute creatures around different levels, feed fish and hunt for hidden butterflies.
AR is a very interactive and immersive medium. The technology allows you to physically move around the 3D levels and get close to the action from any angle.
Drag your finger across the screen to aim your Orbu creatures, then release your finger to fire them around the level. The magic of AR lets you see the game anywhere in the real world using your phone’s camera.
The Development Process
After previously prototyping a VR ball rolling game, the team at DRI wanted explore similar gameplay mechanics in mobile AR. Two of our developers started working with Apple’s ARKit system as soon as it was announced, on an AR game/app that could potentially be launched around the same time as ARKit itself.
The team at DRI had experienced first hand the challenges of introducing unfamiliar tech to the average consumer. Having collectively spent a number of years working in VR, a key objective was to ensure that even unsavvy players would be able to have a great first experience of AR with Orbu.
It was during this boot camp that a simple, widely familiar ‘slingshot’ mechanic was combined with AR tech. It was decided that trying to implement anything more complex than slingshot gameplay risked being confusing or off-putting to players for whom the new paradigm of AR was abstract and unfamiliar.
The initial Orbu prototype featured a little crab and the first level was a crude Japanese pond with a wonky bridge across it. The player had to roll the crab from one end of the bridge to the other, a little bit like mini-golf!
Back in the UK, the small team expanded and started working on a more complete series of prototypes, creating new grey box levels, playing around with controls, new characters, artwork, and games settings using Unity and Apple’s ARKit. After a few more weeks we got in touch with a contact at Apple and told them that we were planning on releasing Orbu on the App Store, inviting them to test it out during development and before release.
We had an intense three months getting Orbu ready for the launch of ARKit, and we managed to complete submission and release on the same day we all finished for the 2017 Christmas break. After a brief rest we were thrilled to discover that Orbu was featuring on the front of the App Store games tab on Christmas day! An amazing opportunity for DRI, and a very proud moment for the whole team. Seeing friends and family getting to grips with AR on Christmas day made it extra special. The hard work had paid off.
CREDITS
Creative Lead
Albert Bentall
Programmer
Artemis Tsouflidou
Level Designer
Ben Berry
Audio Composer & QA
Chris Murray
CEO
Dave Ranyard
Technical Artist
Delainey Ackerman
Marketing & Social Media Manager
Isabel Reubin
Programmer
Joel Herber
Designer
Joey To
Head of Design
John Foster
CFO
Kumar Jacobs
Head of Art
Laura Dodds
Art Director
Rachel Weston
(contractor)
CTO
Richard Bates
Artist
Rob Allen
Head of Production
Sitara Shefta
Technical Artist
Will Dudley
(Contractor)
Art Intern
Zhouyu Wu
Companies
Dream Reality Interactive
- Media Production