Local start-up Speak Geek? is developing accessible augmented and virtual reality experiences for popular video game Minecraft.
After Microsoft wowed crowds with a demo of an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) version of Minecraft for its Hololens at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles in June, Speak Geek? is not the first to the table with developing AR and VR for Minecraft.
But although Microsoft's demo showed how much AR and VR can add to the game, namely through allowing players to see the Minecraft world from a third-person rather than only a first-person perspective, greatly enhancing gameplay flexibility, the Hololens experience is likely to be available to a relatively small number of people, says Dean Hodgskiss, Speak Geek? MD.
This is because Hololens will probably carry a hefty price tag when it is commercially released, Hodgskiss explains. Speak Geek? is working to make AR/VR for Minecraft accessible across a wider range of platforms, largely using solutions that harness more affordable devices such as the tablets and smartphones many users already own.
One such solution is Google Cardboard: a cardboard holder that transforms the user's smartphone into an AR/VR viewer. Google Cardboard retails for around $20, and numerous AR/VR apps for Cardboard are available via the Google Play store.
"For gaming, the promise [of AR and VR] is spectacular: that you'll really be in a different world completely," says Hodgskiss.
While AR and VR have been on offer for decades without mass uptake, Hodgskiss believes they will soon break into the mainstream, as supporting technologies such as accelerometers evolve to make these experiences more realistic and responsive than their early predecessors. "People were excited about [early VR and AR], but it didn't really work," he notes.
Speak Geek? aims to release a version of their solution by the end of this year.
In addition to the Minecraft project, Speak Geek? offers AR, VR, user interface and custom application development.
Hodgskiss is also the founder of LookSee.Do, a start-up offering video, AR and VR communication over low-quality Internet connections, aimed at mechanical and engineering experts looking to remotely instruct less qualified workers in the maintenance and repair of advanced machinery.
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