Tippett Studio & HappyGiant Unveil Next-Gen AR/VR Game “HoloGrid: Monster Battle”
Berkeley, CA – March 30, 2016 – Tippett Studio and HappyGiant today announced an original Next-Gen Augmented and Virtual Reality gaming concept, HoloGrid: Monster Battle. A “Hybrid” Board Game, Collectible Card Game (CCG), and Digital Game in one, it delivers to players a new type of gaming experience.
Phil Tippett is a 2-time Academy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Director best known for his work on the original Star Wars films, Jurassic Park, Robocop, The Force Awakens, and many more. Tippett also created the “Holo Chess” scene in the original Star Wars, which he recreated for the Force Awakens.
“For years I’ve been making monsters for Directors to play with, and now for the first time, I’m making monsters for YOU to play with,” said Tippett. “We’re excited about the new fields of Augmented and Virtual Reality, and to be working with our friends at HappyGiant to create HoloGrid: Monster Battle.”
Creatures battle on your tabletop with AR
HoloGrid: Monster Battle is being built for next gen AR & VR platforms, but will also release for mobile devices and PCs, giving the player the feeling that these creatures are doing battle right in front of you. The team is looking at all options from Publishing deals, to Crowdfunding.
“We’re incredibly excited and interested in new platforms like Magic Leap, HoloLens, CastAR, Meta and others, as well as current AR mobile tech such as Vuforia,” said Mike Levine, President of HappyGiant. “We believes in the future of AR Gaming, and to be working with Phil Tippett and his studio on this project is a dream come true. The tech has finally caught up to the point where this game can be made.”
Photogrammetry
Another exciting aspect of the project is the use of Photogrammetry to scan Tippett’s real life physical monsters into 3D digital assets for the game, giving them a level of detail and character unlike any other.
“We’d been doing experiments with Photogrammetry, but more on museum level artifacts,” said Levine. “At the same time we began exploring doing projects with Tippett, we had the idea, ‘What if we tried this on some creatures?’ The results blew us away. That’s really where this idea was born.” “And it’s the exact same technique we used on The Force Awakens,” added Tippett.
Gameplay
HoloGrid: Monster Battle is akin to games such as Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, but uses physical playing cards to trigger Augmented Reality creatures and a gameboard. Players will be able to play head-to-head, either locally or remotely, and offline play is possible as well.
About Tippett Studio
Tippett Studio, founded in 1984 by animation pioneer Phil Tippett, is an Academy Award®-winning media production company specializing in CG animation and digital effects for feature films, television, commercials, VR and AR. The Berkeley, CA based company has created visual effects for blockbuster movies including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Ted, The Twilight Saga, Cloverfield, Starship Troopers, Jurassic Park and Robocop. Tippett Studio’s commercial work has garnered four Clio awards. Tippett Studio is currently in production on a large format ride for a Chinese Theme Park.
About HappyGiant
Founded by veterans of LucasArts, ILM, Hasbro and Pileated Pictures, HappyGiant is an independent developer and publisher of video games and entertainment for PCs, mobile, tablets and emerging platforms.
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