Explorations and Experiments

Niantic (2018 - 2020), Unity Engine

Not all projects see the light of day, and that’s definitely a good thing! Here’s a sampling of some of the fun prototypes I’ve had the opportunity to work on. Although they were never fully realized I learned a lot working on each.

AR Dodge Ball

Zany Cars, 2018

Zany cars was a prototype for an AR dodge ball game and the forefather of another Niantic project called Neon.

Reframing Broken Occlusion with Narrative

RnD, 2020

AR occlusion or “reality blending” has been an active feature in Pokemon Go for sometime , however the results are still imprecise and jagged.

This was an exploration into a possible way we could rebrand these glitches into an aesthetic choice to mitigate the fragmented visuals.

Augmented Scavenger Hunting

RnD, 2020

The concept tested a theory I had that simply spawning characters or items around the player and turning on reality blending would have the potential to create engaging gameplay.

Again the challenge was selecting visuals that would work well with imperfect occlusion.

Algorithmic AR Depth Pathfinding

RnD, 2020

Part of my role at Niantic was finding gameplay use cases for new AR tech. This was an exploration I did utilizing Monodepth.

The Pokemon is using an algorithm that checks the depth buffer of the frame to navigate across unobstructed floor space towards a point. The movement is akin to decisions a Roomba would make.

Collaborative Puzzle Solving in AR

Project Gritty, 2019

This was a prototype I led for an internal Niantic hackathon . It was inspired by adventure-game-style mirror light puzzles; the idea was to have users work together in a collaborative multiplayer AR experience to form constellations.